Analysis: Commodities

Malaysia palm oil producers look to prisons, rehab centres to solve labour crunch

Malaysia's labour-reliant palm oil companies are looking to recruit recovering drug addicts and prisoners to solve a severe shortage of migrant foreign workers as the coronavirus pandemic shuts...

Gold slips on robust dollar; ECB meeting awaited

Gold prices fell to hit their lowest in nearly two weeks on Tuesday, as the dollar strengthened and investors awaited a policy decision from the European Central Bank this week.

Move aside robots, Tesla bets on aluminium casting

Robots are not efficient enough for Tesla's new car factory in Germany, which plans to replace hundreds of them with giant aluminium casting machines to build simpler chassis parts, a person familiar...

Thai rubber prices hit near three-year high on global demand

Thailand's benchmark rubber prices rallied and nearly reached a three-year high this month as global demand rose and China's economy recovered, a Thai official said on Tuesday.

U.S. considering ban on cotton from Xinjiang region of China over rights concerns - NYT

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing a ban on some or all products made with cotton from the Xinjiang region of China over alleged human rights violations, the New York Times...

Gold price dip lures some buyers in India, demand sags elsewhere

Retail demand for physical gold picked up slightly in India this week on a dip in domestic prices and a festival, but top bullion hubs across Asia saw muted activity.

Gold gains as stocks retreat; U.S. jobs data in focus

Gold prices rose on Friday, as U.S. Treasury yields fell and a pullback in global equities bolstered demand for the safe-haven metal ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data, but a strong dollar put...

UK's Costa Coffee may cut 1,650 jobs as virus-hit forces restructuring

Costa Coffee, a unit of Coca-Cola Co, said on Thursday a plan to deal with the hit to its UK stores from the COVID-19 health crisis could result in 1,650 people losing their jobs, becoming the latest...

South Africa's Implats earnings up nearly 400% on weak rand, costly metal

South Africa's Impala Platinum's annual earnings jumped by nearly 400% after higher metal prices and a weaker rand offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said on Thursday. ...

U.S. largest crude oil refinery to be making motor fuels by Sept. 11 - sources

Motiva Enterprises plans for the largest U.S. crude oil refinery to return to making motor fuels by Sept. 11 following restart from a complete shutdown, said sources familiar with plant operations on...

China's looming corn shortage fans food security unease

Soaring corn prices are stoking food security jitters in China, where food inflation has climbed to the highest in over a decade and President Xi Jinping made a recent high-profile plea for an end to...

Gold gains, but off two-week high on robust U.S. data

Gold prices edged up on Tuesday as the dollar weakened, although a better-than-expected U.S. manufacturing data improved hopes about a U.S. economic recovery and pulled the metal down from a near...

BRENT CRUDE OIL SPOT: The Puzzle of Oil Demand Assessment

There is a calm mood in the markets, which certainly best illustrate the uncertainty of the operators, torn between the hopes of an economic recovery and the fears of a second wave of Covid-19s here...

ICCO sees global cocoa surplus of 42,000 T in 2019/20

The International Cocoa Organization on Monday forecast a global cocoa surplus of 42,000 tonnes in the 2019/20 season, which runs from October to September....

Oil dips as prices struggle to break through demand uncertainty

Oil prices dropped on Monday, with Brent slipping from a five-month high as global demand remained below pre-COVID levels while U.S. production edged up.

Gold inches up, but set for first monthly decline in five

Gold prices edged up on Monday as the U.S. dollar weakened, although record high equities capped bullion's gains and set it for its first monthly decline in five.

AngloGold Ashanti, Barrick Gold to sell 'Morila the gorilla' stakes

AngloGold Ashanti and Barrick Gold will sell their effective 80% stake in the Morila Gold Mine in Mali, the miners said on Monday, as political crisis grips the West African nation after soldiers...

Hurricane-related shut-ins curb 82% of oil, 59% of natural gas output in U.S. Gulf of Mexico, regulator says

U.S. energy companies on Saturday continued to restaff offshore oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Interior.

Barrick, Chinese firm to challenge PNG's 'purported grant' of mine lease

Barrick Gold and a Chinese partner on Friday said they would challenge Papua New Guinea's apparent move to grant a 20-year lease for the Porgera gold mine to a state-backed firm, the latest escalation...