Report published September 23, 2026

The Commodities Feed: Brent Drops Below $100 – ING Commodities Daily

ING · September 23, 2026

Brent crude fell below $99/bbl following the restart of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, progress in US-Iran talks, and a surprise US crude inventory build. Meanwhile, Chinese gold imports surged to record highs in August and Ukraine concluded its wheat harvest with an 11% output increase.

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Key Takeaways

1.Oil prices retreated sharply with Brent falling below $99/bbl on expectations of increased Saudi crude exports via the East-West pipeline, progress in US-Iran talks, and an unexpected US crude inventory build.
2.Chinese gold imports reached record levels, rising 39.3% YoY in August to 141.7 tonnes and 72.2% YTD to 1,141.2 tonnes, supported by domestic price premiums, a stronger yuan, and PBOC licensing quotas.
3.Copper prices found physical support from Chinese holiday restocking and falling Shanghai cathode stocks, even as investor positioning across base metals remained subdued.

Energy – Saudi pipeline restart weighs on oil prices
Metals – Strong demand drives Chinese gold imports
Agriculture – Ukraine completes wheat harvest

Report data

Key figures extracted from this report

Metric	Estimate	Context
Brent Crude Price	<99 USD/bbl	Brent dropping below $99/bbl after six consecutive down sessions.
Saudi East-West Pipeline Capacity	7 million b/d	Capacity of route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz resuming exports from Yanbu terminal.
US Crude Inventories Change	1.7 million barrels	API reported build compared with expectations of a 578k-barrel draw.
Chinese Gold Imports (August)	141.7 tonnes	August gold imports rose 39.3% YoY, bringing YTD imports to 1,141.2 tonnes (+72.2%).
Shanghai Copper Cathode Inventories	43900 tonnes	Inventories fell by 14,700 tonnes to 43,900 tonnes, lowest level since December 2023.