Analys
Metals rallied ahead of spot fundamentals, but better times are indeed ahead
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Industrial metals rallied close to 25% from 1 Dec-2023 to 20 May-2024 as marginal optimism replaced recession fears. But prices have pulled back a bit since then as economic growth optimism has run ahead of spot fundamentals. Industrial metals prices rallied close to 25% from 1 Dec-2023 to 20 May-2024. A solid gain on the back of reviving optimism as global manufacturing PMI’s rose from depressed levels in December to now just above the 50-line. Speculative money rolled into the space to catch a ride on economic revival as well as wanting to hold commodities as a sort of protection against inflation. But the actual state of the global economy isn’t all that strong yet.
![Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief analyst commodities, SEB](https://ravarumarknaden.se/wp-content/uploads/bjarne-schieldrop-seb.jpg)
Rather it is quite weak in absolute terms with the global manufacturing PMI barely just above the 50-line and barely in expansionary territory. Thus, prompt weaknesses can be seen in many places in both metals and energy with rising inventories and weakening curve structures and premiums. The price rally has thus been on a collision course with spot fundamentals. And that eventually helped to bring metals prices back down a bit since 20 May.
That said we do hold the view that there are better times ahead. Consumer prices are cooling, Covid-19 induced inflation is fading and central banks across the world are set to lower policy rates over the coming year. The ECB just cut its policy rate by 0.25% which is the first cut in 5 years. We think other central banks will follow suite as inflation cools around the world. And that is the real start of economic revival. The global economy will then shift from current patchy growth here and there to a more broad-based upturn. And as such the investors who have driven the bull-train so far will likely be right in the end. It is just a bit early.
Brent Crude. Steady as we go: OPEC+ keeps on holding large volumes off market to support prices. The group has flagged that it wants to return volumes to market but is in no hurry to do so. Fading shale oil growth is shifting market power back to OPEC+.
Nat gas TTF. Crisis behind us but still some tightness. The crisis is now clearly behind us, but the market is still on the tight side with some need for demand destruction as the global LNG market has not yet fully managed to compensate lost Russian gas.
EUA carbon. The trough is behind us. Back to EUR 100/ton in 2025. The EUA price crashed to EUR 49.54/ton intraday on 23 Feb depressed by a crash in nat gas prices, low emissions and front-loading of supply. Prepare for EUR 100/ton or more in 2025.
Aluminum 3mth. Too far, too fast. Back to USD 2400/ton before gains in 2025. Aluminum has rallied more than USD 400/ton since February to now USD 2613/ton without support from a comparable gain in coal prices or drawdown in inventories. Helped higher by speculative appetite and increased friction in global trade flows due to new sanctions on Russian metals.
Copper 3mth. Prompt market not that tight. Back above USD 10,000/ton in 2025. The LME 3mth rallied to USD 10,889/ton (LME 3mth) and US Comex copper rallied to USD 11,285/ton. Rally was driven by tightness in the US (IRA++) and speculators frontrunning economic acceleration and global copper deficit. But signs of physical weaknesses many places to be seen in premiums and curves. Flat price now coming back off. But back up above USD 10,000/ton in 2025 and later as market tightens.
Nickel 3mth. Dragged along with the copper rally but Indonesia still looking to grab more market share. The LME 3mth nickel price rallied to USD 21,615/ton in May, dragged along with the industrial metals rally. But decline has been sharp since then. We are not very bullish on Nickel going forward as Indonesia seems to focus on growing market share rather than profits.
Zinc: Joined the rally. Now back down to USD 2800/ton which could be fair price nearest years. The zinc price spent a long time around USD 2500/ton before rallying to USD 3139/ton. But USD 2800/ton will likely be a fair price for zinc the nearest years.
Analys
Anticipated demand weakness sends chills
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Brent crude stabilized around USD 73 per barrel yesterday and this morning, following U.S. inventory data that showed significant draws for yet another week, along with OPEC’s decision to delay output hikes for two months. However, the shift in OPEC+ strategy wasn’t enough to offset the sharp losses in crude prices witnessed over the past few weeks, with Brent falling by USD 8.5 per barrel (10.3%) since late August. This recent decline has largely been driven by concerns over fragile demand.
Looking ahead, despite the bullish U.S. inventory report (detailed below), the market’s focus remains on the anticipated weakness in crude and product demand, which is overshadowing positive signals. Deep concerns persist, especially regarding China, which typically accounts for roughly 40% of annual global demand growth.
Moreover, the current change in OPEC+ strategy does not guarantee stability moving forward. There is still uncertainty around how OPEC+ will proceed: whether it will continue to delay production or release more volumes to the market. Historically, OPEC+ has maintained a ”price floor” at USD 80+ per barrel, stepping in to support prices. However, this floor may now be shifting. Lastly, the Russia-Ukraine diesel shock has mostly dissipated, leading to a decline in the diesel crack and global diesel prices, which in turn is reducing stress on crude markets.
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.9 million barrels per day last week, reflecting a slight increase from the prior week, with refineries operating at 93.3% capacity. U.S. commercial crude inventories dropped by 6.9 million barrels, bringing the total to 418.3 million barrels—about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year, signaling a clear tightness in supply.
Since June, U.S. crude inventories have consistently shown substantial draws (see page 12), underscoring strong implied demand (see page 15) and slower-than-expected production growth. U.S. crude production appears to have plateaued, and its trajectory for the rest of the year will be crucial to monitor.
Gasoline inventories rose by 0.8 million barrels but remained 2% below the five-year average, while distillate (diesel) inventories fell by 0.4 million barrels, standing a significant 10% below their historical average.
