Analys
Metals price forecast: Lower Before Higher
Lower before higher
The world is slowing down along with fiscal and monetary tightening. The rapid rise in interest rates this year will work with a lag so the slowdown in the real economy is likely to continue. We expect metals prices to ease along with that. The continued deterioration in the Chinese property market is likely structural with growth shifting towards higher value sectors including green energy and EVs. Chinese credit expansion has started. Stronger demand for metals like copper, nickel and aluminium is likely to emerge in H2-23. Strong prices for metals over the coming decade due to sub-par capex spending over the past decade is likely.
Weakening macro and weakening demand. The world is now in the grip of a tightening craze amid inflation panic which was the result of the stimulus boom ignited by Covid-19 panic. The US expanded its M2 monetary base by 30% of GDP during the stimulus boom. Donald Trump earlier clamped down on immigration from Mexico/Latin America. Rampant consumer spending on capital goods together with an ultra-tight labor market then led to intense inflation pressure in the US. But also, in many other countries which also stimulated too much. The US is ahead of the curve with respect to interest rate hikes. The USD has rallied, forcing many central banks around the world to lift rates to defend their currencies as well as fighting their own inflationary pressures. The Japanese central bank has refrained from doing so and has instead intervened in the yen currency market for the first time since 1998. The year 2022 will likely be the worst selloff in global government bonds since 1949 as interest rates rise rapidly from very low levels. This is taking place following a decade where the world has been gorging on ultra-cheap debt. There is clearly a risk that something will break apart somewhere in the financial system as the world gallops through this extreme roller coaster ride of stimulus and tightening. On top of this we have and energy crisis in Europe where natural gas prices for year 2023 currently is priced at 700% of normal levels. War in Ukraine, risk for the use of nuclear weapons, an enduring cool-down of the Chinese property market and continued lock-downs in China due to Covid-19 is adding plenty of uncertain elements.
Downside price risks for metals over the coming 6-9 months. The significant rise in rates around the world will work with a lag. There can be up to a 12-month lag from rates starts to rise to when they take real effect. Continued economic cool-down in the economy is thus likely. Chinese politicians seem unlikely to run yet another round of property market-based stimulus. As such there are clearly downside risks to global economic growth and industrial metals prices over the coming 6 months.
China may be a “White Swan Event” in H2-23 onward. LME’s China seminar in London on Monday 24 October this year was very interesting. The brightest spot in our view was Jinny Yang, the Chief China economist at ICBC Standard Bank. She stated that China may turn out to be a “white swan event” in H2-2023. Further that the Chinese economy now is on a decade long type of transition period. Away from property focused growth. With a shift instead to technology and innovation, telecoms and energy transition, consumer demand side economy and higher value and more advanced sectors. The property market will be a fading sector with respect to growth. Chinese politicians are fully committed to the energy transition. No slowdown in there. Credit expansion has already started. The real effect of that will emerge in H2-23. The new growth focus will be different from before. But it will still imply lots of metals like aluminium, copper, nickel, zinc, cobalt, manganese, and other special metals. There will be less copper for pipes and wiring for housing but there will be more copper for EVs, Solar power, Wind power and power networks etc.
Copper: Struggling supply from Chile, rising supply from Africa while Russian exports keeps flowing to market. The Chinese housing market normally accounts for 20% of global copper demand. So, slowing Chinese housing market is bad for copper. Russian exports keep flowing to SE Asia where it is re-exported. Good supply growth is expected from Africa in 2023. Supply from Chile is struggling with falling ore grades, political headwinds, and mining strikes. Demand is projected to boom over the coming decades while investments in new mines have been sub-par over the past decade. So strong prices in the medium to longer term. But in the short-term the negative demand forces will likely have the upper hand.
