Last week the price of Australia free-on-board premium hard coking coal jumped to highest since the second quarter of 2011. That price spike was also the result of flooding in Queensland that saw quarterly contract prices negotiated at an all time high of $330.

Cyclone Debbie caused serious damage to key rail lines serving mines in the state of Queensland and while three lines have now reopened according to operator Aurizon, but large sections of the Goonyella railroad in the centre of the network is only be expected to be up and running in a week's time.

Earlier expectations were that roughly 12–13 million tonnes of Australian met coal cargoes destined for China, India and Japan could be delayed, but Aurizon said this week up to 21 million tonnes have been affected.

A total of 221 million tonnes of coal was exported last year from Queensland, according to the Queensland Resources Council quoted by Reuters and of that at least 75% be steelmaking coal.

Customs data released last week showed Chinese imports of coal – both thermal and metallurgical coal – in March rose 12.2% from a year ago and 25% from February to 22.1 million tonnes.

The global met coal market is around 300 million tonnes per year with premium hard coking coal or PHCC constituting more than a third of the total market. More than half of PHCC seaborne coal come from Australian producers according to TSI data.

A reduction in allowable work days at China's coal mines last year sparked a massive rally in coal prices, lifting met coal prices to multi-year high of $308.80 per tonne by November from $75 a tonne earlier in 2016. But the speculative rally fizzled soon fizzled out with the commodity hitting a 2017 low of $150.10 a tonne last month.

While coking coal is returning to more expected levels, iron ore's unnerving decline – more than a third over just the last month – appears to have been arrested.

The Northern China import price of 62% Fe content ore advanced for a second day on Thursday trading at $64.70 a tonne after dipping to a six-month low of $61.50 per dry metric tonne on Tuesday according to data supplied by The Steel Index.

Despite doubts expressed by traders and economists, that optimism has turned out to be justified on at least one economic front - agriculture and related sectors.

Last year, Russia managed to gain the world’s lead as an exporter of grain, after shipping 34 million tons out of its record crop of 119 million tons.

Apart from grain, Russian farmers have completely substituted imports of chicken and pork with domestic production. The country became a top producer of sugar beet with greenhouse vegetable output increasing 30 percent over the previous year.

Agricultural goods have become Russia’s second biggest export after oil and gas.

Besides increased government subsidies to farmers, the sector has also benefited from Russia’s geographical position with highly fertile “black earth” regions in central and southern Russia located close to export terminals on the Black Sea. The trade routes allow the country to supply significant North African and Middle Eastern wheat importers such as Turkey and Egypt.

Russian agriculture and associated industries have huge potential for further growth as increased earnings allow farmers to invest in technology and more fertilizers to boost productivity.

“Russia’s agriculture boom shows that, despite sanctions and the poor state of east-west relations, there are pockets of value and opportunity to be found in the Russian market,” reports the Financial Times.