Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK COMMODITIES INCOME INVESTMENT TRUST plc (LEI:54930040ALEAVPMMDC31)
All information is at 30 September 2018 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
One Three Six One Three Five
Month Months Months Year Years Years
Net asset value 4.1% -0.9% 16.5% 17.6% 79.7% 10.8%
Share price 3.6% -3.4% 13.9% 16.9% 69.5% 4.4%
Sources: Datastream, BlackRock
At month end
Net asset value – capital only: 84.94p
Net asset value cum income*: 85.76p
Share price: 80.00p
Discount to NAV (cum income): 6.7%
Net yield: 5.0%
Gearing - cum income: 9.8%
Total assets^: £108.2m
Ordinary shares in issue: 116,229,000
Gearing range (as a % of net assets): 0-20%
Ongoing charges**: 1.4%
* Includes net revenue of 0.82p.
^ Includes current year revenue.
** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding any interest costs and excluding taxation for the year ended 30 November 2017.
Sector Analysis % Total 
Assets 
Country Analysis % Total 
Assets 
Diversified Mining 31.7  Global 60.5 
Integrated Oil 26.5  Canada 15.7 
Exploration & Production 15.0  USA 10.4 
Gold 8.5  Latin America 5.6 
Copper 8.3  Africa 3.9 
Industrial Minerals 4.0  Australia 3.8 
Diamonds 2.1  Asia 1.3 
Silver 1.9  Net Current Liabilities (1.2)
Steel 1.4  ----- 
Distribution 1.0  100.0 
Oil Services 0.9  ===== 
Aluminium (0.1)
Net Current Liabilities (1.2)
----- 
100.0 
===== 
Ten Largest Investments
Company
Region of Risk % Total Assets
BHP Global 8.9
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ Global 6.7
Rio Tinto Global 6.2
First Quantum Minerals* Global 5.7
Glencore Global 5.2
Exxon Mobil Global 4.8
Teck Resources Canada 4.5
Vale - ADS Latin America 4.5
BP Global 4.4
Chevron Global 4.4

* The holding in First Quantum Minerals includes both an equity holding and a holding in several bonds.

Commenting on the markets, Olivia Markham and Tom Holl, representing the Investment Manager noted:
The Company’s NAV increased by +4.1% during the month of September (in GBP terms).

Global equities were marginally positive in September, returning +0.7% in US Dollar terms, as displayed by the MSCI World Index, total return. At a macroeconomic level, the US-China trade negotiations continued to escalate; The U.S. imposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods, whilst the China Administration released a comment reiterating their unwillingness to negotiate. Concurrent with this, the Caixin Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) fell to a 16-month low of 50 in September, missing market consensus of 50.5. In the Middle East geopolitical tensions continued to escalate as the possibility of sanctions on Iranian oil exports became increasingly probable. During the month, the country was subject to an attack at a military parade, whilst elsewhere, a Russian military plane was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.

Within the energy sector, the heightened geopolitical turmoil, combined with an already tight market, pushed oil prices higher; Brent and WTI (West Texas Intermediate) finished the month +7.9% and 4.8% higher at $82.72/bbl and $73.16/bbl respectively. Elsewhere in sector news, “OPEC Plus” reiterated their pledge to reach 100% compliance with the 1.8m b/d cuts agreed in late 2016; Due to unintended production declines in Venezuela and Iran, amongst others, the group’s compliance has been greater than 100% so far in 2018. The spread between Brent and WTI widened during the month, as bottlenecks in the Permian Basin put a temporary price ceiling on US onshore production. Whilst new pipelines have been greenlighted by midstream companies, these are unlikely to be operational until mid-2019.  

After a challenging August, the mining sector bounced back somewhat in September. Most mined commodities were up over the month with copper, zinc and iron ore (62% Fe) prices rising +5.0%, +8.0% and +3.7% respectively (returns in US Dollars). Within the iron ore market, higher grade material continued to trade at a healthy premium. We expect this to remain the case for some time as we are now entering the winter heating season in China in which we expect increased scrutiny on pollution, with steel producers to look to higher grade iron ore to maximize production as a result. Meanwhile, the copper price was supported by an update from base metals producer, MMG (not held in the portfolio), in which it downgraded expected 2018 copper production at its Las Bambas mine by ~35 thousand tonnes due to ‘localised wall instability’. For copper, this further tightened an already tight market.


All data points in US Dollar terms unless otherwise specified. Commodity price moves sourced from Thomson Reuters Datastream.
ENDS
17 October 2018
Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brci on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).  Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
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