Nickel: Tight high-quality nickel market but surplus for low-quality nickel. There is currently a plentiful supply of low-grade nickel with weak stainless-steel demand and strong demand for high quality nickel for EV batteries. The result is a current USD 5-6000/ton price premium for high-quality vs. low-quality nickel. High-quality LME grade nickel now only accounts for 25% of the global nickel market. Over the coming decade there will be strong demand growth for high-quality nickel for EV batteries, but high-quality NiSO4 will take center stage. The price of high-quality nickel over the coming decade will depend on how quickly the world can ramp up low-grade to high-grade conversion capacity.
Aluminium: Russian production and exports keeps flowing at normal pace to the market through different routes. Supply from the western world set to expand by 1.3 m ton pa in 2023, the biggest expansion in a decade. Demand is projected to grow strongly over the decade to come with energy transition and EVs being strong sources of demand. Western premiums likely to stay elevated versus Asian premiums to attract metal. Increasing focus on low carbon aluminium. But weakness before strength.
SEB commodities price forecast:
Chinese credit cycle vs industrial metals. Chinese credit expansion has already started.
This report has been compiled by SEB´s Commodity Research, a division within Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) (”SEB”), to provide background information only.
Analys
Brent gains on positive China data and new attacks on Russian oil processing
Positive China data and further attacks on Russian oil processing facilities lifts Brent yet higher. Brent crude gained 4.1% last week with a close on Friday 15 March at USD 85.3/b. Continued declines in US inventories, a bullish oil market outlook from the IEA and damages on Russia’s Rosneft Ryazan oil processing plant by Ukrainian drones helped Brent crude to break above the USD 85/b level. This morning Brent is adding another 0.4% to USD 85.7/b driven by a range of additional attacks on Russian refineries over the weekend and positive Chinese macro data also showing Chinese apparent oil demand up 6.1% YoY for Jan+Feb.
Brent crude is getting a steady tailwind from declining US oil inventories. Steady and continued declines in US inventories since the start of the year has been nudging the oil price steadily higher but there has clearly been some resistance around the USD 85/bl level. US inventories continued that decline in data also last week with commercial crude and product stocks down 4.7 m b. Total US stocks including SPR declined 4.1 m b to 1580 m b which is now only 2 m b above the low point on 30 December 2022 at 1578 m b. These persistent declines in US oil inventories is a clear reflection of the global market in deficit where demand is sufficiently strong, cuts by OPEC+ are sufficiently deep while US shale oil production is close to muted with hardly any growth projected from Q4-23 to Q4-24.
Bullish report from IEA last week indicates that further inventory declines is to be expected. The monthly report from IEA last week gave an additional boost to this picture as it lifted projected oil demand for 2024 by 0.2 m b/d, reduced non-OPEC production by 0.2 m b/d and thus increased its estimated call-on-OPEC by 0.4 m b/d for 2024. The world will need steadily more oil from OPEC every quarter to Q3-24 and by Q4-24 the world will need 0.8 m b/d more from the group than it did in Q4-23. That is great news for OPEC+. There is no way that they’ll move away from current strategy of ”Price over volume” with this backdrop. The report from IEA last week is indicating that the gradual declines in US inventories we have seen so far this year will likely continue. And such a trend will give continued support for oil prices in the coming quarters. Oil price projections are lifted in response to this and last out is Morgan Stanley which raises its Q3-24 Brent forecast by US 10/b to USD 90/b.
SEB’s Brent crude forecast for 2024 is USD 85/b (average year) which implies that we’ll likely see both USD 70/b as well as USD 100/b some times during the year.
Attacks on Russian oil processing will mostly impact refining margins and crude grade premiums as crude supply is unlikely to be disrupted. The Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure has surprised the market as many of them are deep within Russia. Facilities in Russia’s Samara region which is more than 1,000 km away from the Ukrainian border were attacked on Saturday. Oil processing plants and oil refineries are highly complex structures. If damaged by drones they can potentially be out of operation for extended periods. Plain oil transportation systems are much simpler and easier and faster to repair. The essence here is that we’ll likely not lose any oil supply while we might lose oil refining capacity due to these attacks. Most of the impact from these attacks should thus be on refining margins and not so much on crude oil prices. But when diesel cracks, gasoil cracks and gasoline cracks goes up then typically also light sweet crude prices goes up. As such there is a spillover effect from damages to Russian oil refineries to Brent crude oil prices even if we don’t lose a single drop of Russian crude oil production and supply.