On the import side, U.S. crude oil imports averaged 5.8 million barrels per day last week, down by 768,000 barrels from the previous week, further contributing to the supply draw. With China’s weakening economy now a focal point for commodities markets, pushing industrial commodities lower, the energy sector remains vulnerable but resilient for now.
Gasoline production reached 9.7 million barrels per day, and diesel production hit 5.2 million barrels per day, both reflecting steady output. Additionally, overall petroleum inventories fell by 8.0 million barrels (see page 14).
Earlier this week, we released our updated Oil and Gas Price Outlook, which provides detailed projections and insights into market trends through 2027. In the report, we forecast lower oil prices in 2025 as the market shifts to surplus, driven by tepid demand growth – particularly from China – and rising production both within and outside of OPEC+. We expect OPEC+ to tolerate some price declines in exchange for higher volumes, which could lead to increased price volatility. Yet, a market deficit is likely to return in 2026, setting the stage for a price rebound. In the natural gas market, tight LNG supply conditions are expected to sustain upward price pressure through 2024 and 2025, despite high EU inventories, with relief coming in late 2026 as new production capacity becomes available.
Analys
Brent crude will fluctuate more as OPEC+ loosens market control
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Market focuses on China weakness and more supply from OPEC+ while the sound of Israeli rockets in Lebanon one weak ago are fading. Following a high of USD 80.53/b on Monday last week (following Lebanon – Israel rocket exchange on Sunday 25 Aug.) the Brent November contract traded downhill and ended the week at USD 76.93/b. On a Friday to Friday basis however, the November contract was down by only 1.6%. So not at all a total route. This morning the Brent Nov. contract is down 0.7% at USD 76.4/b on combined concerns for the Chinese economy and increasing signs that OPEC+ will indeed lift production in Q4-24 as earlier signaled. The current disturbances in Libya’s oil production could provide room for added supply from OPEC+. But fluctuations in Libya’s oil production has become quite normal over the latest years and any outages will probably be short lived. And to what we can understand from the news flow there has been given signals for restart of production already.
![Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief analyst commodities, SEB](https://ravarumarknaden.se/wp-content/uploads/bjarne-schieldrop-seb.jpg)
Softer towards the end of the year? The Brent crude oil price has a historical tendency for weakness in the latter part of the year. With continued deterioration in China and added barrels from OPEC+ in Q4-24 this could very well be the case also this year.
Brent will likely move over a wider range with softer market control by OPEC+. OPEC+ looks set to move to a softer price control regime. Shifting from a strict ”price” focus regime to some kind of hybrid ”price/volume” market control. This should allow the Brent crude oil price to fluctuate more. The difference between the highest and the lowest Brent crude oil price over the past 400 days is only USD 27.6/b. The median since 2009 is USD 50/b.
Bearish concerns for the future. But market looks tight here and now and Mid-East is very unstable. Lots of bearish talk and concerns, but physical signals are still tight. US oil inventories have been falling steadily and counter seasonally over the past 6 weeks and floating global crude stocks have fallen sharply and by more than 50 m barrels since a peak in June. Combine this with the very unstable situation in the Middle East and it is not so easy to sit with large short positions in oil.
The Brent crude November contract in USD/b
52 week ranking of Net long specs in Brent + WTI and ranking of Brent crude curve backwardation
Net long spec for Brent + WTI in million barrels
Historical average Brent crude oil prices per month since 2008 in nominal USD/b
Brent crude 400 day rolling High-Low price spread in USD/b difference
Total US commercial crude and product stocks in million barrels
Global, floating crude oil stocks in million barrels.
Analys
Fear of coming weakness trumps current tightness
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Brent crude has continued its decline from earlier this week, dropping USD 2 per barrel since yesterday’s high in the afternoon, a decline of approximately 2.6%. It is currently trading at USD 75.9 per barrel, nearing its lowest level since early August and approaching the yearly low of USD 74.8 per barrel from early January.
Looking ahead, despite a bullish U.S. inventory report (detailed below), the fear of future weakness is overshadowing this positive news.
As highlighted in Tuesday’s crude oil comment, at the top of our “worry list” is the deteriorating economic outlook in China, which is worsening more rapidly than previously anticipated. Recent data from July indicates that bank loans to the real economy contracted for the first time in 19 years. Despite lower interest rates, corporations are not borrowing due to a loss of confidence. Fewer loans equate to reduced economic activity, which is evident in the decline in factory output. This situation intensifies concerns about Chinese oil demand, as the market increasingly believes that the weakness in Chinese oil imports may not be a temporary blip but a more sustained issue.
Additionally, yesterday’s sharp crude sell-off was influenced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) adjustment, which revealed 818,000 fewer jobs than expected—the largest downward revision since 2009. While the Fed’s July meeting minutes had already reflected doubts about previous job data, making the revision less surprising, it nonetheless reinforces the view that the labor market is cooling, strengthening the case for a potential rate cut in September.
It is also worth noting that when crude oil prices were at current levels earlier in the year, the ’dated to front’ line was negative, whereas it is now positive. This shift suggests a fairly tight physical market, further evidenced by continuous inventory drawdowns.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excl. SPR) dropped by 4.6 million barrels, bringing the total to 426 million barrels, which is approximately 5% below the five-year average for this time of year. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels and are 3% below the five-year average. Distillate (diesel) inventories also saw a drawdown of 3.3 million barrels, leaving them 10% below the five-year average. Overall, total commercial petroleum inventories declined by 5.9 million barrels last week—a clear indication of current market tightness.
Looking ahead to other potential weaknesses, the normalization of refinery margins suggests significantly less demand from refineries compared to the very strong margins seen in 2022, most of 2023, and the beginning of 2024. Consequently, we can expect reduced crude demand for refining in the future, reinforcing the expectation of “coming weaknesses.” Against this backdrop, a retest of the yearly low remains a possibility.
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