Energy:
1. Trafigura economist Rahim: Severe oil supply shortages in parts of Africa.
2. Data shows: Oil inventories in Fujairah, UAE, have fallen to 7 million barrels, the lowest level in at least nine years.
3. New Zealand Prime Minister Luxembourg: Japan is an important fuel supplier for New Zealand and will continue to be so.
4. According to Axios: US President Trump is considering extending the Jones Act waiver to ease restrictions on US oil shipments.
5. Mercuria LNG head: Significant growth in LNG supply has been delayed due to the Iran war.
6. Vitor LNG head: Gas prices need to be raised to balance the market and reflect current levels of disruption.
7. EU Energy Commissioner: Even in the best-case scenario, the summer will face difficulties due to the Iran crisis. The measures we will propose will help member states cope with the short-term impact.
8. Oil trader Gunvor: The oil market will face severe jet fuel problems this summer; oil demand fell by 1 million barrels per day in March and is expected to fall by 2.5 million barrels per day in April.
9. International Energy Agency Executive Director Birol: The current conflict has triggered the worst energy crisis in world history. If you include the gasoline crisis and the impact of the gas crisis involving Russia, this crisis is enormous. This is indeed the biggest crisis in history.
10. According to five sources and related calculations, Russian oil production in April fell by approximately 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day compared to the average level of the previous months this year.
11. Strong overseas demand has led to some oil pipelines in Texas, USA, exceeding their design capacity.
12. Ukrainian President Zelensky stated that repairs to the "Friendship" oil pipeline have been completed and it is now ready to resume operation.
13. Australian Treasurer: We have just received another 200 million liters of diesel. This brings the total additional diesel received in the past seven days to approximately 300 million liters. We are doing everything we can to secure more fuel for Australians.
14. Kazakhstan's Energy Minister: There are no plans to transport oil to Germany via the "Friendship" pipeline in May. Kazakhstan's oil exports to Germany will resume once technical conditions are met. Kazakhstan does not intend to reduce oil production due to the suspension of exports to Germany.
15. Hungarian Oil and Gas Company: Repair work on the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline has been completed, and the Ukrainian oil transport company is ready to resume crude oil transit transport to Hungary.
Precious Metals and Mining:
1. Zambian Ministry of Mines: BHP Billiton is considering large-scale copper exploration in Zambia.
2. Due to the economic slowdown, Russia's steel consumption fell by 15% in the first quarter.
3. Swiss gold exports increased by 30% month-on-month in March.
4. Commodity trader Mercuria: The risk of US tariffs will lead to a continued flow of copper to the US until at least July this year.
5. According to the Financial Times: US President Trump's trade chief called on US allies to pay more for key minerals.
6. Goldman Sachs maintains its 2026 average copper price forecast of $12,650 per tonne. It also maintains its 2026 copper supply surplus forecast of 490,000 tons.
Agriculture:
1. Market news: Russia sets fertilizer export quotas at 20 million tons for June-November.
2. Data shows: EU palm oil imports for 2025/26 totaled 2.28 million tons as of April 19, compared to 2.43 million tons in the same period last year.
Strait of Hormuz Situation:
1. The International Maritime Organization plans to develop an evacuation plan for hundreds of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
2. Maersk: Shipments should avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
3. Iran urges the UN to order the US to release the detained Iranian cargo ship.
