COMMODITIES

France is urging its farmers to produce more cut-price meat in a major U-turn on factory farming, with inflation hammering demand for organic pork, beef and chicken.

A 15-year high in rice prices, prompted by top exporter India's restrictions on overseas sales, should be a wake-up call on how climate change can disrupt food supplies, experts say.

Turkey said Monday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will "soon" visit Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin on reviving a Black Sea grain deal that could be used as a springboard for broader Ukraine peace negotiations.

Anton Moiseyev sat for the third day in the cabin of his lorry, parked by a roadside cafe in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, in a bottleneck triggered by Russia's scrapping of a grain shipping deal.

The world is heading for a record grain harvest in the 2023-2024 season thanks to gains for maize and rice, but the market remains under pressure thanks to El Nino and risks due to the war in Ukraine.

The collapse of the Black Sea export corridor should have little immediate impact but over the medium term create market tension and push up food prices.

Ukraine's ministry of renovation and infrastructure said on Thursday the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain export deal had been halted again because Russia had blocked registration of ships to all Ukrainian ports.

The Group of Seven (G7) coalition will keep a $60 per barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil, a coalition official said, despite rising global crude prices and calls by some countries for a lower price cap to restrict Moscow's revenues.

The shock reduction will start in May and last until the end of the year.

Oil prices jumped more than $5 a barrel on Monday's open, jolted by a surprise announcement by OPEC+ to cut production further in an effort to support market stability.

Crude prices moved in a narrow range in early Asian trade on Tuesday after rallying in the previous session, with oil markets focused on developments in the banking crisis as well as on supply concerns and indications of strengthening demand.

Oil prices climbed in early trade on Monday as concerns over turmoil in the banking sector eased, while comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend ratcheted up geopolitical tensions in Europe.

China is expected to account for around 40% of the increase in global oil demand this year as its economy emerges from strict lockdowns, but the increased use will not take prices back to 2022 levels, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Thursday.

Global LNG industry to face challenges in the medium-to-long term says IEEFA, predicting that there will be "sustained high global LNG prices and declines in gas consumption in Europe".

Goldman Sachs expects a commodities supercycle driven by China and the capital flight from energy markets and investment this month after concerns triggered by the banking sector, the U.S.

Oil prices stabilised on Tuesday after falling early in the previous session on investor worries that recent banking-sector problems would weigh on the global economy and limit demand for crude.

Oil steadied on Thursday after a two-day decline as strike-disrupted fuel supply in France, a drop in U.S.