Hi everyone,

I have been searching for different sources, so, finally I have come up with below sources. Hopefully, you will find them interesting to go through.

Check out for a website “Index Mundi” at http://www.indexmundi.com/.

I have found this site quite useful for a trading game. It contains detailed country statistics, charts, and maps collected from different sources.  For instance, you can find detailed information about agricultural commodity such as its production, consumption, export, and import by country.

Also, I found interesting website “agrimoney.com” http://www.agrimoney.com for daily commodity reports. News on commodity markets can be easily found on this site. All news related to a specific commodity, market data, and an expectation of a market rally or collapse is posted in the section commodities. For instance, if you’re wondering why you have lost or gained in a trading game, you can check out for the reason of that on this site. The report on future price changes is posted in the sections “market” and “commodity”. For example, an article “Evening markets: wheat, coffee lead rebound in crop prices”, see at “http://www.agrimoney.com/marketreport/evening-markets-wheat-coffee-lead-rebound-in-crop-prices–1800.html”, explains all circumstances that have had an impact on price of wheat and coffee during the trading week.

In addition, I recommend an official website of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at http://www.usda.gov. Especially, you might find interesting “Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin across USA and monthly World Agricultural Weather Highlights” at http://www.usda.gov/oce/weather.

I have resisted myself from posting sites with complicated charts and tables since I am still working on understanding them. Hope, after a few weeks I will be quite confident at it  then I can post more tempting sources of information.

Russia considers grain export restriction to maintain domestic prices down

Russia, the fifth largest producer of wheat in the world, despite the announcement made in August 2012, is expected to impose limitation on overseas shipments as of October this year.

In August 2012 the Agriculture Minister of Russia announced that Russia has no reason to ban export even if its exportable surplus is depleted. However, according to the latest report, if a domestic price of wheat continues its increasing after a severe drought, government will be compelled to constrain export.

The issue of export restriction is due to an expected increase of domestic grain prices. It is estimated that by the end of 2012 domestic prices for Russian wheat may increase to 9,000 roubles (US$290) per tonne from the current 8,000 roubles. Therefore, with such estimation it is quite possible imposition of export constraint by Russia’s government.

The government is expecting this year’s grain harvest between 72 million and 73 million tons, below the last year’s 94.2 million tons.

Russian Federation Wheat Exports by Year

Source: United States Department of Agriculture

See at “http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/country=ru&commodity=wheat&graph=exports”

Because of Russia’s a one-year export ban 2010, when drought destroyed that year’s harvest, markets are quite familiar with such kind of Russia’s policy. Thus, future markets are already expecting a significant increase in wheat prices because if, indeed, Russia imposes any export restrictions, it may push up prices worldwide as it was in 2010.

 Wheat Production by Country in 1000 MT, Year of Estimate: 2012

See at “http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=wheat&graph=production”

References:

Internet sources:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-21/russia-may-curb-grains-exports-to-control-domestic-prices.html

http://rt.com/business/news/russia-grain-export-limitation-643/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-09/russia-keeps-grain-crop-forecast-export-ban-avoided-correct-.html

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/21/markets-grains-idINL1E8KL6LV20120921

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2012/09/04/the-tuesday-edition-45/

Why the creation of the Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat BC will raise the price of crude oil for Canadian refineries?

Indeed, there is controversy that the creation of the Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat BC will have a negative impact on Canadian refineries, consequently on consumers, and businesses.

Due to Gateway pipeline’s access to new markets, called Asian premium, oil companies will move to seize new export that pay a higher price for crude. Therefore, the price for crude oil will be expensive at least higher than a current price. As a result, the domestic refinery will face competition with global customers for oil by paying a higher price for crude oil. The result will be crucial for local refineries because the production cost will increase significantly leading to unemployment in this sector.

It seems that the process has already begun. The impact on Chevron Canada refinery has been significant in recent years. According to an article “Flood of Pacific oil exports leaves West Coast refinery thirsty for crude” by Nathan Vanderklippe, “In November of 2010, the refinery received 51,609 barrels from the pipeline. In the first four months of 2012, it averaged 33,744. During that period, the pipeline was roughly 70 per cent oversubscribed, as huge volumes of oil sought to find their way to Pacific markets.” (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pacific-oil-exports-not-waiting-for-new-pipelines-considering-foreign-crude/article4525395/) In other words, the Chevron has been struggling to obtain sufficient domestic oil to fill its refinery. The Gateway pipeline is going to be a significant issue for local refineries. If supply of crude oil continues to be insufficient, pushing price up, this situation is not maintainable because it definitely threatens the domestic refineries.

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