It is less than a month to bid farewell to the chaotic 2012 and enter 2013, which is expected to be relatively calmer for the oil market, also a chief driver of the world economy.
The recent slightly lower revision of the global crude price projections by various global forecasters is predominantly backed by the indication of slowing demand growth, while some improvements in the supply prospects………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global cotton output in 2013/14 may fall for the second consecutive season resulting in the smallest output in four years. .Lower cotton prices and increased attractiveness of competing crops will decrease the production of global cotton by 11% to 23.2 million tons, according to International Cotton Advisory committee (ICAC).
Production is expected to fall sharply in the United States and Turkey, where competition with grains and soybeans is strong. Smaller crops are also projected in China, Pakistan, Central Asia and Francophone Africa………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Though 2012 will go down in the history books as a particularly trying year for U.S. farmers, Rabobank reports that global agricultural commodity markets are expected to shift from a squeeze to a surplus in 2013, but prices will remain volatile.
Rabobank’s annual commodities outlook, titled “Outlook 2013 – Rebalancing on a Tightrope,” analyzes how global macro uncertainty is shaping the markets, specifically the impact of a weak dollar on prices, as well as how speculative money flows will continue to drive trading patterns………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Commodity supercycles usually end abruptly, catching almost everybody by surprise. The rhythm is as old as mankind, poignantly described in the life of an Icelandic sheep farmer 100 years ago by Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness.
Studies by the World Bank covering two centuries sketch a pattern of 10-year booms, followed by a slide for the next 20 years or so as excess investment leads to a flood of supply. The long bear market can be cruel for those hanging on to resource stocks, convinced that the rebound is nigh………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has raised its July forecast of global paddy production in 2012 by 4.2 million tons to 729 million tons (486 million tons, milled) because of the progression in the crop.
Prospects have improved especially for India, but also Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Korea, the Philippines, the United States and Vietnam, while they worsened in Myanmar, Colombia and Senegal………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A U.S. Geological Survey scientific investigations report forecasts that South Africa, Russia, Canada, and Zimbabwe will continue to be the principal sources of PGM for at least the next decade.
Global platinum mining capacity is expected to increase by 24,000 kg in South Africa, 9,000 kg in Russia, 3,000 kg in Russia and 2,000 kg in Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2015, according to the report authored by David R. Wilburn………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Top gold producer China aims to produce between 420 and 450 tonnes of the precious metal in 2015, up about 25 percent from 2011, while consumption may reach 1,000 tonnes by then, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday.
China is already the main consumer of a range of commodities, including copper, coal and iron ore, and the world’s second-largest gold consumer after India has to import large quantities of bullion to satisfy domestic demand………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The recently issued World Oil Outlook report by Opec comes at a time when the oil refining industry is passing through many changes around the world. While the refinery distillation capacity is stagnant in the US, it is faced with sale or closure of in Europe but more than compensated by an enormous expansion in Asia and the Middle East.
Oil demand in the US is down or stagnant at best while a reduction in oil demand is already a fact in Europe. Therefore, between 2008 and 2011 two million barrels a day (mbd) of refining capacity is closed for good and only in 2011 and so far in 2012, 1.7mbd is closed in Europe alone………………………………………..Full Article: Source

World oil markets are well supplied despite the loss of nearly 1 million barrels a day of crude from Iran following sanctions by the United States and European Union, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) told Reuters on Monday.
Brent crude has stayed above $100 a barrel for most of this year due to concerns over supply disruptions after the United States and Europe slapped sanctions on Iran in a bid to force Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear programme………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When the International Energy Agency’s big annual report came out last week there was a big top line story picked up nearly everywhere: that US oil production will overtake Saudi Arabia by about 2020.
This is due to projected rises in oil being wrung from the sort of shale formations that have been the source of vast new supplies of natural gas in the past few years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A paper published recently by the IMF gives us some insight into how oil prices and availability might affect the global economy in the next decade. The paper, entitled Oil and the World Economy: Some Possible Futures, starts with the statistic that global oil production grew by 1.8 percent annually from 1981 to 2005, then stagnated with production remaining essentially flat thereafter.
