Better late than never!
What’s HOT
Spots to cross the Panama Canal are hot and getting hotter as the backlog of ships waiting to transit the waterway grows.
Late last week the Panama Canal Authority announced it would be auctioning more spots for ships who want to jump the line to cross. This additional auction will be for ships who have been waiting for 10 days or longer.
The initial bid to cut the line for the Panamax locks is $55,000, but the winning bidder will likely pay a significantly higher amount if won.
Yesterday, a chemical tanker won the auction for $1.1 million - a price that is insurmountable for grain vessels to pay.
In the Canal Authority’s release, they indicated vessels without reservation may experience “indefinite delays” and that the additional auction slots provide “greater opportunities to obtain a place for vessels in the Panamax locks that have been waiting in the transit queue for an extended period of time.”
There are currently 120 vessels waiting to transit as the backup grows. We are to the point this IS affecting grain flows out of the US Gulf to Asia.
More on this tomorrow in the TEN Spot.
Cocoa for the win, up 70% year-to-date and making another new contract high today amid global supply fears.
Unrelenting rainfall in West Africa, the world's primary cocoa-producing region, has hampered fieldwork and fostered the spread of crop diseases, raising concerns about a global cocoa shortage.
To put it in perspective (20-year chart):
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