International coal prices hit $124 per ton this week, the highest levels in five months, as strong demand from reconstruction projects in Japan and reduced supply from flood-ravaged Australia has made coal supply tight. The floods in Queensland, Australia cut the country’s output of coal by 15 percent and other big coal producers such as Indonesia, South Africa and Colombia are experiencing similar production cuts due to floods of their own.
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Coal Use Shine’s Light on Growth
Filed Under: Gold Fundamentals, Stock Market Commentary, U.S. Dollar Tagged With: aluminum, Australia, cement, coal prices, Colombia, Commodities, DR EXTRA!, EIA, electricity, electricity consumption, emerging markets, Energy, floods, Guangdong, Indonesia, Japan, Markets, National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC), National Energy Association (NEA), NEA, NRDC, output, Queensland, reconstruction projects, Shenhua Energy and China Coal Energy, South Africa, steel, USCOX, utility, Xstrata, Zhejiang, zinc
The BRIC Self Sufficiency Index
Demand for natural resources in the emerging world is increasing, but how much of this increased demand is met by the country’s own production?
This interesting chart from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch shows the supply/demand fundamentals of several key industrial metals and basic materials.
[Read more...]Filed Under: Gold Fundamentals, Stock Market Commentary, U.S. Dollar Tagged With: aluminum, Basic Materials, BRIC, coal, Commodities, copper, copper concentrate, domestic demand, DR EXTRA!, emerging markets, emerging world, industrial metals, iron ore, Markets, natural resources, nickel, PSPFX, refined copper, thermal coal, uranium, zinc
2011 Halftime Report: The Cues for Copper
Copper slightly disappointed investors, ending the first half of the year with a decline of 3.50 percent. Worries about global inflation and, more specifically, the potential slowing of China’s economy weighed on copper’s price. The red metal rose 5 percent quickly in the new year, but similar to zinc, lead, palladium and platinum prices, declined sharply at the beginning of May.
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