South America

Four tankers, the majority of which were loaded, left Venezuela early in January in "dark mode" - that is, with their transponders turned off despite a "strict" U.S. blockade. According to the state company PDVSA, and the monitoring service TankerTrackers.com, the blockade is now in place. Last month, a flotilla consisting of at least three empty ships and a dozen vessels with cargo left Venezuelan waters. This was in apparent defiance to an embargo that President Donald Trump imposed on Venezuela since mid-December. The U.S. seized the?supertanker M Sophia with a Panamanian flag this week as it returned to the...

U.S. Energy Sec. Chris Wright stated that there is room to balance the roles of the United States and China in Venezuela, to allow for commerce. However, Washington will not let Beijing have a major influence over the Latin American nation. Wright said in an interview with Fox Business Network that he expects to?see Chevron rapidly grow its operations in Venezuela, while ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil will also be looking to play a positive role. "I think you'll see China playing a long-term role in Venezuela. The United States will control oil flow as long as the United States is...

Greece offered farmers full compensation for any future losses in production and cheaper fuel on Wednesday, as a desperate attempt to persuade them that the protests which have affected travel and some businesses should stop. Since late last year, farmers have been stationing thousands of tractors across Greece to protest high production and payment delays. The centre-right Prime Minister KyriakosMitsotakis has called on farmers to stop the "blockades" and enter into talks. Farmers have threatened to take further action if their demands are not met, including minimum prices for their products. The Greek Ministers have admitted that payments began a...

Shipping data revealed that Venezuela only loaded crude?for U.S. Chevron on February 2, while the state-run PDVSA halted operations to?load?cargoes destined for its principal customers in China for a fifth consecutive day. U.S. Forces captured President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York for drug charges. Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of the Venezuelan government is now in charge. The U.S. says it will supervise the administration. Last month, the United States placed a blockade against sanctioned oil tanks sailing into Venezuelan waters and out of them. This halted all exports except those that were destined for Chevron. Chevron,...

Shipping data shows that Venezuela's main oil port on Tuesday became the fifth day without delivering crude to the state-run PDVSA customers in Asia – the OPEC country's major buyers – as the U.S. pressed the nation with an oil embargo. Chevron, the main joint venture partner of PDVSA, resumed Monday exports of Venezuelan crude oil to the U.S., after a four day pause. It also called its?workers overseas back to their Venezuela offices, as flights into?the country re-started. In recent weeks, the U.S. company has become 'the only firm fluidly exporting Venezuelan crude. In early January, a dozen vessels...

Shipping data revealed that tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil and fuel sailed?in international waters?without a flag or safety documentation. Since they left Venezuelan water, the location of these vessels is unknown. To comply with safety and environmental regulations, all?commercial vessels must be registered or flagged with a particular country. Ship classification societies provide safety services, such as ensuring that ships are seaworthy. This certification is crucial for insurance and entry to ports. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a ban on all tankers sanctioned for Venezuela in mid-December. This was before U.S. forces captured 'Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning....

Prices of copper?soared on Monday to record highs above $13,000 per metric ton, driven by fears about shortages and expectations that the turmoil in Venezuela would accelerate the race to secure essential?minerals. The expectation of a strong growth in demand from data centres required for artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles, helped to fuel a 40% rise last year in the prices of metal used to manufacture power cables. John Meyer, an analyst at SP Angel, said that copper prices must rise even further before miners are persuaded to produce significant amounts of new production. Many existing mines are operating at...

Shipping data shows that an oil 'tanker' chartered by U.S. Chevron, carrying'some 300,000 barrels' of 'Venezuelan Heavy Crude' bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast, left Venezuelan waters on Monday, following a four-day pause to the 'company's' exports of Venezuelan crude. Chevron, the only company authorized to export Venezuelan crude oil by Washington is Chevron. This embargo was imposed on Saturday after President Donald Trump announced that it would remain in full force. The ship monitoring data showed that Chevron's tankers loaded with oil had not sailed to the U.S. for the past few days due to the U.S. strike in...

