Commodity Consulting News

Bulk grain shippers hauling crops from the U.S. Gulf Coast export hub to Asia are sailing longer routes and paying higher freight costs to avoid vessel congestion and record-high transit fees in the drought-hit Panama Canal, traders and analysts said.The shipping snarl through one of the world's main maritime trade routes comes at the peak season for U.S. crop exports, and the higher costs are threatening to dent demand for U.S. corn and soy suppliers that have already ceded market share to Brazil in recent years.

Reported spot market activity from the Arabian Gulf remains on an upward trend since 2010 in spite of rising US crude production, reports Poten & Partners’ in their latest ‘Tanker Opinions’. Over the past few years US domestic crude oil production has supplanted foreign crude oil imports. To the extent that they possibly can, domestic refiners have shifted to local grades that have trended at an often significant price discount. Interestingly, however, fixture activity on the Arabian Gulf to US Gulf trade route remains robust.