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The price of iron ore falls due to a cooling in demand and stockpiling
As inventories increase and demand slows, iron ore futures declined on Friday. As of 0224 GMT, the most-traded contract for May iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was 0.51% lower. It traded at 773.5 Yuan ($110.40). As of 0224 GMT, the benchmark January iron ore traded on Singapore Exchange was $0.1 lower at $103,95 per ton. SteelHome data shows that total iron ore stocks in Chinese ports increased by 2.26% on a weekly basis to 148.8 millions tons as of December 26. Mysteel, a consultancy, reported that the Chinese steel mills' inventories of five major carbon products had fallen to 14.5 millions tonnes on December 25. This is the lowest level since late January. Iron ore production in Australia and Brazil has increased, but China's demand for steel is down due to its prolonged property market. Since mid-2021, China's property markets, which used to be the largest steel consumers, have been in a constant decline, with falling home prices and shrinking sales. On December 12, the country announced a system of licensing to regulate steel exports in an attempt to stabilize prices. Tadashi Imai, Chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Thursday that the licensing scheme would not be an effective way to address these issues. Japan, the world's second-largest?exporter? of steel, has criticized Chinese firms that receive government subsidies, which encourage overproduction and low-priced exports. This worsens global market conditions. Coking coal and coke, which are used to make steel, also fell dramatically, by 4.04% and 3.39 %, respectively. The drop in coking coal price reflected a cooling of demand. According to Mysteel, around 47.7% total of the coking coal cargoes that were offered at auctions on December 25 failed to find buyers. The Shanghai Futures Exchange saw a decline in most steel benchmarks. Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell. Wire rod, however, rose by 2.57%.
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Sources say that China's first batch fuel export quotas for 2026 are stable year-on-year.
Three sources with knowledge of the matter late Wednesday said that China had issued 19 million tons of export allowances, including gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, and other refined fuels. They said that the world's second largest consumer of oil, China, also distributed 8 million tons of low sulphur marine fuel export "quotas" in this batch. Both volumes were stable compared to a year ago. China uses a quota system to manage its refined fuel exports. This is done in order to balance supply and demand fundamentals on its domestic market. The Commerce Ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comments. The main recipients of the quotas were the state-owned oil entities Sinopec & CNPC. They received 13.76 millions tons of allowances for gasoline, jet-fuel and diesel exports – more than 70%. Zhejiang Petrochemical, a major private refiner, was allocated 1.56 million tonnes of export quotas in this first batch. The 19 million tons total of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel export quotas were used for the processing trade. 6.6 million tonnes of this amount was for aviation fuel bunkering. Almost 85% of the 8,000,000 tons of low-sulphur'marine fuel' allocated to Sinopec CNPC. China's first 11 months 2025 saw its exports of refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, aviation and marine bunker, total 52.65 millions tons, a 3.2% drop on the previous year.
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Oil prices rise as the market takes into account Venezuelan supply risks
The price of oil rose on Friday, after the U.S. increased pressure on Venezuelan oil exports and carried out airstrikes in Nigeria's northwest against Islamic State militants at the government's request. Brent crude futures rose 24 cents (0.4%) to $62.48 per barrel by 0114 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), also up 0.4% at $58.58, was up by 23 cents. Venezuela and Nigeria both produce a lot of oil. Nigeria's oilfields are primarily located in the southern part of the country. The airstrikes increased the geopolitical risk. The White House has directed U.S. forces to concentrate?on an "quarantine", of Venezuelan oil, for at least two months. This indicates Washington is more interested in using economic means than military ones to?pressure Caracas. Investors weighed the U.S. economy's growth and assessed risks of supply disruptions, including those in Venezuela. Brent and WTI are expected to fall by 16% and 18% respectively this year. This is their steepest drop since the COVID outbreak hit oil demand. Two market sources reported on Wednesday that oil shipments via the Caspian pipeline are expected to 'drop by a quarter in December, to the lowest level since October 2024. This is after an?Ukrainian?drone strike damaged the main CPC export terminal. U.S. Energy Information Administration will release official inventory numbers on Monday. This is later than usual because of the Christmas holidays. The data will give an indication of the demand for oil in the largest oil-consuming country. (Reporting and editing by Muralikumar Aantharaman in Singapore)
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Four Liechtenstein families found dead
Police said on Thursday that the three Liechtensteiners who were found dead in the past week belonged to the same family. The local police confirmed that the body of a 41 year old man was found on Wednesday, on the Swiss bank of the Rhine near Vaduz. The police reported that he was a senior employee from the municipality of Triesen south of Vaduz who had been suspended just a few weeks earlier because of?irregularities in the accounting. Later, police?found in an apartment of Vaduz the bodies of two women aged 45 and 68, and a man, 73. The police said that these were the parents and sister of the municipality worker. The four deaths are being investigated by autopsies. (Written by Dave Graham, edited by Andrew Cawthorne).
