Analys
Råvarupriser skenar

Råvarupriserna steg kraftigt i förra veckan, när omfattningen på USAs sanktioner mot ryska bolag togs in av marknaden. Dessutom stiger oljepriset på grund av oro för att Trump ska införa sanktioner mot Iran.
Det mest omtalade målet för USAs sanktioner, som infördes den 6 april, är Oleg Deripaska-länkade företag. Sanktionerna är extremt effektiva då de i praktiken skär av bolagen från att handla i dollar, den valuta som i stort sett alla råvaror prissätts i.
”Putin kan inte låta 60 000 ryssar bli utan jobb”
Kronjuvelen i Deripaskas imperie är Rusal, som producerar 6 procent av världens aluminium och dessutom är en stor exportör till Europa. Andra stora aluminiumtillverkare är delägare i vissa av Rusals anläggningar utanför Ryssland, vilket stör tillverkningskedjan och gör det svårt att kompensera för bortfallet. Aluminiumpriset har stigit 32 procent hittills i april och priset på nickel steg 18 procent förra veckan på grund av oro för att Trump ska utvidga sanktionerna till att inkludera det ryska nickelbolaget Norilsk. Kina kommer inte rädda Rusal, eftersom de är nettoexportörer av aluminium. Putin kan däremot inte låta bolaget falla, eftersom 60 000 ryska arbetare i så fall blir utan lön. Ännu har dock ingen plan kommunicerats från Kreml.
”Kina kommer denna gång följa eventuella sanktioner mot Iran”
Oljepriset stiger inför att USA den 12 maj ska besluta om de ska häva det undantag för sanktioner mot Iran som infördes 2015. Under förra perioden med sanktioner mot Iran mildrades effekterna till en del av att Kina inte följde sanktionerna utan fortsatte att köpa Irans olja. Under pågående handelskonflikt kommer inte Kina att vilja kasta ytterligare grus i maskineriet genom att köpa olja från Iran om USA återinför sanktioner.
MARTIN JANSSON
RÅVARUSTRATEG, HANDELSBANKEN
[box]Handelsbankens råvarukommentar är producerad av Handelsbanken och publiceras i samarbete och med tillstånd på Råvarumarknaden.se[/box]
Ansvarsbegränsning
Handelsbanken Capital Markets, som är en division inom Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) (i fortsättningen kallad ”SHB”), är ansvarig för sammanställningen av analysrapporter. I Sverige står SHB under tillsyn av Finansinspektionen, i Norge av norska Finansinspektionen, i Finland av finska Finansinspektionen och i Danmark av danska Finansinspektionen. Alla analysrapporter bygger på information från handels- och statistiktjänster och annan information som SHB bedömt vara tillförlitlig. SHB har emellertid inte själv verifierat informationen och kan inte garantera att informationen är sann, korrekt eller fullständig. I den mån lagen tillåter tar varken SHB, styrelseledamöter, tjänstemän eller medarbetare, eller någon annan person, ansvar för någon som helst förlust, oavsett om den uppstår till följd av användning av en analysrapport eller dess innehåll eller på annat sätt uppstår i anslutning till något i denna.
Analys
Manufacturing PMIs ticking higher lends support to both copper and oil

Price action contained withing USD 2/b last week. Likely muted today as well with US closed. The Brent November contract is the new front-month contract as of today. It traded in a range of USD 66.37-68.49/b and closed the week up a mere 0.4% at USD 67.48/b. US oil inventory data didn’t make much of an impact on the Brent price last week as it is totally normal for US crude stocks to decline 2.4 mb/d this time of year as data showed. This morning Brent is up a meager 0.5% to USD 67.8/b. It is US Labor day today with US markets closed. Today’s price action is likely going to be muted due to that.

Improving manufacturing readings. China’s manufacturing PMI for August came in at 49.4 versus 49.3 for July. A marginal improvement. The total PMI index ticked up to 50.5 from 50.2 with non-manufacturing also helping it higher. The HCOB Eurozone manufacturing PMI was a disastrous 45.1 last December, but has since then been on a one-way street upwards to its current 50.5 for August. The S&P US manufacturing index jumped to 53.3 in August which was the highest since 2022 (US ISM manufacturing tomorrow). India manufacturing PMI rose further and to 59.3 for August which is the highest since at least 2022.
Are we in for global manufacturing expansion? Would help to explain copper at 10k and resilient oil. JPMorgan global manufacturing index for August is due tomorrow. It was 49.7 in July and has been below the 50-line since February. Looking at the above it looks like a good chance for moving into positive territory for global manufacturing. A copper price of USD 9935/ton, sniffing at the 10k line could be a reflection of that. An oil price holding up fairly well at close to USD 68/b despite the fact that oil balances for Q4-25 and 2026 looks bloated could be another reflection that global manufacturing may be accelerating.
US manufacturing PMI by S&P rose to 53.3 in August. It was published on 21 August, so not at all newly released. But the US ISM manufacturing PMI is due tomorrow and has the potential to follow suite with a strong manufacturing reading.

