Speculators in the US corn market cut short positions, helping send the net short to the highest level since August 2023, while adding shorts in soybean and wheat contracts in the week to Tuesday October 29, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed late on Friday November 1.

Fastmarkets has corrected the monthly averages for the following prices, which were published incorrectly in August 2024.

Access a snippet of our weekly lumber commentary, which features our expert analysis on the fifth consecutive weekly price gain.

Sluggish demand for China’s graphite flake fines in both the batteries’ anode and refractories sectors has led to ongoing output cuts among flake miners and processors, which has further tightened the supply of large flake graphite in China, sources told Fastmarkets.

The growth in Chinese shipments of batteries for energy storage systems (ESS) is far outstripping the growth in deliveries of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Friday November 1.

Fastmarkets/RISI economist Dustin Jalbert noted that temporary downtime and quiet, unannounced cutbacks contributed to reduced capacity in 2024.

Industry titans from the packaging world convened in Chicago this week at the Fastmarkets’ Forest Products North America Conference & International Containerboard Conference. Read our key takeaways from the CEO discussion panels below.

Fastmarkets launched assessments for MB-FEM-0008 green ferroalloy domestic, ferro-manganese max 7% C, 65% Mn min, differential to FeMn assessment, in-whs China and MB-FEM-0009 green ferroalloy domestic, ferro-manganese max 7% C, 65% Mn min, weekly inferred price, in-whs China on Friday November 1.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessments for Polish long steel were published on Thursday October 31, one day ahead of schedule due to a public holiday in Poland on November 1.

In this edition of the pallet pricing newsletter, we assess the impact of the holiday season, extreme weather and housing starts on the pallet industry.