Most commodity prices increased this week. Optimism over electrification, which was a hot topic during LME Week, seemed to feed through into higher industrial metals prices. But the prices of energy commodities were the pick of the bunch. Brent crude rallied throughout the week and briefly breached $85 per barrel on Friday. OPEC’s monthly oil market report showed that output in September was still 390,000 barrels per day short of target. As prices rise, there are growing calls for higher OPEC production. But it seems doubtful that the group could raise output much faster, unless it abandons the current quota system. Meanwhile, a cold spell that has blown through China has compounded upward pressure on energy prices. That is in addition to the Chinese government allowing coal-fired power prices to rise by up to 20% from base levels from Friday.
Looking to next week, China is set to publish its September activity and spending data and Q3 GDP on Monday. We suspect that China’s economy contracted in q/q terms. So far, commodity prices have largely shrugged off the slowdown in China’s economy. And we wouldn’t be that surprised if they continue to do so as currently elevated energy prices spill over to other commodity markets by substantially raising production costs of agriculturals and metals.
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