Total US crude and product stocks incl. SPR has been ticking lower and lower so far this year and are now only 2 m b/d above the low-point in late December 2022. This is a solid indication that the global oil market is running a deficit.
Total commercial crude and product stocks (excl. SPR) has been ticking lower and lower so far this year. This has helped to nudge oil prices steadily higher.
Brent crude looks very fairly priced at around USD 85/b versus current US commercial oil inventories
Call-on-OPEC by IEA: World will need more and more oil from OPEC through the year. In Q4-24 the world will need 0.8 m b/d more oil from OPEC in Q4-24 than in Q4-23.
ARA refining margins have moved up so far this year => Refineries want to process more crude oil and thus they want to buy more crude oil.
Analys
When affordable gas and expensive carbon puts coal in the corner
Coal and nat gas prices are increasingly quite normal versus real average prices from 2010 to 2019 during which TTF nat gas averaged EUR 27/MWh and ARA coal prices averaged USD 108/ton in real-terms. In the current environment of ”normal” coal and nat gas prices we now see a darkening picture for coal fired power generation where coal is becoming less and less competitive over the coming 2-3 years with cost of coal fired generation is trading more and more out-of-the money versus both forward power prices and the cost of nat gas + CO2. Coal fired power generation will however still be needed many places where there is no local substitution and limited grid access to other locations with other types of power supply. These coal fired power-hubs will then become high-power-cost-hubs. And that may become a challenge for the local power consumers in these locations.
When affordable gas and expensive carbon puts coal in the corner. The power sector accounts for some 50% of emissions in the EU ETS system in a mix of coal and nat gas burn for power. The sector is also highly dynamic, adaptive and actively trading. This sector has been and still is the primary battleground in the EU ETS where a fight between high CO2 intensity coal versus lower CO2 intensity nat gas is playing out.
Coal fired power is dominant over nat gas power when the carbon market is loose and the EUA price is low. The years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 were typical example-years of this. Coal fired power was then in-the-money for around 7000 hours (one year = 8760 hours) in Germany. Nat gas fired power was however only in the money for about 2500 hours per year and was predominantly functioning as peak-load supply.
Then the carbon market was tightened by politicians with ”back-loading” and the MSR mechanism which drove the EUA price up to EUR 20/ton in 2019 and to EUR 60/ton in 2021. Nat gas fired power and coal fired power were then both in-the-money for almost 5000 hours per year from 2016 to 2023. The EUA price was in the middle-ground in the fight between the two. In 2023 however, nat gas was in-the-money for 4000 hours while coal was only in-the-money for 3000 hours. For coal that is a dramatic change from the 2012-2015 period when it was in the money for 7000 hours per year.
And it is getting worse and worse for coal fired generation when we look forward. That is of course the political/environmental plan as well. It is still painful of course for coal power.
On a forward basis the cost of Coal+EUA is increasingly way, way above the forward German power prices. Coal is basically out-of-the money for more and more hours every year going forward. It may be temporary, but it fits the overall political/environmental plan and also the increasing penetration of renewable energy which will push aside more and more fossil power as we move forward.
But coal power cannot easily and quickly be shut down all over the place in preference to cheaper nat gas based power. Coal fired power will be the primary source of power in many places with no local alternative and limited grid capacity to other sources of power elsewhere.
The consequence is that those places where coal fired power generation cannot be easily substituted and closed down will be ”high power price hubs”. If we imagine physical power prices as a topological map, geographically across Germany then the locations where coal fired power is needed will rise up like power price hill-tops amid a sea of lower power prices set by cheaper nat gas + CO2 or power prices depressed by high penetration of renewable energy.
Coal fired power generation used to be a cheap and safe power bet. Those forced to rely on coal fired power will however in the coming years face higher and higher, local power costs both in absolute terms and in relative terms to other non-coal-based power locations.