Monitoring service TankerTrackers.com reported that about a dozen oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude or?fuel left the country's waterways in the dark mode. This was despite the strict U.S. blockade, which had been imposed after intense pressure grew until the capture and deposition of Nicolas Maduro. All of the vessels identified as departing are subject to U.S. Sanctions. Separately, a group of ships also subject to'sanctions' left the country empty in recent days after completing domestic transportation or discharging imported goods. The departures may be a relief to Venezuela's PDVSA state-owned oil company, which had built up a large stock of...

Three sources familiar with the decision told reporters that Venezuela's PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, is asking joint ventures to reduce crude production due to an "export paralysis". This will add pressure to an interim government struggling to hold on to power. These include?shutting down oilfields and well clusters, as the stocks onshore increase. The company also runs out of diluents needed to mix Venezuela's heavy crude before shipping. Caracas is currently in a political crisis, under an interim government. This comes after U.S. troops rescued President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday. Oil exports from the OPEC nation, which are its'main...

Four sources claim that the accumulation of fuel in Venezuela's onshore tank stores is forcing the state-owned PDVSA company to take 'extreme measures' to avoid shutting down?refining facilities. Meanwhile, a U.S. ban on sanctioned tanks entering and leaving the country has almost paralyzed exports. Venezuela produces a lot of residual fuels, mainly high-sulfur oil. These are exported to Asia. According to shipping and company documents, the U.S. Blockade has cut down on?those shipments?to a minimum over the past two weeks. PDVSA, as part of its floating storage strategy, has stored crude oil and fuel oil on tankers after topping up...

Two oil tankers?have made their way to Venezuela recently and other are navigating to the country. This is a sign that?state-run PDVSA has been trying to increase floating storage to keep selling crude despite a U.S. Blockade which has?reduced to a minimal exports. As part of a campaign to put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. president Donald Trump announced this month a blockade against all vessels sanctioned by the U.S. government that enter or leave Venezuelan waters. This U.S. action has reduced oil exports to half their level in November. The U.S. seized two full cargoes Venezuelan oil,...

The European Union was thanked by Ukraine on Friday, even though the bloc did not agree to an ambitious plan that would use frozen Russian assets as a means of financing. The stakes were high for 'Kyiv' to find money because, without EU financial support, Ukraine will run out of cash in the second quarter next year, and may lose the war. This would increase the risk of Russian aggression towards the EU. The 90 billion euro loan was approved by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, wrote the following on Telegram: "This is a...

The federal government of Brazil plans to auction off the massive Tecon '10 container terminal at Santos Port in the first half of March, said Minister of Ports and airports Silvio Costa Filho on Friday. He said that more than 10 bidders have expressed interest in the auction, including the Philippines-based ICTSI, JBS, JSL and unnamed 'Arab investors. The Minister said that the minimum bid price will be below?6.4 billion (about $1.19 billion), the amount of money the winning bidder must invest to build and run the terminal. Roberto Lopes confirmed that the Rio Brasil Terminal, controlled by ICTSI will...

Argentina, a global food supplier, is planning to boost its grain and mineral exports through privatization, and a modernization program of its railway network. Industry leaders claim that this will reduce freight costs in regions located far from ports by half. The first tender will be for the Belgrano Cargas, which runs the three biggest freight train lines in the country. The initiative, which will be launched in early 2019, could increase production of global commodities like soybeans and corn. It also includes copper and lithium. The project could also help transport sand from Vaca Muerta in Argentina's Southwest. The...

The Brazilian Agricultural Exchange (BAB), announced on Thursday, had recorded the first physical settlement in Brazil of a grain derivative in over 15 years. Corn was delivered to a railroad terminal in Rondonopolis in Mato Grosso. Eric Cardoni, chief executive of BAB, a platform for agricultural trading that started operations in September, said that the volume of trading at BAB increased dramatically last month. Cardoni stated that the first delivery of corn was 1,800 metric tonnes, which is equivalent to three contracts. Cardoni also said that another 9,000 metric tons (15 contracts) will be delivered later this month. The market...

