Friday The 13th – Agriculture Relatively Less Perilous Than Most Chemical Markets – Even Jason & Freddy Have To Eat!

Daily Chemical Reaction

Friday The 13th – Agriculture Relatively Less Perilous Than Most Chemical Markets – Even Jason & Freddy Have To Eat!

Key Points:

• NW Europe ammonia prices increased this week but not at the pace of its production costs, a positive development for global ammonia price support and North American producer margins.
•  We view North American ammonia producers as seemingly only among a few commodity producers able to credibly paint a constructive view of 4Q23 and 2024 with their 3Q reports.
• We argue that the North American methanol market reflects many similarities with ammonia, but ammonia end-market demand reflects less risk, in our view, in the near-to-medium term.
• Brent Crude oil and Ex-US natural gas prices increased this week relative to US natural gas, which is a plus for US petrochemical margins, while global refinery margins reflect declines.
• This report also provides views on lithium, nickel, and copper, critical mineral processing and recycling in China and globally, and comments on the recent US hydrogen hub announcements.

See PDF below for all charts, tables and diagrams