Coal fired power in Germany is increasingly very expensive both versus the cost of nat gas + CO2 and versus forward German power prices. Auch, it will hurt more and more for coal fired power producers and more and more for consumers needing to buy it.
And if we graph in the most efficient nat gas power plants, CCGTs, then nat gas + CO2 is today mostly at the money for the nearest three years while coal + CO2 is way above both forward power prices and forward nat gas + CO2 costs.
Number of hours in the year (normal year = 8760 hrs) when the cost of coal + CO2 and nat gas + CO2 in the German spot power market (hour by hour) historically has been in the money. Coal power used to run 7000 hours per year in 2012-2016, Baseload. Coal in Germany was only in-th-money for 3000 hours in 2023. That is versus the average, hourly system prices in Germany. But local, physical prices will likely have been higher where coal is concentrated and where there is no local substitution for coal in the short to medium term. Coal power will run more hours in those areas and local, physical prices need to be higher there to support the higher cost of coal + CO2.
Analys
War-premium back on the agenda?
During yesterday’s trading session, Brent Crude made significant gains, marking the largest increase in global oil prices in approximately five weeks. The front-month contract is presently trading at USD 84.3 per barrel, reflecting a robust increase of USD 2.55 per barrel (above 3%) compared to Monday morning’s opening price.
Furthermore, US crude inventories, excluding those held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), experienced a notable decline for the first time in seven weeks. This decline suggests a heightened global demand for crude oil, which has played a pivotal role in driving up prices (further details below).
Additionally, of considerable significance is Ukraine’s unexpected success in executing precise drone strikes targeting key Russian oil infrastructure. Yesterday, Ukrainian drone strikes triggered a fire at Rosneft’s Ryazan plant, which has a daily production capacity of 340,000 barrels near Moscow. This facility is a significant provider of motor fuels for the capital region and stands as one of Russia’s largest crude-processing facilities. Notably, this incident marks the third Ukrainian drone attack on Russian refineries this week, following similar incidents at the Novoshakhtinsk and Norsi refineries.
Ukrainian strikes in Russian territories ”appear to aim at disrupting, if not influencing, the Russian elections,” Putin stated in an interview with the RIA Novosti news service released Wednesday. He added, ”Another objective seems to be securing leverage for potential negotiation purposes.”
i.e., we believe the statements suggest that Ukrainian strikes in Russian regions are perceived by Putin as strategic moves with dual purposes. Firstly, they are seen as attempts to disrupt or influence the upcoming elections in Russia, potentially destabilizing the political landscape or casting doubt on the legitimacy of the electoral process. Secondly, they are interpreted as efforts to gain leverage in possible negotiation scenarios, implying that Ukraine seeks to strengthen its bargaining position by demonstrating its capability to inflict economic and strategic damage on Russia.
From a market perspective, it’s crucial to highlight the escalating conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which poses a significant threat to global energy markets. Russia’s role as a major oil and gas supplier is paramount, and any disruptions in its energy infrastructure could lead to widespread supply shortages and price volatility worldwide. The recent drone strikes are a clear reminder that geopolitical tensions continue to impact global oil markets. The fading ”war-premium” should now be factored in more significantly, indicating a need to brace for increased volatility ahead.
An overall significant drawdown of US inventories. In the U.S., commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, dropped by 1.5 million barrels from the prior week to 447.0 million barrels, about 3% below the five-year average. Total motor gasoline inventories fell by 5.7 million barrels, also about 3% below the five-year average. Distillate fuel inventories rose by 0.9 million barrels, approximately 7% below the five-year average. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 0.7 million barrels, marking an 8% rise compared to the five-year average.
Overall commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 4.7 million barrels. Over the past four weeks, total products supplied averaged 19.9 million barrels per day, up by 1.0% from the same period last year. Motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels per day, down by 1.3% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels per day over the past four weeks, up by 0.5% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied increased by 2.0% compared to the same four-week period last year.
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