SunSirs: Energy Industries Bulk Commodity Intelligence (August 29, 2025)

Macroeconomics

1. [Bonds] Ministry of Finance: As of the end of July, the national local government debt balance was 52,762.7 billion RMB. Of this, general debt comprised 17,248.3 billion RMB, special debt comprised 35,514.4 billion RMB, government bonds comprised 52,602.3 billion RMB, and outstanding government debt in the form of non-government bonds comprised 160.4 billion RMB.

2. [US Tariffs] A senior Trump administration official stated: Over the next six months, packages shipped to the United States will be subject to a uniform tariff ranging from $80 to $200, with specific tariff rates to be implemented thereafter.

3. [Federal Reserve] On the morning of August 29th, Beijing time, Federal Reserve Board Governor Waller, in a public speech, explicitly stated his support for a 25 basis point interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve's September meeting and predicted further rate cuts within the next three to six months. The pace of these cuts will depend on incoming data.

4. [US Initial Jobless Claims] The number of initial unemployment claims in the United States fell slightly to 229,000 last week, while continuing claims fell to 1.954 million, both below expectations.

5. [Eurozone Economic Sentiment Index] Data released by the European Commission showed that the Eurozone Economic Sentiment Index fell to 95.2 in August, down from 95.7 in July, defying market expectations of a slight recovery.

6. [Philippines Interest Rate Cut] The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced on the 28th that it would cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.0%. This is the third consecutive rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas this year.

Energy

1. [Crude Oil] On August 28, international crude oil futures closed higher. The October contract of U.S. WTI crude oil futures settled at $64.60 per barrel, up $0.47, or 0.7%. The November contract of Brent crude oil futures settled at $67.98 per barrel, up $0.54, or 0.8%.

2. [Crude Oil] Data released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on August 28th showed that Japan's post-customs crude oil imports in July reached 11,472,823 kiloliters (2,327,799 barrels per day), an 11% increase year-on-year. Year-to-date, Japan's crude oil imports totaled 78,916,845 kiloliters, a 0.8% year-on-year increase.

3. [LNG] Gassco (Gassco) adjusted its planned LNG production outage from September 1st to 24th from 5.8 million cubic meters to 800,000 cubic meters, and from September 25th to November 1st from 5.4 million cubic meters to 400,000 cubic meters.

4. [Coking Coal] This week, Mysteel's sample of 523 coking coal mines reported a certified capacity utilization rate of 84.0%, a decrease of 1.2% month-on-month. Average daily raw coal production was 1.886 million tons, a decrease of 26,000 tons month-on-month. The average daily output of clean coal was 753,000 tons, a decrease of 18,000 tons month-on-month.

5. [Coking Coal] On August 28, coking coal prices in the Jining market rose. One-third coking coal from local mines was priced at 1,170 RMB/ton, up 20 RMB/ton; fat coal was priced at 1,220 RMB/ton, up 20 RMB/ton; and low-sulfur gas coal was priced at 950 RMB/ton, remaining stable. All prices are ex-factory, cash inclusive of tax.

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