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Ukraine uses drones Storm Shadows to strike Russian oil and gas facilities
Ukraine has launched British Storm Shadow missiles as well as its own?domestically-produced long-range drones in order to target several Russian oil and?gas?facilities. Ukraine used British-made missiles in the past to strike Russian industrial targets, which it claims help Moscow's war. The Ukrainian General Staff stated that the air force had used Storm Shadow missiles to attack the Novoshakhtinsk refinery located in the Rostov Region of Russia. "Multiple explosions have been recorded." On Thursday, the General Staff announced on Telegram that the target was "hit". The refinery was said to be one of the largest oil suppliers in southern Russia, and supplied diesel and jet fuel to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. The SBU, Ukraine's security service, said that long-range drones made locally?hit oil products tanks in the Russian Port of Temryuk located in the Krasnodar Region and a gas processing plant at Orenburg on the southwest coast of Russia. Orenburg, the largest gas processing facility in the world is located approximately 1,400 km (870 miles) away from the Ukrainian border. After the drone attack, two tanks of oil products caught fire in the southern port of Temryuk. Authorities at the Krasnodar Operational Headquarters said on the Telegram App that flames covered a surface area of approximately 2,000 square meters. Both Kyiv, and Moscow, have increased their drone and missile strikes on energy facilities as the Russian war in Ukraine nears its fourth anniversary. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have not yielded any tangible results. Kyiv has increased its attacks on Russia's refineries and energy infrastructure in order to reduce Moscow's 'oil revenues', which are a major source of funding its war effort. Ukrainian General Staff said that Ukrainian troops also hit a military airport in the Russian town of Maikop, in the Republic of Adygea region of the North Caucasus.
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Shanghai copper hovers just below the record high, as Chinese demand increases and dollar weakens
Shanghai copper hovered just below a new record high on Thursday as Chinese demand increased and the U.S. Dollar weakened. The most active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended daytime trading up by 1% at 96,210 Yuan ($13732.51) per metric ton. Shanghai copper reached an all-time record of 96.750 yuan per ton on Tuesday, while?London's benchmark also hit a high at $12.282, close to the $12.300 mark. The London market is closed over the Christmas Holiday. The rise in copper was due to a surge in Chinese demand as the holiday season approached. Yangshan Copper?premium The price of seaborne copper units has been rising since the beginning of December. It reached its highest level since late September, $55 per ton. Prices had been hovering around $40 since mid-October. China's top copper smelters, in a Thursday meeting, decided to not set guidance on the processing fees of copper?concentrates for the first quarter 2026, due to historically low prices and a shortage of raw materials. Investors bet on further interest rate cuts by the U.S. Fed Reserve next year to continue the?weakening of the U.S. Dollar. Aluminium and lead were also up in the SHFE base metals. Zinc fell 0.56%. Nickel's six-day rally ended with a decline of 1.22%. Tin lost 1.18%.
