ASEAN Countries

France's Vallourec announced a 24% decline in its core profit for the fourth quarter on Thursday. It cited lower average selling prices for its steel tubes, its primary market, in North America. Vallourec makes tubings for oil and gas markets, low-carbon energies and industrial markets. Its operating earnings before interest taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), fell to 214 millions euros ($224) in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was due to a 27% decline in North American tubes. In the fourth quarter, around 92% (globally) of Vallourec’s total revenues came from the tubes business. In a conference call with journalists,...

Two sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that Japan's Itochu has withdrawn from a proposed buyout of Seven & i Holdings by the founding family. Seven & i founders Ito family started talks with the Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard to privatize the company for a reported $58 billion. Nikkei reported on Wednesday morning that Itochu decided to not participate in the purchase. Nikkei reported that Itochu considered investing 1 trillion yen (6.69 billion dollars) but saw little synergy between its food and beverages business and Seven & i. Seven & i & Itochu declined comment. Itochu's decision not to...

A senior official from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced on Wednesday that Indonesia will begin using the benchmark coal price set by the government as the price floor for all transactions next month. Indonesia uses the HBA (government benchmark price) to calculate coal mining royalty fees. Energy Minister Bahlil lahadalia announced earlier this month that the government will require coal companies to utilize the HBA for global transactions. The government is seeking to gain more control over coal prices in the country. In a message sent via text, ministry official Tri Winarno stated that the policy would be...

U.S. Trade officials announced a new round on Friday of tariffs against solar panels imported from four Southeast Asian countries after American manufacturers complained about the unfairly low prices offered by these companies. The Commerce Department of President Joe Biden is making the second preliminary decision this year on a trade case filed by Hanwha Qcells in Korea, Arizona's First Solar Inc. and several smaller producers to protect billions in investments made in U.S. manufacturing of solar panels. The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee accused the big Chinese solar panel manufacturers with factories in Malaysia and Cambodia as...

Brava Energia, a Brazilian company, will add four wells to the Atlanta field by 2025. It will also begin shipping oil to Trafigura as part of a six-million barrel supply agreement. The head of Brava's offshore operations, Carlos Mastrangelo, told reporters during a Tuesday visit that the number of wells connected with the floating production storage unit and offloading (FPSO) will now be six. We currently have two wells. In a little more than a month we will be connecting two more, and by the end June, two more. Mastrangelo said that Atlanta produces about 26,000 barrels per day. Mastrangelo...

Anglo American announced on Tuesday that it would sell its nickel mining business to an MMG Ltd unit listed in Hong Kong for up to $500m. A broader restructuring is underway to focus its operations on iron ore and copper. Nickel business in Brazil includes two ferronickel projects and two greenfields. Anglo will receive $350 million upon completion, up $100 million as a price-linked gainout, and an additional $50 million for potential project development, according to a company statement. Together, the assets produce around 38,000 metric tonnes of nickel each year. In January, the metal's price fell to a record...

The Indonesian president Prabowo Subito signed a regulation on Monday requiring that exporters of non-oil and gas resources hold their proceeds in Indonesia for at least one year. He said this would add an additional $80 billion to Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves. Prabowo said in a press conference televised that Indonesia's natural resources should benefit the nation and its people through development funding and money flowing domestically. He also emphasized the importance of increasing foreign exchange reserves, and stabilizing the exchange rate. President said that the new measure would take effect on March 1. Since 2023, Indonesia requires all resource...

Apptronik announced on Thursday that it had raised $350m in a funding session led by B Capital, Capital Factory and Alphabet's Google, for the production of AI powered humanoid robotics. Austin-based company, Apollo Robotics, is developing a humanoid or human-like robot that will be able to perform tasks in manufacturing plants and warehouses, such as moving packages. Apptronik is joining the ranks of competitors like Tesla and Nvidia's Figure AI, in the race to create human-like robots. Artificial intelligence advances have led to major breakthroughs in robotics. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated in October of last year that "a great...

An adviser for the South Asian nation’s energy ministry told the India Energy Week Conference on Tuesday that Bangladesh is interested in long-term LNG deals with nations like Brunei. Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said that the government is close to finalising a list of nations from which it will buy LNG on a spot basis. He also stated that two LNG import facilities are planned. The first will be an on-land terminal with a 1,000 million cubic foot per day capacity. The second will be a floating storage and regassification facility with a 600 million cubic foot per day capacity....

Analyst Green Pool stated on Wednesday that the global sugar balance will shift to a modest surplus during the 2025/26 crop year, with the production expected to increase. The Australia-based analyst for sugar and biofuels said that the surplus was expected to be 2.7 million tons in 2025/26 compared with the deficit of 3.7 millions in the previous season. Analyst: "Global stock levels remain tight but will receive some relief from projected surplus," he said. The global production is expected to grow 4.5% in 2025/26 to 202.0 millions tons, which will be the second highest total ever recorded. Brazil, India,...

In a Wednesday post on X, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stated that the United Arab Emirates non-oil goods trade will reach a record of 3 trillion dirhams (816.86 million dollars) by 2024. Post on X reported that the non-oil exports of the Gulf State increased by 14.6% from the year before. The UAE is considered the tourism and business center of the Gulf Region. It has made significant investments in infrastructure and policy to support long-term growth. Since 2021 it has initiated a number of bilateral trade agreements, investments and cooperation deals, called Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements. It...

A draft document from the industry ministry showed that Vietnam's power production targets have been lowered for offshore wind and gas in this decade. Coal and other renewables will fill the gaps until nuclear reactors become part of the energy mix, which is expected to happen by 2035. The document was released late Tuesday night and is still subject to change. It aims to replace 2023's power generation plan. The Southeast Asian export hub is trying to meet the increasing electricity demand of domestic manufacturers as well as multinationals in the country. According to the revised plan Vietnam will not...

The trade ministry announced on Friday that Vietnam would levy a temporary antidumping tax of up to 27,83% on certain hot-rolled coils steel products from China. In a statement, the Ministry said that the tariff would be effective on March 7, and it will last for 120 days. Baoshan Iron & Steel, Maanshan Iron & Steel are among the companies affected by these duties Vietnam launched an investigation into anti-dumping in July after complaints by Vietnamese producers. After business hours, the Chinese ministries of foreign affairs and commerce did not respond to faxed comments. Hanoi's decision comes after the U.S....

Rachmat Makkasau, the CEO of Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara (a subsidiary of Amman Mineral Internasional), told the parliament on Wednesday that the company is looking for flexibility from the government in order to export copper concentrate. Makkasau stated that the company had around 200,000 metric tonnes of concentrates available for export. He said that the smelter was operating at only 48% of its capacity at an update in parliament on the company's operations. Indonesia has banned the export of raw minerals like copper, but it gave Amman Mineral & PT Freeport Indonesia a deadline extension of December of last year...

The parliament approved the creation of a state-owned investment vehicle that will oversee government investments in some the largest companies. It is similar to Singapore's Temasek investment arm. Soon after Prabowo Subito assumed office in October, the creation of Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara) was announced with the goal of improving performance and returns on state investments. Danantara will have an initial capital of at least 1,000 trillion Rupiah (61 billion dollars). Sufmi dasco Ahmad, deputy speaker to parliament, told reporters that it would take over the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry's holdings in all state-owned companies. State companies play...

Indonesia's parliament proposed on Thursday to revise the nation's mining law to help the government accelerate development of its mineral processing market and to manage mining permits for religious groups and for universities. President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to speed up advancement of Indonesia's mineral processing market and energy transition and formed a special task force to come up with comprehensive plan for the sector. A parliamentary plenary conference on Thursday consented to release a formal consideration procedure for the law revision. Amongst the proposed revisions to the mining law was a plan to provide specific business top priority access...

