Prices as of 26 July 2026.
1. Oil clears $96 and the fertiliser bill follows
Brent settled at $96.78 a barrel, a 6.3% jump from $91.01, after US strikes on Iran reopened the question of whether the Strait of Hormuz stays navigable. For now the Red Sea bypass stays open and crude keeps moving. The knock-on runs straight into nutrients: gas-linked ammonia and urea economics tighten with every dollar on the barrel, and traders are already tying disrupted fertiliser trade to grain prices at a three-year high. Urea printed $451 a tonne, DAP $789. The ADNOC trading desk has flagged August as the tipping point for where oil goes next, which is also when the Gulf sets its loading programmes.
2. Copper loses 2.4% while Chile blows sideways
COMEX copper fell to $6.3575 a pound from $6.511, a 2.4% drop, on a day when northern Chile did the supply side no favours. Barrick had to evacuate workers by helicopter from its Barriales camp after storms cut the roads. Anglo American, meanwhile, reported flat first-half copper output, trimmed its 2026 cost guidance, and warned of losses at diamonds and coal as its Teck merger grinds on. Glencore is spending on the other direction of the cycle, placing a $250 million Cat order through Finning to restart Alumbrera in Argentina.
3. Congo ships its first lithium and rewrites who owns the mine
The first cargo of lithium concentrate has left the port of Kalemie bound for Kigoma in Tanzania, drawn from the Manono deposit and opening a new export corridor across Lake Tanganyika. It routes central Congo's minerals east into the East African Community rather than south through Zambia and South Africa, though what leaves is concentrate, not refined metal, so most of the value is still added abroad. The bigger shift is regulatory: from 31 July, mining companies must cede 10% of their capital to Congolese interests, 5% to employees and 5% to others, with Glencore and Ivanhoe already notified. Non-compliance carries regulatory sanctions, and the application decree is still being finalised.
Also moving
- ZCCM Investments Holdings has hired a UK adviser for a London Stock Exchange listing, putting Zambia's state mining vehicle in front of international capital.
- Palm oil sits at 4,722 MYR a tonne, with Bursa traders expecting futures easing next week on profit-taking after the recent rally.
- Analysts warn that granular phosphate supply for 2027 remains tight, with Australia's fertiliser buyers flagged as exposed.
- India's FACT has suspended ammonium sulphate production on raw-material disruptions, one more nitrogen line offline.
Baltic Dry at 2,743; cobalt at $56,290 a tonne.