The Lunar New Year brings shifts in supply and demand patterns across commodities, and 2019 was no different. Chinese oil imports saw a strong year on year increase in January, but February figures are likely to be weaker due to the vacation. Meanwhile, steel markets were braced for pent up demand as China went back to work.
Ferrous markets continued to focus on the fallout from Vale’s catastrophic iron ore dam failure, with far-reaching Brazilian legislation now responding to the disaster. Neighboring Venezuala is still in the grip of political turmoil, meanwhile, with consequences for global oil trade flows and supply chains further downstream.
