The bankruptcy of three American banks caused an incline in Brent price while new economic data from China offer more support for the Brent price increase.
Brent prices hit their highest level since three US banks failed, while OPEC’s decision on April 2 to cut 1.66 million barrels and new economic data from China showed more support for Brent prices.
China’s economic data shows that the inflation rate from September 2021 reached the lowest level of inflation in March 2023, which points to possible steps by China to improve its economic growth.
CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng believes that China’s consumer price index (CPI) came in below expected levels in March and the Chinese government is likely to consider stimulus for more economic activity. This comes at a time when the decline in the US dollar is another excellent support for the rise in crude oil.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the UK’s economic situation is worse than that of 19 other G20 members. This means that the UK’s economic growth is even slower than that of Russia, which is under the most severe Western sanctions.
In the IMF’s further assessment, based on the financial institution’s new economic forecasts, which were announced on April 11, the growth of the global economy is expected to decrease by 2.8 percent this year, while it grew by 3.4 percent last year.
The global market confusion in 2023
All the points mentioned above indicate the confusion and ambiguity of the economic situation of various countries in the world in 2023.
Over the past week, CST180 fuel in Singapore increased by $15 and reached $480 on April 12. Meanwhile, Singapore bitumen remained at $460 and South Korean bitumen reached $410. The price of bitumen in Bahrain remained at 355 dollars.
Bitumen prices in Europe improved somewhat and rose above USD 440 in all European countries.
In India, an increase of around $16 is expected in the next 2 days due to the high demand for bitumen and the lack of stocks.
The Iranian market continues to show a high level of competition between oil refineries, as well as a significant increase in the export of bulk bitumen, in the last 6 days, about 78 thousand tons of bulk bitumen were exported from the southern ports of Iran.
Meanwhile, the average competition of more than 81% in the purchase of VB and the partial stability of the exchange rate caused the price of packed bitumen from Iran to rise in some markets. But considering the price of oil and the development of the market, it seems that the end consumers will not be able to accept this price level.
Respectively, buyers should make enough wise decisions to prevent failure. Our team and experts are here for the customers to advise and guide them as concisely as possible.
