Commodity market: World oil prices suddenly reverse

The Vietnam Commodity Exchange (MXV) said the market continued its tug-of-war trend in yesterday's trading session (April 23). At the end of the session, the MXV-Index was flat at 2,197 points. The energy market was covered in red, with the prices of two crude oil products suddenly turning around and plummeting. On the other hand, many metal products increased in price thanks to positive signals from the market.

Thị trường hàng hoá: Giá dầu thế giới đột ngột đảo chiều

MXV-Index

Oil prices suddenly reverse

Selling pressure dominated the energy market in yesterday's trading session. In the world crude oil market, information about supply from the OPEC+ group spread, causing great pressure, causing prices to reverse and fall sharply.

At the end of the session, Brent crude oil prices fell 1.96% to $66.12/barrel. Meanwhile, WTI crude oil futures for June delivery also fell 2.2% to $62.27/barrel. Previously, oil prices had recovered nearly 2% after new tensions in US-Iran relations.

Energy price list

The main reason for the decline in yesterday's trading session was market information about the possibility of an unusual increase in production by OPEC+. According to many sources, some member countries have proposed to increase production in June. Previously, in May, OPEC+ "pumped" 411,000 barrels/day, three times the original plan. In April, the group also increased production by 138,000 barrels/day. These developments have raised concerns about excess supply in the market, thereby pushing oil prices down.

In addition, the fact that some OPEC+ member countries have repeatedly exceeded their allocated crude oil production quotas has reinforced investors’ concerns, despite OPEC+ policies requiring cuts to excess production. Iraq and Kazakhstan are the two most prominent violators, although both have pledged to adjust their output as required by OPEC+. Data from Kpler shows that Iraq’s oil exports continued to increase in April, despite a promise to reduce 50,000 barrels per day from 4.2 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s output fell only 3% in the first half of April, remaining at 1.47 million barrels per day – 129,000 barrels above its quota.

“We will try to adjust our actions. If our partners ... are not satisfied with the adjustment of our actions, then we will once again act in our national interests,” Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov said yesterday. The statement reflects the challenge of implementing OPEC+ commitments, with most of the country’s production controlled by multinationals such as Chevron and ExxonMobil. Kazakhstan’s failure to meet its OPEC+ target of cutting excess production has further weighed on oil prices.

Also yesterday, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a weekly report showing that commercial crude oil inventories increased by about 244,000 barrels in the week ending April 18, contrary to previous predictions of a decrease, thereby further strengthening the downward momentum of oil prices. The group of PMI indexes in the US announced on the day also failed to reassure the market about the health of the world's largest economy . Although the PMI index of the manufacturing sector unexpectedly increased, it was accompanied by a decrease in the remaining PMI indexes.

Metal market recovers

According to MXV, the prices of two precious metals improved in yesterday's trading session thanks to hopes of easing US-China tensions.

At the end of the session, world silver prices extended their increase by 1.95% to 33.55 USD/ounce, while platinum recovered 1.81% to 979.6 USD/ounce.

Metal price list

In the base metals group, COMEX copper prices unexpectedly reversed when concerns about a temporary supply shortage in the US were temporarily eased. Specifically, the price of COMEX copper contracts for May delivery decreased by 0.71% to $ 10,678 / ton. According to data from Goldman Sachs bank, since the beginning of the year, the US has imported a total of 408,000 tons of copper cathode, far exceeding the initial forecast of 300,000 tons for the first half of 2025.

On the other hand, 1.65% iron ore prices rose to $100.2 per tonne despite concerns about demand as China’s real estate market has yet to show clear signs of recovery. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), new home prices in first-tier cities edged up just 0.1% in March from February but still fell 2.8% year-on-year. Low consumer and investor confidence in the real estate sector could negatively impact demand for construction steel, putting pressure on iron ore prices in the coming time.

Prices of some other goods