Analys

Trump holds the key for commodities

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7 år sedan

den

31 augusti, 2018

SHB Handelsbanken - Tradingcase råvaror - Analys

In a summer when investors have been caught off guard by everything from emerging market woes and the dollar’s tailwind to a brewing trade war, commodity markets have once again appeared in the crosshairs in terms of market turbulence. This time, it is not China, OPEC or oil which are central to crisis, but rather it is the USD-financed emerging markets and their mined metal and soft commodity production. We do not think the emerging markets crisis will be a China crisis and we believe that copper and zinc are set to rebound.

Starting point is Trump’s politics

MSCI and S&P500

Three major President Trump-related developments are having a significant impact on the commodity universe right now. First, the US decision to leave the Iran agreement and impose sanctions in two stages against Tehran laid the ground for a more direct market pricing of any similar actions against other countries.

Second, sanctions were imposed on Russia, and and most recently, US import tariffs on steel and aluminium were doubled on Turkey.

Third, on top of sanctions, developments in the trade war stalled during the summer and the positions of the various sides appeared to become locked.

These developments served to illustrate the US approach to emerging markets, in our view, and changed market pricing, kicking off a divergence between the pricing of US assets and those of emerging markets.

Turkey will not spread to Asia

If the Turkish currency crisis is not staved off, the risk of a financial system meltdown and, ultimately, a government debt default is high. But even though Spanish banks are vulnerable, Turkey’s problems should not hurt the overall eurozone economy to a significant degree. Euro weakness and European stock market declines due to the escalation of Turkey’s crisis therefore seem to be overdone. However, Turkey is far from out of the woods yet and the situation might need to worsen still to convince Turkey to adopt a painful, but more sustainable, path toward regaining financial markets’ trust. Other emerging markets with similar challenges, such as South Africa, Argentina and Pakistan, also face tough times ahead.

China stands out

CDS

What ties the affected emerging market countries together this time is expensive USD financing. China is not among them. This is can be seen clearly by studying developments in the cost of credit default swaps, or CDS.

China has barely moved while Turkey and Argentina have gone through the roof. Among the worst hit are Brazil, South Africa and Russia. These countries have also seen their currencies underperform along with their local equity markets.

As currencies have fallen, investors have started to anticipate an increase in the export of commodities to secure income. We have seen agricultural commodities trading lower, as seasonal stockpiles are expected to be shipped at a higher rate than normal.

Numbers point to a brighter future

The idea that fear is stronger than greed is relevant here, in our view. We think the first phase of President Trump’s threatening of the emerging markets is over. Running the numbers on the impact of tariffs still points to a bright future. It is hard to prove that tariffs will take a meaningful toll on growth in consumption, we believe. The impact on corporate investment is more difficult to judge. Typically, there are many negative assumptions made ahead of investments decisions. After President Trump’s “flip flop” policies, there is scope for many more multinational companies. Our base case is that President Trump will sign a deal with China in November, in time to influence the midterm elections. In such a scenario, we think base metals would recover, especially copper. Within base metals, it is clear that those more exposed to the Asian construction sector, e.g. copper and zinc, have been the greatest losers, while nickel has done much better, supported by a larger share of demand coming from the US and Europe, posting positive data during the summer.

Oil is all about Iran

Annons

The first phase of the new US sanctions against Iran came into force in August. Among other things, this means that Iran cannot use USD. However, sanctions on oil exports will not come into effect until November. These sanctions will probably not hit the country as hard as the previous ones, as they do not have the support of the rest of the world.

Oil prices rose after, among other things, the French oil company Total announced at the OPEC meeting in June that it had already stopped buying oil from Iran. This decision was a typical action in line with American sanctions, whereby a company safeguards its activities in the US and prioritises trade with the US as the larger market. President Trump also always has the option of taking sanctions against Iran to the next level. As with the last occasion that the US used sanctions against Iran, the country could forbid all companies that trade with Iran from having access to the huge US market, and prevent dollar funding. This makes the US sanctions very effective.

In the first half of the year, leaders from the EU tried to get the US to remain in the Iran agreement and presented a series of measures to instead put pressure on Iran, including closing down the missile programme. The Trump administration considered the measures to be insufficient, and chose to withdraw from the agreement. Now, the administration has urged Iran to return to the negotiating table to formulate a more comprehensive agreement than the previous one; however, Iran has stated that the US must first revert to the agreement before negotiations can recommence.

