This Commodities digest tracks deep seabed mining, fuel market rules and food security pressures. This edition covers 12 to 18 October 2026 and is part of The Daily Current, alongside the Global Climate Brief and the other category editions.

(Notice of receipt of application, open for comment through December 14, 2026)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a notice on October 13, 2026, in the Federal Register at 91 FR 64880, stating that it has received an application from Eco Minerals, Inc. for a license to conduct seabed mining exploration activities beyond national jurisdiction. The agency determined the application is fully compliant with the information requirements of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act and its implementing regulations.

The application covers seabed areas in the Pacific Ocean within the Clarion Clipperton Zone and an area between Guam and Wake Island. NOAA received the amended application on December 5, 2025, and is opening the public review process required under the Act. Written comments must be received by December 14, 2026, and a virtual public hearing is scheduled for November 16, 2026, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time, with speaker registration due November 12. The application is available on the public docket, and the notice states that the application’s statements do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or the United States government.

The notice starts a review process; it does not grant a license. NOAA makes no judgment on the merits of the application, sets no schedule for a decision, and the two page notice contains no assessment of environmental impact. Whether exploration is ultimately authorized will depend on the review, the comment record and any subsequent process under the Act.

This is the first deep seabed mining application to advance this far in the United States review process, covering one of the most scrutinized mineral frontiers in the climate transition. Polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone contain nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese used in batteries and electrification, and the review will draw comment from both mineral supply advocates and deep ocean scientists. The comment window running into December makes this a live docket rather than a settled question.

Source: NOAA notice of receipt of application, 13 October 2026.

(Proposed rule, open for comment through December 4, 2026)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule on October 13, 2026, in docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0505, revising the small refinery exemption reallocation volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The agency is co-proposing two approaches to reallocating an additional 770 million Renewable Identification Numbers, the difference between the exempted volume EPA projected when it set the 2026 and 2027 standards and the higher exempted volume that resulted from the small refinery exemption decisions issued August 31, 2026.

Under the first co-proposed approach, the additional volume would be split equally between the 2026 and 2027 reallocation volumes. Under the second, all of it would go to the 2027 reallocation volume. EPA projects that, on average nationally, obligated parties would pass the cost of the additional credits on to consumers, increasing the price of gasoline and diesel by less than one cent per gallon relative to the projected price impact of the existing standards. Comments are due December 4, 2026, and the agency will hold a virtual public hearing on November 4, 2026, with registration to speak due October 28.

The proposal decides nothing on its own. EPA is requesting comment on which reallocation approach to take, on its legal authority to revise the volumes and on reliance interests parties had in the earlier standards. The rule does not reopen the underlying 2026 and 2027 renewable fuel volume requirements.

The reallocation question sits at the junction of fuel markets and the agriculture and biofuel economy, and it follows the agency’s August decisions on 34 exemption petitions for the 2025 compliance year. The outcome will shape how much renewable fuel the market must carry in 2026 and 2027 and how the cost lands at the pump.

Source: EPA proposed rule announcement, 13 October 2026.

(Humanitarian agency statement, estimates stated by the agency)

On World Food Day, October 16, 2026, the United Nations World Food Programme issued a statement from Rome calling for innovation, early action and sustained funding as shocks to the global food system mount. Acting Executive Director Carl Skau said conflict, a triple chokepoint on food and agricultural trade, and more frequent extreme weather are driving hunger, and that the challenges are mostly man made.

WFP said tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandab, alongside escalation in the Black Sea, have created a triple chokepoint for global shipping that is pushing up the cost of fuel, fertilizer, transport and food. WFP estimates that the 2026 to 2027 El Niño could push an additional 49 million people into acute food insecurity across 45 countries by the end of 2027. It said extreme heat and drought in major producing countries, alongside those shocks, pushed the FAO Food Price Index to an almost four year high in September 2026, and that 16 countries recorded food inflation above 15 percent that month, up from ten in January.

WFP said its cargo bound for Yemen, Sudan and the Horn of Africa has been affected, that innovations reached 132.5 million people in 75 countries and territories last year, and that 266 million people faced acute hunger worldwide last year. Its asks: end conflict and protect humanitarian access, provide flexible and predictable funding, invest in anticipatory action, and scale proven innovations.

WFP does not publish a new price index or commodity forecast here, and the 49 million figure is its own estimate for a scenario, not an observed count. The statement names no countries for the El Niño impact beyond the 45 country total, sets no funding target, and does not quantify how much of the trade disruption has reached consumer prices.

This is the demand side of the commodity story, where fuel, fertilizer and freight costs land as household food costs, and it ties the shipping pressure covered in this edition to food security planning for the coming year.

Source: World Food Programme statement, 16 October 2026.

Also this week, no other material primary commodity announcements from 12 to 18 October 2026 are included in this edition.

Visit Women of Climate for more perspectives and opportunities across the climate transition. Will trade chokepoints and food delivery routes ease before the year end season?