F33 Basic Material Wholesaling

Bullish Hockey has faith in boom

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 20 : 10-Oct-14

Opinion is divided on whether the resources boom has ended and export-focused nations must restructure their economies accordingly. During a forum staged in the US by the International Monetary Fund, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey argued that demand for commodities such as iron ore and gas would continue to be healthy and underpin the nation’s prosperity. He pointed to the emergence of the middle class as consumers in the Asian region. The assessment was in contrast with those given by South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, Indonesian Finance Minister Muhamad Chatib Basri and Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, WORLD BANK, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

$2 sale adds to gloom in ailing coal sector

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 20 : 3-Oct-14

The benchmark price for metallurgical coal negotiated by Japanese steel producers with Australian mining groups has been set at $US119 a tonne for the final three months of calendar 2014. This compares with a peak of $US330 in 2011 and is a low last seen in 2008. The slump has already triggered widespread redundancies in Queensland by companies such as BHP Billiton. The malaise in the sector has now also been underlined by a deal in which Up Energy Development Group will pay just $US2 to Marubeni and Winsway Enterprises to acquire Grande Cache Coal in Canada

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, UP ENERGY DEVELOPMENT GROUP LIMITED, GRANDE CACHE COAL CORPORATION, WINSWAY COKING COAL HOLDINGS LIMITED, MARUBENI CORPORATION, SUMITOMO CORPORATION, VALE SA, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Resource exports to dip before a pick-up

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 20 : 25-Sep-14

Australia’s Bureau of Resources & Energy Economics forecasts 43 per cent growth in the nation’s earnings from resources exports in the next four years. LNG exports are expected to be a key driver of earnings growth over this period, while the agency forecasts that coal and iron ore prices will rebound in the next several years. Earnings from resources exports are forecast to fall by 1.4 per cent in 2014 before rising by 13.4 per cent in 2015

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY. BUREAU OF RESOURCES AND ENERGY ECONOMICS, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

India burning brighter for LNG exporters

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 19-Sep-14

India may emerge as a significant importer of LNG from Australia. Woodside Petroleum forecasts that demand for LNG in in India will rise to as much as 50 million tonnes by 2024. Peter Cleary, the head of LNG at Santos, expects India to import early spot cargoes from the GLNG project in Queensland. Analysts from Tri-Zen International say that India has insufficient infrastructure for large LNG imports

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, ADANI ENTERPRISES LIMITED, GUJARAT STATE PETROLEUM CORPORATION, PETRONET INDIA LIMITED, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

AngloAmerican says China crackdown adds to pressure

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 & 26 : 18-Sep-14

Anglo American is not concerned about China’s new quality requirements for thermal coal. CEO Mark Cutifani said that the ban will increase competitive pressure, but will have a small impact compared with the other challenges faced by the coal industry. He said that most coal exported from Australia is higher quality. Cutifani said that there is interest from buyers in the company’s coal assets

CORPORATES
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, CHINA. NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION, QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL LIMITED

Miners face coal import ban

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 18 : 15-Sep-14

Australian miners will be affected if China implements an import ban on lower quality coal. The ban on coal high in ash and sulphur has been proposed by the China National Coal Association. It is estimated that the standard would apply to nearly half of Australia’s exportable thermal coal, putting at risk about 40 million tonnes of coal exports a year

CORPORATES
CHINA NATIONAL COAL ASSOCIATION, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, WOOD MACKENZIE, CITI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY. BUREAU OF RESOURCES AND ENERGY ECONOMICS

Ore slide leaves miners in dust

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 20 : 5-Sep-14

The Steel Index says weakening demand in the steel sector in China has pushed the iron ore price to close to a five-year low of $US85.70 a tonne. No medium-term improvement is expected by Andrew Mackenzie, CEO of BHP Billiton. However along with Mount Gibson Iron, Fortescue Metals Group and Rio Tinto, BHP remains profitable. Analysts believe that Cliffs, Gindalbie Metals and Grange Resources are now operating at a loss, and Atlas Iron, Arrium and BC Iron may follow

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, MOUNT GIBSON IRON LIMITED – ASX MGX, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, GINDALBIE METALS LIMITED – ASX GBG, GRANGE RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GRR, ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, ARRIUM LIMITED – ASX ARI, BC IRON LIMITED – ASX BCI, CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED, THE STEEL INDEX LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

BC Iron signals tough times ahead for the Pilbara as ore price pushes two-year low

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Barry FitzGerald
The Australian – Page: 17 : 28-Aug-14

BC Iron has announced a 2013-14 full-year net profit increase from $A71.4m to $A72.9m. However just 15% of the earnings were generated in the second six months, demonstrating the major negative impact of the weaker iron ore price. The commodity has declined 35% to below $US90 a tonne so far in calendar 2014. BC’s 12-month distribution has also been cut by $A0.03, to $A0.32. MD Morgan Ball says the iron ore price will not fall further

CORPORATES
BC IRON LIMITED – ASX BCI, IRON ORE HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IOH, MOUNT GIBSON IRON LIMITED – ASX MGX, ATLAS IRON LIMITED – ASX AGO, FOSTER STOCKBROKING PTY LTD

Free-trade agreement benefits going to waste

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sue Neales
The Australian – Page: 20 : 20-Aug-14

HSBC Bank has issued a new study commissioned from the Economist Intelligence Unit, on the impact of the nine free trade agreements (FTAs) Australia has entered into since 2005. The results of the research show that the bilateral deals have been used by a mere 19% of export-focused businesses to boost their trade with the other nations. Among the reasons is the legal complexity of the FTAs, which contributes to widespread ignorance among companies of the available improvements

CORPORATES
HSBC BANK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT, EXPORT COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Iron ore, coal tipped for gradual recovery

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 16 : 4-Aug-14

Mark Pervan, global head of commodity strategy at ANZ Banking, says the recent rapid fall in the prices of coal and iron ore may have reached its nadir. However he also warns that the turnaround may occur at a slower pace than that seen during previous cycles. Similar sentiments have been voiced by Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of global steel producer ArcelorMittal. Pervan predicts the coal price per tonne to rise to between $US115 and $US120 by late 2014, and that of iron ore to almost $US100

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, ARCELOR MITTAL SA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD