Latest News
-
Ceria Nugraha, an Indonesian nickel company, plans to expand its capacity
A company official revealed that the Indonesian nickel firm PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama intends to increase its ferronickel capacity, despite the fact that the nickel market is expected to be oversupplied in the next few years. Ceria started its Rectangular Rotary Kiln Electric Fire in late April. It has the capacity to produce 63.200 metric tonnes of ferronickel per year. Additional production would also increase capacity in a similar way and require an investment of around $200 million. We are currently in the process to secure strategic funding from financial institutions. We plan to begin construction in this year if all goes according to plan," Imelda Kiagoes, Corporate Secretary told an industry conference organized by Shanghai Metals Markets. Nickel executives and industry analysts told a conference this week that the oversupply of nickel in the world market will continue for the next couple of years due to the expansion in production capacity, and the slower growth for the metals used in stainless steel and batteries. Kiagoes, however, said that there is still a demand for the product of the company in Europe and America. The product has a nickel concentration of 22%. (Reporting and editing by Barbara Lewis; Bernadette Christopher)
-
Thyssenkrupp executive: EU has tools available to help reduce the pain of steel tariffs
A member of the executive board of Thyssenkrupp said that the EU already has the tools it needs to mitigate the impact of Trump's tariffs and Chinese steel overcapacity. One of these is stopping Russian imports. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union has banned all steel imports. Shipments will be reduced gradually. Thyssenkrupp's Ilse Henne, a board member of the company, said that the EU can help the steel industry to weather Trump tariffs as well as a Chinese glut in supply by stopping those practices completely. There is still Russian steel entering Europe. How much? "Three to four million (tons) a year," Henne said. "And it is very easy to stop this." "Security begins with ensuring that industries are able to survive today. For the steel industry, this means merely applying some of the defense instruments we already have." EU and India are also currently in negotiations for a trade deal, which is expected to be concluded by the end this year. India's federal Trade Minister Piyush Goyal stated in April that India is trying to gain greater access to its steel exports on various markets, which includes the EU. Henne stated that Europe was "on the edge" of its negotiations with India. She said that there was a "solution" or a "high risk" of Indians dumping their products on the market after the Chinese deals. As a result of Chinese state subsidies, the EU is already concerned that much of China's aluminium and steel production will be redirected from the U.S. into Europe. In April, the Commission tightened the existing steel import quotas to 15% and is now working on a new system that will be even more restrictive before they expire next year. The committee is also looking at how to establish aluminium safeguards and possible export duties for metal scrap. (Reporting and Writing by Julia Payne; Editing by Benoit VanOverstraeten, Jan Harvey, and Charlotte Van Campenhout)
-
Centrica, a British company, signs a $27 billion gas deal with Equinor in Norway
British Energy's Centrica signed a 10-year contract worth over 20 billion pounds ($27.07billion) with Norwegian producer Equinor to receive gas, the companies announced on Thursday. Gas-fired power stations account for about a quarter (70%) of Britain's electricity. In a press statement, Centrica CEO Chris O'Shea stated that "this landmark agreement highlights the vital role natural gas plays in our transition to a low-carbon energy future." Equinor is supplying five billion cubic metres (bcm), or around 8%, of the gas required by Britain until 2035. The contract allows the sale of natural gas to be replaced in future with hydrogen. The Labour government announced that it would not be issuing any new oil or gas licenses in order to achieve its climate goals. Last year, Britain imported nearly two-thirds its gas needs. Half of these imports came from Norway. In June 2022, Centrica signed its last agreement with Equinor to supply additional gas to Europe for three winters. This was in response to the concerns about gas supplies in Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Centrica has also signed liquefied gas agreements with U.S. companies Coterra Energy, Delfin Midstream and Brazil's Petrobras. ($1 = 0.7389 pounds)
-
Copper reaches two-month high due to supply concerns and declining LME stock
