Commodity Readings: Natural Gas, Wheat & Platinum
- Houston Chronicle: Natural gas to go global
Liquefaction capacity — the ability to chill the gas into a liquid so it can be shipped by tanker instead of relying on pipelines — will increase about 30 percent in the next two years to about 12 trillion cubic feet, . . .
The capacity of the world’s liquefied natural gas tanker fleet, now comprising 251 ships, is projected to grow by 50% with the addition of 58 new tankers.
With demand soaring abroad and droughts crimping supply, the world’s wheat stockpiles have fallen to their lowest level in 30 years, and stocks in the United States have dropped to levels unseen since 1948.
Prices for common wheat are up nearly 50% since August, and they are up even more for the most sought-after varieties, leaving buyers, growers and longtime commodity traders shaking their heads.
. . . the inflation-adjusted record for wheat was set in the mid-1970s, when it exceeded $20 a bushel in today’s dollars after huge sales to the Soviet Union.
Platinum surpassed $2,000 an ounce for the first time in London and New York after mining disruptions in South Africa squeezed supplies at a time of increased demand.
Assets in platinum-backed shares created by ETF Securities Ltd. represent about 5 percent of annual global production, the company said Feb. 5. Those and similar products have taken about 211,000 ounces off the market since Nov. 1, UBS AG estimated.
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