In the last seven years what is called global “growth” in “oil” production has come largely from substitutes for crude such as natural gas liquids, tar sands, and biofuels……………………………………….Full Article: Source

OPEC member Kuwait is headed for its 14th consecutive year of budget surplus thanks to strong oil prices and high production, an economic report said on Sunday.
The oil-rich Gulf state is expected to post a surplus of between 9.8 billion dinars ($34.8 billion) and 12.8 billion dinars ($45.4 billion) in the current 2012/2013 fiscal year, the National Bank of Kuwait said. The projections were based on an average oil price of between $104 and $107 a barrel for Kuwaiti crude, the NBK report said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A two-decade slump in Japan’s real estate prices and the country’s lax rules on selling foreigners forestland with water rights attached are attracting overseas investors, with the Chinese leading the pack.
Some areas of remote woodland in Japan, the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that doesn’t regulate property investment by foreigners, can be bought for just 60¢ a square meter, including the groundwater beneath. Groundwater is the water from rain and snow that seeps into the land, where it eventually ends up in aquifers that can be tapped by drilling a well………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The US could become self-sufficient, while 90% of Middle Eastern oil could go to China, according to new estimates. The US can shed its longstanding dependence on Saudi Arabian oil within the next decade, redrawing the world’s political systems and potentially leading to runaway global warming.
In a report released on Monday, the world’s foremost energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), said the US would benefit from so-called unconventional sources of oil and gas, including shale gas and shale oil, derived from fracking – blasting dense rocks apart to release the fossil fuels trapped within………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia has emerged as the world’s largest producer of Crude Oil ahead of Saudi Arabia in 2012. According to US Geological Survey (USGS) data, Saudi Arabia topped the charts until 2011 producing 10.5 mn barrels per day in 2011 while Russia produced 10.1 mn barrels per day.
However, Reuters reported that Russia has emerged as the world’s largest crude oil producer this year having increased production to 10.46 mn barrels per day thanks to increased production by Rosneft, soon to be world’s biggest crude supplier………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Africa’s top oil producer Nigeria is concerned that oil and gas prices could fall as more countries uncover reserves and sees the need to make plans to adapt to this new environment, its finance minister said on Thursday.
“We are worried, we are concerned, because obviously so many countries are discovering oil and gas so the supply will be increasing over the next few years and therefore we need to plan accordingly to make sure we have the necessary buffers in our own economy,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told reporters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC oil output has risen slightly in October as extra supplies from Iraq, Angola and Libya have offset disruptions in Nigeria and a further decline in Iran to its lowest in two decades, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday.
The survey indicates Iraq’s expansion in export capacity and continued high output from top exporter Saudi Arabia are helping to compensate for reduced supply from Iran, whose output has fallen sharply due to Western sanctions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe is missing out on the natural gas boom that is transforming energy use in the U.S. and Asia, instead burning cheaper, dirtier coal imported from America. Global gas consumption may rise 19 percent by 2017 from 2010 levels as demand surges in Asia and the U.S. while Europe’s usage drops 1.6 percent, according to the International Energy Agency.
Increasing coal-fired generation in Europe has cut gas demand by 3 billion cubic feet a day, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., about 7 percent of consumption. The IEA last year predicted a golden age for the fuel with new exports from America to Australia………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Strikes at mines in South Africa may push global platinum production below demand this year, erasing expectations of a surplus, according to TD Securities Inc.
The shortfall in 2012 may be about 200,000 ounces, Bart Melek, the Toronto-based head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said today in a telephone interview. Earlier, he predicted a surplus of 216,000 ounces. Last year, output exceeded demand by 430,000 ounces, he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials fell 0.4 percent to settle at 636.75 at 4 p.m. in New York. The measure dropped for the fourth straight session, the longest slump since mid-June.
