Drivers around the world are tolerating record-high prices for road fuels, as mobility wins out for now over other spending in squeezed household budgets, data showed.

As the United Nations tries to broker a path for grain from Ukraine and temper worries about a global food crisis, hundreds of mines laid along the Black Sea present a practical nightmare that will take months to resolve even after any agreement.

Russia is attacking food and agriculture targets in Ukraine in order to scare the world into agreeing a deal to reopen the Black Sea on Moscow's terms, the head of the region where a major agricultural storage facility was struck on Sunday said.

Grain silos in Ukraine's government-controlled territory are about half full in the run-up to this year's harvest, meaning crops could be left in the ground if Russia continues its port blockade, the head of the Ukraine Grain Association said on Wednesday.

Oil prices were roughly unchanged on Friday, clinging to gains made in the previous session on doubts that producers belonging to OPEC+ can hike their crude output enough to make up for lost supply from Russia.

U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, a U.N.

A near doubling in benchmark cotton futures to 11-year highs, hard on the heels of a spike in freight and fuel prices, is clobbering Asian apparel makers while their global retail customers are reluctant to soak up the extra costs.

China's army of metal processors and traders has flipped from buyers to sellers amid a sharp downshift in economic activity in the world's top manufacturer, heralding a potential warning sign for steel, aluminium and other key industrial commodities.

Europe's race to replace Russian gas supply has threatened Australia's plans for five gas import terminals as they compete for key infrastructure, raising the risk of a supply shortfall in Australia's populous southeast in the next two years.