Analys
Crude stocks fall again – diesel tightness persists

U.S. commercial crude inventories posted another draw last week, falling by 2.4 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels, according to the latest DOE report. Inventories are now 6% below the five-year seasonal average, underlining a persistently tight supply picture as we move into the post-peak demand season.

While the draw was smaller than last week’s 6 million barrel decline, the trend remains consistent with seasonal patterns. Current inventories are still well below the 2015–2022 average of around 449 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories dropped by 1.2 million barrels and are now close to the five-year average. The breakdown showed a modest increase in finished gasoline offset by a decline in blending components – hinting at steady end-user demand.
Diesel inventories saw yet another sharp move, falling by 1.8 million barrels. Stocks are now 15% below the five-year average, pointing to sustained tightness in middle distillates. In fact, diesel remains the most undersupplied segment, with current inventory levels at the very low end of the historical range (see page 3 attached).
Total commercial petroleum inventories – including crude and products but excluding the SPR – fell by 4.4 million barrels on the week, bringing total inventories to approximately 1,259 million barrels. Despite rising refinery utilization at 94.6%, the broader inventory complex remains structurally tight.
On the demand side, the DOE’s ‘products supplied’ metric – a proxy for implied consumption – stayed strong. Total product demand averaged 21.2 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 2.5% YoY. Diesel and jet fuel were the standouts, up 7.7% and 1.7%, respectively, while gasoline demand softened slightly, down 1.1% YoY. The figures reflect a still-solid late-summer demand environment, particularly in industrial and freight-related sectors.


Analys
Increasing risk that OPEC+ will unwind the last 1.65 mb/d of cuts when they meet on 7 September

Pushed higher by falling US inventories and positive Jackson Hall signals. Brent crude traded up 2.9% last week to a close of $67.73/b. It traded between $65.3/b and $68.0/b with the low early in the week and the high on Friday. US oil inventory draws together with positive signals from Powel at Jackson Hall signaling that rate cuts are highly likely helped to drive both oil and equities higher.

Ticking higher for a fourth day in a row. Bank holiday in the UK calls for muted European session. Brent crude is inching 0.2% higher this morning to $67.9/b which if it holds will be the fourth trading day in a row with gains. Price action in the European session will likely be quite muted due to bank holiday in the UK today.
OPEC+ is lifting production but we keep waiting for the surplus to show up. The rapid unwinding of voluntary cuts by OPEC+ has placed the market in a waiting position. Waiting for the surplus to emerge and materialize. Waiting for OECD stocks to rise rapidly and visibly. Waiting for US crude and product stocks to rise. Waiting for crude oil forward curves to bend into proper contango. Waiting for increasing supply of medium sour crude from OPEC+ to push sour cracks lower and to push Mid-East sour crudes to increasing discounts to light sweet Brent crude. In anticipation of this the market has traded Brent and WTI crude benchmarks up to $10/b lower than what solely looking at present OECD inventories, US inventories and front-end backwardation would have warranted.
Quite a few pockets of strength. Dubai sour crude is trading at a premium to Brent crude! The front-end of the crude oil curves are still in backwardation. High sulfur fuel oil in ARA has weakened from parity with Brent crude in May, but is still only trading at a discount of $5.6/b to Brent versus a more normal discount of $10/b. ARA middle distillates are trading at a premium of $25/b versus Brent crude versus a more normal $15-20/b. US crude stocks are at the lowest seasonal level since 2018. And lastly, the Dubai sour crude marker is trading a premium to Brent crude (light sweet crude in Europe) as highlighted by Bloomberg this morning. Dubai is normally at a discount to Brent. With more medium sour crude from OPEC+ in general and the Middle East specifically, the widespread and natural expectation has been that Dubai should trade at an increasing discount to Brent. the opposite has happened. Dubai traded at a discount of $2.3/b to Brent in early June. Dubai has since then been on a steady strengthening path versus Brent crude and Dubai is today trading at a premium of $1.3/b. Quite unusual in general but especially so now that OPEC+ is supposed to produce more.
This makes the upcoming OPEC+ meeting on 7 September even more of a thrill. At stake is the next and last layer of 1.65 mb/d of voluntary cuts to unwind. The market described above shows pockets of strength blinking here and there. This clearly increases the chance that OPEC+ decides to unwind the remaining 1.65 mb/d of voluntary cuts when they meet on 7 September to discuss production in October. Though maybe they split it over two or three months of unwind. After that the group can start again with a clean slate and discuss OPEC+ wide cuts rather than voluntary cuts by a sub-group. That paves the way for OPEC+ wide cuts into Q1-26 where a large surplus is projected unless the group kicks in with cuts.
The Dubai medium sour crude oil marker usually trades at a discount to Brent crude. More oil from the Middle East as they unwind cuts should make that discount to Brent crude even more pronounced. Dubai has instead traded steadily stronger versus Brent since late May.

The Brent crude oil forward curve (latest in white) keeps stuck in backwardation at the front end of the curve. I.e. it is still a tight crude oil market at present. The smile-effect is the market anticipation of surplus down the road.

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