Oil prices rose this week on uncertainty over energy supplies passing through Ukraine to the West, as coffee futures rallied on tight supplies caused by drought in Brazil.
OIL: Prices rose as tensions over Ukraine and upbeat US energy demand offset poorly received Chinese data and the prospect of a return to normal Libyan crude exports, analysts said.
The latest official US inventories report showed a drop of 5.2 million barrels of fuel supplies last week, far much more than the 700,000 barrel decline that had been projected.
With Ukraine a key conduit for Russian gas to Europe, traders fear a conflict disrupting supplies and sending prices skyrocketing.
Russian deliveries account for 34 percent of natural gas supplies to the EU, said the Soufan Group, a US-based intelligence firm.
“One month after the events in Crimea, market watchers are taking stock of their impact on oil markets,” the International Energy Agency said on Friday.
The agency left its global demand forecast for the year nearly unchanged at 92.7 million barrels per day, but a trim to its forecast for growth in non-OPEC supplies means the global market will need more oil from the cartel this year.
Weighing down prices was weak import and export data for last month out of China that raised concerns over potential weaker crude demand from the world’s biggest consumer of energy.
For crude oil alone, China imported 5.54 million barrels per day last month, a decline of 8 percent from February and the weakest import volume in five months.
In Libya, the National Oil Co has lifted its force majeure notice from its Al-Hariga oil terminal. That means the country’s oil exports are likely to quadruple and hit 1 million barrels per day by mid-June, OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah El-Badri said on Friday.
By Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery next month rose to US$107.78 a barrel from US$106.77 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for next month jumped to US$104.21 per barrel from US$101.21.
COFFEE: Futures rebounded this week, with New York prices reaching the highest levels in more than two years after Brazil’s drought.
Arabica-quality coffee hit US$0.2078 a pound (0.45kg), the highest point since February 2012.
By Friday on the ICE Futures US exchange, Arabica for next month increased to US$0.20470 a pound from US$0.176 a week earlier.
On LIFFE, Robusta for July stood at US$2,140 a tonne, compared with last week’s US$2,066 for next month’s contract.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold prices recovered from near two-month lows thanks to a weaker greenback and Ukraine concerns.
Gold rose “on a combination of the US stimulus outlook, tensions in Ukraine and signs of slowing demand from China,” Spreadex trader Lee Mumford said.
By Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to US$1,318 an ounce from US$1,297.25 a week earlier, as silver advance to US$20.09 an ounce from US$19.93.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to US$1,454 an ounce from US$1,444 from a wekk ago, as palladium gained to US$794 from US$789.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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