MTECHTIPS COMMODITY MARKET NEWS 3

MTECHTIPS:-Nigeria, Angola sweat it out against US Shale Oil

Nigeria and Angola have a new competition in oil exports which is pretty indirect. US!With growth refusing to die down in China and India as well as some Asian economies, the West African sweet crude is getting diverted to these nations at lower margins.This is mainly because production of shale oil catering to US domestic demand means less of demand from that side.For the month of November, imports of West African crude has dipped to 1.49 million barrels a day which is down by 10% on October. But for the month of December, the purchases are at around 1.75 million bpd, according to data compiled by Reuters.Refiners in China, India and Indonesia have bought more than 660 West African crude oil cargoes this year; a record 1.72 million bpd. This compares with 600 cargoes in 2011 and 656 cargoes in 2010.Chinese traders have been hoovering up cheap West African cargoes on something of a buying spree, said a strategist with a large U.S. oil refiner Demand from the Gulf of Mexico, South America and Europe has been low, so the Chinese have been in the market, mopping up.

MTECHTIPS:-Global Copper apparent usage, mine and refined output rise in Jan-Aug: ICSG
Global copper apparent usage, mine production and refined output advanced in the first eight months of this year, said International Copper Study Group (ICSG) in its November 2012 Copper Bulletin.According to ICSG data, the global refined copper market balance for August 2012 showed a small production deficit of 8,000 metric tonnes (t). When making seasonal adjustments for world refined production and usage, August showed a production deficit of 23,000 t.The refined copper market balance for the first eight month of 2012, including revisions to data previously presented, indicates a production deficit of 522,000 t (a seasonally adjusted deficit of 361,000 t). This compares with a production deficit of 77,000 t (a seasonally adjusted surplus of 85,000 t) in the same period of 2011 In the first eight months of 2012, global apparent usage grew by 5.4% compared with that in the same period of 2011 principally owing to strong growth in Chinese apparent usage (that represented 42.7% of world usage over this period) as usage in the remaining regions declined by an aggregated 4%.

MTECHTIPS;-Roya roils Honduras Coffee spoils; 5% less production expected

With royaa kind of fungus affecting coffee plants-- roiling the coffee production of Honduras, the Central American Republic may produce 5% less coffee than previously

estimated, reported Reuters.The country may come out with 5.673 million 60-kg bags this year, down from 5.98 million bags, according to Victor Molina, manager of coffee institute IHCAFE. The organization is a top coffee research house in Honduras.The country exported 5.48 million 60-kilogram bags during the 2011-12 crop season, which is 40% higher than 2011 season. Honduras and Mexico together account for about one-fifth of the world's arabica beans.Roya is known better to scientific world as leaf rust, a highly destructive disease sapping the nutrients from the leaves and killing bean yields.Back in September, the authorities tried to send defensive mechanisms to some 20,000 growers in the country in the form of fungicides and fertilizers.

MTECHTIPS:-Swiss trade data suggest Russian Palladium shipments subdued in Oct

Swiss trade data for October shows that Russian palladium shipments remained "subdued" during the month, said Barclays Capital in a commodity research note.Analysts tend to monitor Swiss data to track movement of palladium out of Russia. Overall, the report showed that Switzerland remained a net exporter of platinum for a second month and was a net exporter of palladium, reversing the trend over the past couple of months.A breakdown of the data shows that palladium imports rose by 8% year-on-year but fell 54% month-onmonth to 61,000 ounces, with shipments from Russia maintaining a steady,slower pace at 6,000. Shipments from Russia for the year to date are down 62% year-on-year to 142,000 ounces after totaling 550,000 for the full-year 2011, the British bank added."Even barring a pickup in November and December, Russian shipments have slowed significantly through the course of the year, and although not conclusive evidence of reduced state stocks, the trend remains supportive,"