The UBS Bloomberg CMCI gauge of 26 prices declined 0.2 percent to 1,566.89. Cotton fell, capping the biggest two-day slump since mid- August, on concern that supplies will remain ample as the slumping European economy crimps demand………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer. Driven by high prices and new drilling methods, U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day. This will be the fourth straight year of crude increases and the biggest single-year gain since 1951.
The boom has surprised even the experts. “Five years ago, if I or anyone had predicted today’s production growth, people would have thought we were crazy,” says Jim Burkhard, head of oil markets research at IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries assured world financial leaders Saturday that the oil market will remain amply supplied next year and that the cartel is committed to a stable market and prices that are healthy for an increasingly fragile global economy.
Oil price strength, stemming partly from fears over an escalating conflict with major oil producer and OPEC member Iran, has weighed on the global economy, adding to factors threatening to push advanced economies into another recession………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Canada’s resource-fueled economy faces the threat of a swooning commodities market at a crucial point in the economic recovery. From Europe to the United States and especially in China, the outlook for commodities is diminishing heading into 2013, with the impact already being felt abroad.
Evidence is mounting that Canada, where commodities drive about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product, will not be spared some hardship. Canada is a major producer of potash, coal, iron ore, nickel, copper, gold, zinc and uranium, among other base and precious metals that have been hit especially hard as a decade-old commodities market starts to lose steam………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC trimmed its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2013 due to a slowing global economy and said it expected a trend for ample supply to persist, reinforcing its message that producers are doing enough to tackle high prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a monthly report, trimmed its forecast for growth in world oil demand in 2013 by 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 780,000 bpd and said the risk remained skewed to the downside………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Water has yet to live up to its hype as the commodity bet of the future, but the world’s most basic resource is drawing ever more money as asset managers seek steady inflation-protected returns.
Investment opportunities are increasing as cities in faster growing markets expand and as governments in more developed countries, short of cash, are forced to turn to the private sector to fund upgrades to meet tougher environmental standards………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Analysts at a New York-based research firm believes that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec’s) global oil reserve statements could be inflated by as much as 70%.
Global oil prices are expected to dramatically spike from the end of the decade as a result of depletion, and continue to dramatically rise into the future as a result of oil-producing countries being unable to replace reserves fast enough, research specialist Lux Research analysts told Mining Weekly Online on Thursday………………………………………..Full Article: Source

While heavily invested asset classes like commodities and equities remain volatile, one Australian fund is poised to benefit from the fact it isn’t correlated to global markets.
Blue Sky Water Fund — which invests in permanent rights to Australia’s scarce water supplies — has begun deploying some of the capital raised from its debut fund, which is hoping to grow to $300 million. The fund will be open-ended and investors will be able to redeem on a quarterly basis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia can’t rely on its resources boom to ensure better living standards over the next decade and the government needs to tighten its budget to create room for interest rate cuts, Trade Minister Craig Emerson said.
A government commitment to restore the budget to surplus this fiscal year, after four years of deficits, will be achieved through spending cuts and possible tax increases, Emerson said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Natural resource producers and miner ETFs are strengthening as the outlook on the global economy turns optimistic and commodity prices rise in the wake of central bank easing.
For instance, the IQ Global Resources ETF has increased 6.4% over the past month. “I think there is opportunity in equities ahead of commodities,” Kevin DiSano, Senior V.P. and National Sales Manager at IndexIQ, said in a phone interview, comparing physical prices and equities to “a rubber band.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Australia’s resources industry is rapidly losing its ­competitive first-mover advantage at the same time as the commodity price cycle has peaked, leaving us exposed to lower-cost rivals eyeing our major export markets.
That’s the dire warning contained in a report to be released by the Minerals Council of Australia today, which stresses that a lot of work needs to be done if we are to prevent being shut out by new, strong rivals………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC’s oil reserves haven’t been independently verified, but there’s evidence they’ve inflated the numbers. Here’s why it matters. Has OPEC misled us about the size of its oil reserves? The short answer is probably. The long answer is that currently, there is no way to know for sure.
