Commodities & Futures

Florida’s oranges are smaller than usual and dropping out of trees as disease spoils the juice crop.

The resource-rich country accounts for about 40% of the world’s uranium output, which it sells to utilities in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Wild weather around the world wreaked havoc on markets for raw materials, lifting prices for everything from electricity and heat to houses and breakfast cereal.

Investors expect the heavy snow and freezing temperatures predicted in the northern and western parts of the country will cause more homes to turn up their heat.

Following a banner year for grain prices, several factors may bring more volatility in 2022.

Lumber prices have shot up in a rise reminiscent of a year ago, when high wood prices warned of supply problems and broad inflation to come.

Global coal-fired power generation is expected to rise 9% and hit a record by the end of 2021 as electricity demand from the economic recovery outstrips a shift to cleaner energy sources.

Lithium prices are rising at their fastest pace in years, setting off a race to secure supplies and fueling worries about long-term shortages of a vital ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to smartphones.

Worries of soaring heating bills have diminished as warm weather and higher production boost supply.

Coal piles at power plants have dwindled to their lowest point since the 1970s, and the race to build up inventories ahead of heating season has sent domestic thermal coal prices to their highest levels in more than a decade.

Front-month lumber futures have risen 44% after deluges washed out roads and bridges, caused land slides and cut off rail lines in the Canadian province, where more rainfall is in the forecast.

The tight supply and demand balance in the global oil market could be about to ease, the IEA said in its monthly report.

German regulators suspended certification proceedings for a controversial natural-gas pipeline from Russia, adding to concerns Europe will run low on fuel this winter.

Unseasonably mild weather is allowing U.S. inventories of the heating fuel to build ahead of winter.

Soaring fuel costs amid a global energy crunch were showing signs of weighing on demand, said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and weaker than expected demand for oil in China and India was now likely.

The cost of corn, ethanol’s main ingredient, has trended higher as refineries scramble to supply the gasoline additive, with drivers back on the road.

Diamond Standard, developer of the first standard diamond-investing product, said it is launching a $50 million investment trust to make diamond trading more accessible to professional investors.

The supply squeeze, one of the first ever since the U.S. began sending large volumes of gas abroad, means hefty heating bills for consumers.

Drought across the Northern Hemisphere, strong demand around the world, and rising costs of farm inputs, are contributing to the increases.

Record U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to China today are in contrast to just a couple of years ago, after the country imposed tariffs on U.S. LNG during the trade war.