COVID-19 Bulletin: January 25

January 25, 2022 • Posted in Daily Bulletin

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Supply

  • Oil prices fell 2% Monday, moving in tandem with a broader selloff in Wall Street equities. Futures were higher in late morning trading, with WTI up 1.6% at $84.65/bbl and Brent up 1.4% at $87.48/bbl. U.S. natural gas was 1.6% lower at $3.96/MMBtu.
  • European natural gas prices are on the decline following forecasts of milder weather and slightly boosted supplies from Russia. 
  • OPEC+ produced just 60% of its publicly stated target production last month.  
  • German power prices rose to their highest levels in a month Tuesday on a steep decline in wind output. 
  • Japan’s largest refiner is running its plants at high capacity after failing to meet sharply rising domestic demand in the final three months of 2021. 
  • Nigeria’s new 650,000-bpd Dangote refinery could be operational by the second half of this year, a key step toward the nation’s goal of ending gasoline imports.
  • Indonesia’s short-lived ban on coal exports earlier this month sent prices for the fuel surging as other nations failed to boost supply, with global impacts expected to linger through February. 
  • While China is yet to lift an import ban on Australian coal, the bulk of stranded supply has now been cleared from Chinese ports, a boon last quarter to the nation’s power plants and steelmakers. 
  • The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s most recent auction saw a new record price for emissions allowances at $13 per short ton of CO2:
CO2 emissions allowance prices increased in latest RGGI auction

Supply Chain

  • An out-of-season wildfire in California’s central coastal region has forced hundreds to evacuate. 
  • Turkish and Greek roads and airports shut down for a second day following heavy snowfall over the past week. 
  • Thousands of trucks piled up at Vietnam’s northern border with China last week after Chinese officials tightened gate operations over fears of importing COVID-19. 
  • Canada’s Port of Vancouver delayed a plan to bar older trucks from serving the port after recent storms disrupted the region’s transit network.
  • European airlines are flying thousands of empty or nearly empty flights to preserve takeoff and landing slots at airports. 
  • South Carolina’s Port of Charleston saw 1.29 million TEUs of loaded container imports last year, a 25% increase over 2020. 
  • Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s largest air cargo hub, saw an 18.7% rise in cargo tonnage last year and an 8.9% rise over 2019. 
  • The global fleet of seaborne crude and product tankers grew at a modest 2.7% pace last year, with the largest number of tankers leaving the market since 2018. 
  • HMM and Evergreen are among the 23 container shipping lines being fined more than $80 million for price-fixing over the last 15 years. 
  • Total U.S. freight movements will rise 30% to 2.49 billion tons per year by 2040, the Department of Transportation forecasts: 
Demand for Freight Transportation Projected to Rise 30% by 2040

Sustainability: M. Holland’s 2022 Market Trends & Predictions

M. Holland’s Sustainability Market Manager, Debbie Prenatt, reflects on how recent sustainability efforts in the plastics industry will continue to evolve.

Domestic Markets

International Markets

At M. Holland

  • M. Holland’s 2021 EcoVadis rating improved year over year, reflecting a continued commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives. See the press release.
  • M. Holland’s 3D Printing group offers a rapid response alternative for producing selected parts where resin availability is tight. For more information, email our 3D Printing team.
  • Market Expertise: M. Holland offers a host of resources to clients, prospects and suppliers across nine strategic markets.

For all COVID-19 updates and notices, please refer to the M. Holland website.

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