In our view, the current sanctions are fully accounted for in the oil price and a certain amount of ‘over-compliance’, such as in the example of Total, is also priced in. However, what has not been included in the oil price, in our view, is the reality of President Trump taking a step further and cutting off Iran from the global economy completely. In that case, for example, China would not be able to import oil from Iran. The latest decrease in the oil price (from around USD 78/barrel in early July to USD 72) can mainly be attributed to the escalating trade war between the US and China, in our view, but this does not mean that the situation with Iran has become any less significant.

Sparkling electricity market

Power markets have surged during the summer as because of weak hydro supply and high temperatures (Nordic reservoirs now 18% below seasonal norm). Prices also supported by strong fuels complex and Emission Rights hitting a 7-year high EUR 19.33 at the time of this being published.

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Analys

OPEC+ will likely unwind 500 kb/d of voluntary quotas in October. But a full unwind of 1.5 mb/d in one go could be in the cards

Publicerat

2 dagar sedan

den

1 oktober, 2025

Redaktionen

Down to mid-60ies as Iraq lifts production while Saudi may be tired of voluntary cut frugality. The Brent December contract dropped 1.6% yesterday to USD 66.03/b. This morning it is down another 0.3% to USD 65.8/b. The drop in the price came on the back of the combined news that Iraq has resumed 190 kb/d of production in Kurdistan with exports through Turkey while OPEC+ delegates send signals that the group will unwind the remaining 1.65 mb/d (less the 137 kb/d in October) of voluntary cuts at a pace of 500 kb/d per month pace.

Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief analyst commodities, SEB

Signals of accelerated unwind and Iraqi increase may be connected. Russia, Kazakhstan and Iraq were main offenders versus the voluntary quotas they had agreed to follow. Russia had a production ’debt’ (cumulative overproduction versus quota) of close to 90 mb in March this year while Kazakhstan had a ’debt’ of about 60 mb and the same for Iraq. This apparently made Saudi Arabia angry this spring. Why should Saudi Arabia hold back if the other voluntary cutters were just freeriding? Thus the sudden rapid unwinding of voluntary cuts. That is at least one angle of explanations for the accelerated unwinding.

If the offenders with production debts then refrained from lifting production as the voluntary cuts were rapidly unwinded, then they could ’pay back’ their ’debts’ as they would under-produce versus the new and steadily higher quotas.

Forget about Kazakhstan. Its production was just too far above the quotas with no hope that the country would hold back production due to cross-ownership of oil assets by international oil companies. But Russia and Iraq should be able to do it.

Iraqi cumulative overproduction versus quotas could reach 85-90 mb in October. Iraq has however steadily continued to overproduce by 3-5 mb per month. In July its new and gradually higher quota came close to equal with a cumulative overproduction of only 0.6 mb that month. In August again however its production had an overshoot of 100 kb/d or 3.1 mb for the month. Its cumulative production debt had then risen to close to 80 mb. We don’t know for September yet. But looking at October we now know that its production will likely average close to 4.5 mb/d due to the revival of 190 kb/d of production in Kurdistan. Its quota however will only be 4.24 mb/d. Its overproduction in October will thus likely be around 250 kb/d above its quota with its production debt rising another 7-8 mb to a total of close to 90 mb.

Again, why should Saudi Arabia be frugal while Iraq is freeriding. Better to get rid of the voluntary quotas as quickly as possible and then start all over with clean sheets.

Unwinding the remaining 1.513 mb/d in one go in October? If OPEC+ unwinds the remaining 1.513 mb/d of voluntary cuts in one big go in October, then Iraq’s quota will be around 4.4 mb/d for October versus its likely production of close to 4.5 mb/d for the coming month..

OPEC+ should thus unwind the remaining 1.513 mb/d (1.65 – 0.137 mb/d) in one go for October in order for the quota of Iraq to be able to keep track with Iraq’s actual production increase.

October 5 will show how it plays out. But a quota unwind of at least 500 kb/d for Oct seems likely. An overall increase of at least 500 kb/d in the voluntary quota for October looks likely. But it could be the whole 1.513 mb/d in one go. If the increase in the quota is ’only’ 500 kb/d then Iraqi cumulative production will still rise by 5.7 mb to a total of 85 mb in October.

Iraqi production debt versus quotas will likely rise by 5.7 mb in October if OPEC+ only lifts the overall quota by 500 kb/d in October. Here assuming historical production debt did not rise in September. That Iraq lifts its production by 190 kb/d in October to 4.47 mb/d (August level + 190 kb/d) and that OPEC+ unwinds 500 kb/d of the remining quotas in October when they decide on this on 5 October.

