The Middle East energy shock is driving up European natural gas prices, inflating paper packaging costs. Protect your F&B margins today with our data-driven procurement intelligence.

The Middle East conflict has triggered a massive energy price shock, severely disrupting the European paper market by driving up production and transportation costs. Read more.

Crude palm oil (CPO) and soyoil futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) extended gains on Thursday March 12, as it continued to track strength in related vegoils and energy markets. The highs in CPO reached earlier in the day eased off by the day’s close.

The aluminium market is being pulled in two directions by the Middle East conflict: upstream feedstocks sit in temporary buffer stocks, while delivering metal to consuming regions is becoming increasingly difficult.

Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.

The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.

European allowances have steadily dropped in recent days amid wide uncertainty in the emissions trading market, defying a sharp spike in Dutch TTF Natural Gas prices prompted by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

US animal fats and oils markets have moved higher in recent weeks alongside gains in soybean oil futures and diesel values, with improving renewable diesel and biodiesel economics driving stronger demand for feedstocks.

Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.

The outbreak of conflict between the US, Israel and Iran on February 28 has brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a near halt, disrupting China’s steel exports to a region that accounted for 14% of its total finished steel export volume in 2025.