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Japan's lobby leader says China's export licenses will not reduce excessive steel exports
Tadashi Imai, Chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, said that China's proposed export-licence requirements would not be effective in curbing export volumes or supporting a recovery in prices. China, the world's biggest steel producer, will implement a licensing system in 2026 for export regulation. This is because robust shipments of metal have fueled a protectionist backlash around the globe. Imai said at a press conference that the permits are aimed at controlling quality. China's steel exports have become a global concern. Japan is among the countries that criticize Chinese firms for receiving government subsidies which?encourage exports at low prices and overproduction. The Federation forecast that Japan's domestic demand for steel from the construction and manufacturing industries will remain flat during the fiscal year beginning in April. Crude steel production is expected to remain unchanged. The Japanese trade and industry ministry forecast this week that Japan’s crude steel production for the current fiscal year will fall by 3.2% to 80.33 millions metric tons, which is the lowest since fiscal 1967. Imai, also the president of Nippon Steel and the CEO of the company, was asked about the impact that U.S. Tariffs will have on his company. He said the tariffs could cut the profit by about 20 billion yen (130 million dollars) this fiscal year, while exports to the U.S. would be halved from the previous year. He said that the total impact of the tariff, which included indirect effects such as the 15% on automobiles was less than what he had expected.
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Dalian iron ore continues to benefit Beijing's home buyers
The prices of Dalian Iron Ore Futures rose for the?second straight session on Thursday as Beijing relaxed its restrictions on domestic?buying. The day-traded price of the most traded?iron ore? contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 0.58% higher, at 778.5 Yuan ($111.10) per metric ton. Singapore's market will be closed on Christmas Day, Thursday. Beijing's municipal officials further relaxed curbs on home purchase on Wednesday, lowering the qualification thresholds for home buyers, as part of the latest effort to?boost the demand amid the worsening prices of homes in the Chinese capital. Chinese officials pledged earlier this week that they would step up their efforts to stabilize the property market by 2026. Market participants were watching to see if other large cities would ease up home buying further. China's property industry, which used to be its largest steel consumer, has suffered a steady decline since mid-2021, with falling home prices and shrinking sales. The property market slump has had a negative impact on steel consumption, but robust exports and growing demand in the manufacturing sector have helped to offset some of the decline. Analysts also said that the expectation of steel mills booking more seaborne cargoes during the Lunar New Year holiday, in February, to "meet their consumption needs" was another factor supporting the prices. The price gains were curtailed by high portside inventories of?iron ore and seasonal slack demand for steel. The coking coal, the coke and other ingredients used in steelmaking are largely unchanged. The benchmark steel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange are mixed. The rebar and hot-rolled coil grew by 0.03%. Wire rod jumped 1.21%, while stainless steel fell 0.08%. ($1 = 7.0074 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting and editing by Amy Lv, Ryan Woo and William Mallard).
China commits to controlling steel production during the 2026-2030 period
China said on Friday that it would continue to regulate crude-steel output and prohibit the addition of illegally new capacity between?2026 and 2030.
As part of its plan to reduce carbon emissions, the world’s largest steel producer and consumer will stop increasing crude steel production in 2021.
A protracted downturn in the property market had also affected domestic steel consumption, leaving the industry with an overcapacity.
China's crude output of steel fell by 4% in the first 11 month of?2025 compared to the same period a year ago, keeping the annual total on course to drop below 1?billion tonnes for the first time in 6 years.
In a recent statement, the National Development and Reform Commission (the state planner) said that the raw materials industry, including the steel, is currently experiencing a problem with an unbalanced supply-demand.
The report added that "the raw-materials industry must deepen the supply-side reform in the Fifteenth Five Year Plan (2026-2030)... survival of the fittest is promoted."
China's steel imports have been a booming business since 2023. This has helped to offset the decline in domestic demand. They have also sparked a global protectionist backlash with a growing number countries enforcing trade barriers because they claim that China's cheap goods harm local manufacturers.
Beijing announced last week a plan for a licensing system to be implemented in 2026, to regulate the exports of around 300 steel-related products.
(source: Reuters)