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Analys

Modest draws, flat demand, and diesel back in focus

Publicerat

7 dagar sedan

den

26 september, 2025

Redaktionen

U.S. commercial crude inventories posted a marginal draw last week, falling by 0.6 million barrels to 414.8 million barrels. Inventories remain 4% below the five-year seasonal average, but the draw is far smaller than last week’s massive 9.3-million-barrel decline. Higher crude imports (+803,000 bl d WoW) and steady refinery runs (93% utilization) helped keep the crude balance relatively neutral.

Ole R. Hvalbye, Analyst Commodities, SEB

Yet another drawdown indicates commercial crude inventories continue to trend below the 2015–2022 seasonal norm (~440 million barrels), though at 414.8 million barrels, levels are now almost exactly in line with both the 2023 and 2024 trajectory, suggesting stable YoY conditions (see page 3 attached).

Gasoline inventories dropped by 1.1 million barrels and are now 2% below the five-year average. The decline was broad-based, with both finished gasoline and blending components falling, indicating lower output and resilient end-user demand as we enter the shoulder season post-summer (see page 6 attached).

On the diesel side, distillate inventories declined by 1.7 million barrels, snapping a two-week streak of strong builds. At 125 million barrels, diesel inventories are once again 8% below the five-year average and trending near the low end of the historical range.

In total, commercial petroleum inventories (excl. SPR) slipped by 0.5 million barrels on the week to ish 1,281.5 million barrels. While essentially flat, this ends a two-week streak of meaningful builds, reflecting a return to a slightly tighter situation.

On the demand side, the DOE’s ‘products supplied’ metric (see page 6 attached), a proxy for implied consumption, softened slightly. Total demand for crude oil over the past four weeks averaged 20.5 million barrels per day, up just 0.9% YoY.

Summing up: This week’s report shows a re-tightening in diesel supply and modest draws across the board, while demand growth is beginning to flatten. Inventories remain structurally low, but the tone is less bullish than in recent weeks.

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Analys

Are Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure working?

Publicerat

1 vecka sedan

den

24 september, 2025

Redaktionen

Brent crude rose 1.6% yesterday. After trading in a range of USD 66.1 – 68.09/b it settled at USD 67.63/b. A level which we are well accustomed to see Brent crude flipping around since late August. This morning it is trading 0.5% higher at USD 68/b. The market was expecting an increase of 230 kb/d in Iraqi crude exports from Kurdistan through Turkey to the Cheyhan port but that has so far failed to materialize. This probably helped to drive Brent crude higher yesterday. Indications last evening that US crude oil inventories likely fell 3.8 mb last week (indicative numbers by API) probably also added some strength to Brent crude late in the session. The market continues to await the much heralded global surplus materializing as rising crude and product inventories in OECD countries in general and the US specifically.

The oil market is starting to focus increasingly on the successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Especially the attacks on Russian refineries. Refineries are highly complex and much harder to repair than simple crude oil facilities like export pipelines, ports and hubs. It can take months and months to repair complex refineries. It is thus mainly Russian oil products which will be hurt by this. First oil product exports will go down, thereafter Russia will have to ration oil product consumption domestically. Russian crude exports may not be hurt as much. Its crude exports could actually go up as its capacity to process crude goes down. SEB’s Emerging Market strategist Erik Meyersson wrote about the Ukrainian campaign this morning: ”Are Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure working?”. Phillips P O’Brian published an interesting not on this as well yesterday: ”An Update On The Ukrainian Campaign Against Russian Refineries”. It is a pay-for article, but it is well worth reading. Amongst other things it highlights the strategic focus of Ukraine towards Russia’s energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian on the matter also put out a visual representation of the attacks on twitter. We have not verified the data representation. It needs to be interpreted with caution in terms of magnitude of impact and current outage.

Complex Russian oil refineries are sitting ducks in the new, modern long-range drone war. Ukraine is building a range of new weapons as well according to O’Brian. The problem with attacks on Russian refineries is thus on the rise. This will likely be an escalating problem for Russia. And oil products around the world may rise versus the crude oil price while the crude oil price itself may not rise all that much due to this.

Russian clean oil product exports as presented by SEB’s Erik Meyersson in his note this morning.

The ICE Gasoil crack and the 3.5% fuel oil crack has been strengthening. The 3.5% crack should have weakened along with rising exports of sour crude from OPEC+, but it hasn’t. Rather it has moved higher instead. The higher cracks could in part be due to the Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Ukrainian inhabitants graphical representation of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries on Twitter. Highlighting date of attacks, size of refineries and distance from Ukraine. We have not verified the detailed information. And you cannot derive the amount of outage as a consequence of this.