The next question we should ask is: Does it matter? The answer is most definitely yes. OPEC, short for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently claims that its 12 members hold 81.3 percent of the world’s oil reserves………………………………………..Full Article: Source

For some reason, the resource sector likes to run with one new ‘hot commodity’ each year. Back in 2009, lithium was the big new thing. Then in 2010, the rare earths bandwagon stole the spotlight. In 2011 it was potash, and this year it has been graphite.
But a few years on, the lithium story has matured and is back in the spotlight for serious investors… For one thing, lithium prices are on the march back up again. The world’s biggest producers, who all but control the market, have just increased their prices for lithium carbonate by around 20%………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global oil demand is poised to be depressed for the next 18 months while supply levels from OPEC countries are at fairly comfortable levels, the West’s energy agency said on Wednesday as it faces calls for an emergency stocks release.
Sources have told Reuters the United States is considering an emergency stocks release in a move to help suppress high oil prices, and other members of the International Energy Agency, such as France and Great Britain, could join the move………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Installing enough wind turbines to power the world may not be practical or even feasible, says author of new report. Wind energy could provide 20-100 times current global power demand, according to a study published this week in Nature Climate Change.
Other studies have shown similar results, but they do not mean that wind power is all we will ever need, says Ken Caldeira of Stanford University’s Carnegie Institution, and co-author of the new study.”We’re always going to need a variety of energy sources,” Caldeira told the Guardian………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Has OPEC misled us about the size of its oil reserves? The short answer is probably. The long answer is that currently, there is no way to know for sure. The next question we should ask is: Does it matter? The answer is most definitely yes. OPEC, short for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently claims that its 12 members hold 81.3% of the world’s oil reserves.
And, with few exceptions the world believes them. Trouble is these reserves “are not verified by independent auditors,” according to a study (PDF) done by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. OPEC reserves are simply self-reported by each country. Essentially, OPEC’s members are asking us to take their word for it. But should we?……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A contraction in the mining industry, triggered by lower commodity prices, and tighter household spending more than halved economic growth last quarter, and Treasurer Wayne Swan admits it is becoming harder to deliver a budget surplus.
The economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the three months ended June and 3.7 per cent from a year earlier. The national accounts showed that falling prices for Australia’s main exports have made companies and households feel poorer………………………………………Full Article: Source

Oil and commodities are rising with renewed talk of buying bonds in Europe and future stimulus from the Federal Reserve in the United States.
The problem of course is that higher oil prices partially offsets some of the benefits of these Monetary Initiatives by leaders (It is debatable how effective these policies actually are in solving the real issues and problems)………………………………………Full Article: Source

The world’s central banks will add more Gold Bullion to their reserves over the course of 2012 than at any time since the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate era, a leading precious metals consultancy forecast this week.
Net purchases of gold by central bank will total 493 tonnes for the year as a whole, up from 457 tonnes in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters GFMS, which published its ‘Gold Survey 2012 – Update 1′ on Tuesday………………………………………Full Article: Source

Global energy companies are beginning to focus on southern Europe’s tourist traps. The balmy Mediterranean has long attracted tourists seeking sun, sea and golden sands. But now, from Cyprus in the east to Spain in the west, the Med is seeing a new influx of visitors in search of far more elusive commodities: oil and gas.
As exploration companies target new and under-explored territories, eurozone governments are eyeing potential riches to boost their ailing economies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The eurozone crisis has been brewing for a long time now. Every week it seems there are new announcements, new austerity measures, new bailouts and more bond auctions as governments and central banks just about keep their heads above water.