Sources in Berlin confirmed that the German government supports Brazil's proposal for a fund to protect rainforests, but it hasn't yet decided on how much money they will contribute. Brazil, as host of the COP30 Climate talks, will launch its flagship Tropical Forests Forever Facility next week in order to raise $125 billion for the conservation of endangered forests. Sources claim that the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will attend the talks and finds the idea extremely interesting. They added that the amount of the financial contribution should be left undetermined for the time being. The German development minister indicated that...

In a statement released on Wednesday, the workers' union of BHP's Escondida copper mine in Chile, which is the largest mine in the world, expressed concern over two recent accidents that involved autonomous trucks. The union, who has been critical of BHP in the past and has held strikes during contract negotiations, stated that on August 25, an autonomous truck crashed into shovel machinery, and the previous week, another truck overturned. No injuries were reported. Patricio Tapia, head of the Union, said that workers do not operate vehicles but they are responsible for other tasks, such as maintaining the roads....

The Brazilian coffee harvest for 2025/26 accelerated in the last week to 35% but remained lower than the level in 2024. Sales of the anticipated output were on par with last year's, at 22%. Safras & Mercado reported that the robusta bean harvest increased by seven percentage points in the week ending June 11. The dry weather favored the robusta beans. Rains have slowed down the work on arabica fields in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, and Parana in the southeast. This is two percentage points less than the level of 37% seen at the same time last...

Brazilian rail operator Rumo has terminated a 2024 deal to sell a part of the terminal at Latin America’s largest port, to U.S. commodities traders Bunge and to a subsidiary from Japan’s Zen-Noh Group. Rumo stated in a filing with the Securities Commission that the conditions of the agreement for a 50% stake in the XXXIX Terminal, located in Santos Port, had not been fully met before the deadline. It did not give any further details. The parts were Announcement of the Deal Rumo reported that the agreement would be worth 600 million reais ($107.44 millions) in May 2024. Bunge...

Abiove, the traders' association, and a toll-road operator announced on Tuesday that indigenous Brazilian protesters had lifted their blockade of Brazil's Trans-Amazonian Highway. This reopened a vital grain shipping route connecting farmers to the Miritituba River Port. On March 25, Munduruku activists shut down the road (also known as BR-230) to pressure Brazil's Supreme Court into overturning a law that limits indigenous land rights in 2023. Grain traders reported that the protests prevented the shipment of around 70 000 metric tons worth nearly $30 million of grains every day. Abiove reported that it had learned on Tuesday morning the indigenous...

In recent days, protests by indigenous peoples and poor roads disrupted the shipping of Brazil's bumper soya crop via the river port Miritituba within the Amazon rainforest. This has caused concern for global companies such as Cargill and Bunge who have important operations. Abiove, the association of grain handlers in Nigeria, reported on Friday that road access to Miritituba had been partially or totally blocked for two weeks. This has prevented the shipment of almost 70,000 tons per day of grain, equivalent to almost $30 millions of product value. In a statement issued jointly with the farm group Aprosoja Brasil,...

The tariffs imposed by U.S. president Donald Trump on Mexican imports pose a significant risk to farmers in Jacksonville. This is because Mexico's retaliation could cause corn buyers to switch to South American rivals. Mexico is the top corn-importing country in the world. At a time when prices of grains have plummeted and chemical and seed costs for crops are on the rise, this market is crucial for U.S. producers. Farmers in Jacksonville, a small city of 17,000 residents, are more likely to benefit from Mexican demand than other farmers. The residents live near a grain loading facility where corn...

Analysts said that the sale of Brazil's soy crop was lagging, due to high freight costs, an increased local currency, and the extra caution taken by trading companies to complete purchases. According to the consultancy Safras & Mercado, Brazil's soybean crop for 2024/25 has already sold 39.4% more than total production expected. This is higher than the 31,9% recorded in the same time period of 2024. It is still below the average for five years of 43.2%. Guilherme Palahares, Santander Research's head of food and beverage research, said that "Freight was the biggest factor in limiting business." To reduce risk,...