Blog posts tagged by tag: Commodities

• The Story of Steel

  Steel is the fourth-most commonly used metal in the world. It is highly important to the global economy and trends in production can even be thought of as an indicator of the health of a country's economy. Although many do not realize it, the metal is therefore extremely important to our everyday lives. Recently, however, it seems like the entire world has started to pay attention to the metal due to U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision to impose high tariffs on China, sparking fears of a trade war on the horizon. In this post we go through the situation between the U.S. and China in more detail before discussing the history of the steel industry and how steel enhances our daily lives.   

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  Tags: Base Metals Commodities, Commodities

• Coal: The story of the world's most abundant fossil fuel

  We’re back with another post in our commodities explainer series. This time we take on coal, a commodity that has received a lot of attention in recent years; mostly negative attention because of its effects on the environment. Fossil fuels are referred to as dirty fuels for industrial purposes and power generation, and coal is thought to be the dirtiest of them all. With so much attention placed on the environment in recent years, largely due to the climate change issue, coal has taken much of the flack. Nonetheless, coal is projected to continue to be produced and consumed at a healthy rate in the next few decades despite its bad rap. In this post we give you a comprehensive overview of coal: 

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  Tags: Commodities, Energy Commodities

• Commodities Outlook: Oil, Natural Gas, Coal, Lead & Tin

  As 2018 approaches, we take a look back at developments in the commodities markets over the past year and asked our economists what the future may hold for various key economies (Oil, Natural Gas, Coal, Lead and Tin). We sat down with some of our economists to get their insight into the following questions: 

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  Tags: Commodities

• Copper: The first metal mastered by man

  Last year we began a series of posts in which we answer typical questions about the various commodities we cover with our Consensus Forecast commodities report. Our first posts were on Brent and WTI crude oil as well as gold. Last month we covered iron ore, one of the most important yet underappreciated commodities. This time we've gone with copper, man's first metal. Keep checking back with us for more in our commodities explainer series.  

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  Tags: Commodities

• Iron ore facts and common questions answered

  Last year we began a series of posts in which we answer typical questions about the various commodities we cover with our Consensus Forecast commodities report. Last year we wrote posts on Brent and WTI crude oil as well as gold. This time out we will be covering iron ore, one of the most important yet underappreciated commodities. Keep checking back with us for more in our commodities explainer series.  

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  Tags: Base Metals Commodities, Commodities, Infographic

• Commodity exporters face challenging times

  The commodity super cycle is well and truly over, as has been exemplified by the tumble in commodity prices over the last few years. Emerging market economies that depend heavily on commodities exports for economic growth have been floundering as a result. However, Commodities prices are on their way back with underlying fundamentals of the commodity markets remaining positive through Q1 and are expected to continue to support the recovery throughout this year. But will the comeback in commodities prices impact the emerging market economies' economic growth? In this post we take a look at some of the commodities that are making a comeback and the outlook their biggest exporters. 

  

   

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  Tags: Commodities, Infographic

• OPEC deal: Will OPEC comply? Who will really benefit?

  The OPEC deal is done and the news sent oil prices soaring yesterday. The deal, which is designed to curb record-high global oil inventories, has been mooted as a possibility since last February when prices dropped to their lowest prices in over a decade.

  It’s taken almost a year, but the deal is done, overcoming disputes between the cartel’s three biggest producers, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. The deal, which also includes non-OPEC member Russia, represents the first time in 8 years that OPEC agreed to cut oil production and the first time Russia, one of the largest oil producers outside of the cartel, has agreed to cut production in 15 years.

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  Tags: Commodities, Energy Commodities, Oil, OPEC

• Trump election: Base metals surge due to infrastructure plan

  On 4 July 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Concord Hymn was read at the unveiling of the Concord Monument in Massachusetts to commemorate the Battle of Concord of the American Revolutionary War. The name of the poem may not ring any bells to you, but one phrase in particular from the poem probably will, the shot heard ‘round the world.

  The phrase has been used to describe many a historical event. It was famously used to describe the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which kicked off the First World War. For any baseball fans out there, Bobby Thomson’s walk-off home run to win the 1951 National League pennant tie-breaker was also famously referred to as the shot heard ‘round the world.

  The largely unexpected event that took place on 8 November in the United States of America is also probably worthy of the phrase.

  

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  Tags: Base Metals Commodities, Commodities, USA

• Gold: The Most Precious of Metals (Part 3)

  Gold production in many countries, especially in developing or emerging markets, has declined in recent years as the global economy has largely improved since the global financial crisis. Many mining operations have shut down or downsized significantly. However, prices have been increasing since 2016 as safe haven buying has increased. In part 3 of our series on gold, we begin with a section explaining why the price of gold has been fluctuating in recent years. This is followed by a section on the history and news on gold production in each of the top gold producing economies globally in 2017 according to the United States Geological Survey as well as the 2018 economic outlook for each according to the FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast.

  

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  Tags: Commodities, Gold, Infographic, precious metals

• Gold: The Most Precious of Metals (Part 2)

  Contents 1. Gold mining 2. Gold purity 3. Uses of gold 4. Gold and the economy

  In an effort to convey why gold is such a precious metal, in part one of this series, we provided a thorough explanation of the history of gold and the gold standard along with a discussion on the potential viability of the gold standard today. In part two, we can further our discussion on why gold is so unique by explaining how it is mined and processed and discuss how its unique physical properties make it one of the most useful metals. Finally, we end the post with a section on gold's importance to the global economy, the factors that set it apart from all other commodities, and how it can be classed as both a commodity and a monetary asset. If you like, you can click on the links to the left to skip ahead in the document.

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  Tags: Commodities, Gold, precious metals

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