Nickel ended 2024 trading at fouryear lows, a spectacular turnaround of fortune for a metal that soared so high in 2022 it practically broke the London Metal Exchange (LME). There is no mystery to this remarkable tale of boom and bust. Indonesia has flooded the world with more metal than it can take in, squashing the cost and leaving a trail of casualties among the remainder of the world's producers. The market's fortunes this year depend on whether Jakarta can tame the excesses of its nickel sector and line up supply more carefully with need. There are positive indications. Indonesia's...

China, the world's. most significant coal consumer, extended its lead in imports over No. 2. buyer India in 2015 to the largest because at least 2013, customizeds. information shows, cementing its hold on worldwide coal markets and. assisting to suppress a slide in rates. International thermal coal costs have pulled away from record highs. hit after Russia's 2022 intrusion of Ukraine, however are 50% greater. than the average during the 2017-19 duration, according to the. International Energy Firm (IEA). China's hunger is triggering prices to remain in the existing. variety. If not, costs will really decrease, Ramli Ahmad,. president director...

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday met essentially with his equivalents from Japan and the Philippines to advance cooperation amongst the three countries, the White Home stated. The 3 leaders discussed trilateral maritime security and economic cooperation, and China's unsafe and unlawful habits in the South China Sea, it said in a statement. The three leaders agreed on the significance of continued coordination to advance a complimentary and open Indo-Pacific. Biden spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. late on Sunday, a week before Biden leaves office and hands power to President-elect Donald Trump...

Indonesia has set a quota of around 200 million metric tons for nickel ore mining this year, a senior mining ministry official said on Friday, including this might be cut if miners stopped working to comply with ecological and other guidelines. We have actually released around 200 million tons. However if based on their efficiency evaluation, particularly post-mining improvement and environmental management (not fulfilling federal government requirements), we will cut, said Tri Winarno, director general of mineral and coal at the ministry. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said recently that the Southeast Asian country, among the world's. biggest...

Sugarcane yields in India are decreasing due to in 2015's dry spell and this year's extreme rains, which could decrease the country's sugar production below usage levels for the first time in eight years, farmers and market officials said on Monday. Lower-than-expected output by the world's second-largest sugar producer might eliminate the possibility of India permitting exports in the existing season ending in September 2025, supporting worldwide sugar prices. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 80% of the nation's total sugar production, with lower walking cane yields in these states prompting trade homes to decrease their output...

Chile's staterun copper miner, Codelco, will begin using explosives with a substantially lower carbon footprint at its Radomiro Tomic mine, the business revealed on Thursday. Dynamites are utilized in mines to break up rocks to more quickly process them and extract important metals. WHY IT is essential Codelco is the world's largest copper manufacturer and its choice to use alternative explosives underscores the increasing pressure on mining companies to boost their ecological standards and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The pressure is especially high for copper mining which has traditionally been more carbon-intensive. BY THE NUMBERS The new dynamites are anticipated...

Rio Tinto will invest $2.5. billion to increase production capability at its Argentina lithium. project, it said on Thursday, as it seeks to cement its position. as one of the world's most significant miners of the battery metal. The investment follow's Rio's takeover of Arcadium Lithium. in a $6.7 billion deal announced in October, and as. prices of the metal utilized in electrical cars (EVs) are damaged. by Chinese oversupply and slowdown in EV sales. Following the purchase of Arcadium, Rio is on track to. become the world's 3rd largest lithium miner, behind leader. Albemarle and Chile's SQM. As part...

Electric automobile tech company Ideanomics Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Wednesday to discover a buyer for its wireless charging business and other innovation investments. Ideanomics got in insolvency with over $30 million in debt and simply $189,000 in cash on hand, according to files filed in Wilmington, Delaware personal bankruptcy court. Ideanomics said it has lost over $800 million in the previous five years. The company spent $320 million on electric automobile innovation investments in between 2021 and 2023, but the majority of those investments were unprofitable. It has actually closed down all of its obtained...