The issue of countries and gold is one which has been brewing for some time now. With countries in debt to each other many are wondering how they will get their money back if this really is the end of the eurozone………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emergency oil reserves across the world could be tapped if prices remain above $100 a barrel over the next two months, according to Treasury sources. World leaders have become increasingly concerned about the toll to economic growth dealt by the 20pc spike in oil prices over the past three months.
In June, Brent crude was trading at about $90 a barrel but has since soared back above $110 – threatening another bout in inflation that could derail recovery hopes in the UK as well as elsewhere………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Australia, known as the lucky country for its resource abundance and temperate climate, is about to find out how long its latest winning streak will last. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest miner, last week mothballed projects valued at more than A$50 billion ($52 billion) by Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG.
At the same time, Australia’s resources minister called the end of a bull run in commodity prices, and the central bank chief predicted the cresting of the investment wave within two years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has played down Resources Minister Martin Ferguson’s assertion that the “resources boom is over”, saying he had simply been talking about commodity prices. The Coalition seized on Mr Ferguson’s comment to ramp up political pressure on Labor a day after BHP Billiton shelved its $US20 billion-plus Olympic Dam expansion, saying it had undermined the government’s whole economic strategy.
Ms Gillard said: “Minister Ferguson was making a point about commodity prices and we have seen commodity prices come off a little.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Australia’s multibillion-dollar spending boom on resources is losing momentum unexpectedly rapidly, with several projects on hold or cancelled as commodity prices fall and banks become less willing to lend.
From copper mines in tropical Queensland to the big iron-ore pits in the country’s arid west, mining companies are laying off workers and idling equipment until metal prices rise sufficiently………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Twice in the past 15 years, the cycle in commodity prices has swung between near-total gloom and heights that, for some commodities, exceeded producers’ earlier most optimistic hopes.
Shares in businesses supplying commodities have also experienced wide moves. In recent months, pessimism has taken hold. The prevailing sentiment in markets now seems too negative from both shorter and medium-run perspectives………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The slew of results from the mining sector in past weeks has not been cheery. Gone were the reports of record profits seen in recent years. Instead, the message came through loud and clear as Xstrata, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and co updated on their performance: revenues are sliding, due to falling commodity prices as the global economy slows.
But that was, of course, backwards looking. What does the future hold for raw materials? Among the gloom, Rio Tinto stood out somewhat as offering a more upbeat assessment of the situation compared to some………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Iraq’s crude output rose above 3 million barrels a day last month for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Iraq pumped 3.08 million barrels a day in July, 115,000 barrels more than the previous month, OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat said today in its Monthly Oil Market Report. The Persian Gulf state for a second month outpaced Iran, where output dropped by 173,000 barrels to 2.82 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Stockpiles of the biggest crops will decline for a third year as drought parches fields across three continents, raising food-import costs already forecast by the United Nations to reach a near-record $1.24 trillion.
Combined inventories of corn, wheat, soybeans and rice will drop 1.8 percent to a four-year low before harvests in 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Crops in the U.S., the biggest exporter, are in the worst condition since 1988, heat waves are battering European crops and India’s monsoon rainfall already is 20 percent below normal. The International Grains Council began July by forecasting record harvests. It ended with a prediction for a 2 percent drop in output………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Cuba’s hopes for energy independence suffered another blow on Monday when its state oil company said the island’s latest offshore oil well was not successful.
Cubapetroleo said the well drilled by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas in partnership with Russia’s Gazprom Neft found oil but in a geological formation so tightly compacted that oil and gas could not flow through it in “significant quantities.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The world watched in awe as American swimmer Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time. I’ve read he’s been training in the pool for an average of 6 hours a day, 6 days per week, which equates to about 30,000 hours since age 13 and about 10,000 calories burned during a training day. It’s inspiring to see the incredible results of his tremendous sacrifice and commitment - By Frank Holmes, U.S. Global Investors.
Investing in global markets requires the same sort of stamina, especially at times like this week, when the month’s reading on the manufacturing industry was not encouraging. The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI of 48.4 for July was the lowest since June 2009………………………………………..Full Article: Source