Copper prices reached their highest in two months Thursday. Speculators were boosted after copper surpassed technical levels, as inventories in London Metal Exchange stores decreased and amid concerns about supply after a large mine in Congo had been suspended. The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper rose 1.52%, to $9,761 per ton, at 1025 GMT. This is the highest since April 1. Traders said that copper gained momentum after it decisively broke through technical levels to the upside. This prompted some automatic purchase orders. Overall, copper is in a very good position at the moment. "You still have this build-up of Comex stocks, so there is a squeeze on LME," said Dan Smith. The U.S. investigation on potential new copper import tariffs has been re-focused by President Donald Trump’s decision to double the tariffs on aluminum and steel from 25% to 50%. This has increased the flow of copper into the United States. It includes inventories from the London Metal Exchange, as traders try to profit from the higher prices in anticipation of U.S. Tariffs on the metal. U.S. Comex Copper Futures climbed 2.5%, to $5.01 a lb. This increased the premium over LME Copper to $1,321 a tonne. LME copper inventories fell to 138,000 tonnes, the lowest in almost a year. They are down nearly half this year. Comex inventories have risen by 90% in the last two months . LME data showed on Thursday that copper inventories were also expected to continue dropping as holders of 11,625 tonnes of inventory notified the LME of their pending removals. Smith also added that the suspension of Kakula Copper Mine in Democratic Republic of Congo is also a concern. Ivanhoe Mines, a co-owner of the mine, announced on Monday that it would restart a portion of the mine in late this month. LME tin increased 0.4% to $22,145 per ton, after reaching a record high one week earlier on Wednesday. This was due to concerns that a resumption in supply from Myanmar's rich tin-rich Wa State might take longer than expected. Other London metals include LME aluminium, which rose 0.2% to $2.489 per ton, and LME nickel, up 0.8% to $15.520. Zinc was unchanged at $2.701 while lead fell 0.3% to $1.984. Click here to read the latest news in metals
-
Profit booking on weaker edible oils rivals, palm oil ends lower
Malaysian palm futures continued to fall on Thursday as investors booked profits, and the prices of competing edible oils dropped. The benchmark contract for palm oil delivery in August on the Bursa Derivatives exchange fell 44 ringgit or 1.11% to 3,904 Ringgit ($923.59) per metric ton. Anilkumar bagani, the head of research for Mumbai-based Sunvin Group, said that palm oil futures had been trading lower due to profit taking, low energy prices, and weakness in other vegetable oil markets, such as those in China and the U.S. Dalian's palm oil contract, which is the most active contract, fell by 0.37% while soyoil prices dropped by 0.18%. Chicago Board of Trade soyoil prices were down by 0.58%. As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oils industry, it tracks the price changes of competing edible oils. The oil prices stabilized on Thursday, after dropping more than 1% in the previous day due to a rise in U.S. gasoline inventories. Saudi Arabia also reduced its July prices for Asia. Palm oil is less appealing as a biodiesel feedstock due to the weaker crude oil futures. A survey on Wednesday showed that Malaysian palm oil inventories will rise for the third month in a row in May. This is due to a modest increase in production, despite a robust demand for exports. India's imports of palm oil in May rose to their highest level for six months, due to lower inventories as well as the discount offered by the tropical oil compared to soyoil or sunflower oil. AmSpec Agri Malaysia, an independent inspection company in Malaysia, reported that exports of palm oil products from Malaysia for May increased by 13.2%. Intertek Testing Services, a cargo surveyor and cargo inspector firm based in the United States saw a 17.9% increase.
-
The Kremlin has said that Putin is willing to assist Trump in the Iran nuclear negotiations.
The Kremlin reported on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin had told Donald Trump, President of the United States, that he would use Russia's close relationship with Iran to assist in negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program. Trump told Putin in a telephone call on Wednesday that Iran had a limited time to decide on its nuclear program and that he thought Putin agreed with him that the Islamic Republic shouldn't have nuclear weapons. Trump said that Putin suggested that he take part in the talks with Iran, and that he "could, perhaps, help in getting this to a quick conclusion", even though Iran "slowwalked". Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, told reporters Thursday that "we have close partner relationships with Tehran" and that President Putin had stated that he was ready to utilize this level of partnership to help facilitate and to contribute to the ongoing negotiations to resolve the Iranian nuclear dossier. Peskov, when asked if Putin would join the talks with Washington and Tehran, said that they were continuing through different channels. Peskov stated that the president would be able intervene when needed. Ayatollah Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said that abandoning the enrichment of uranium was "100% against" the interests of his country. He rejected a key demand from Washington in negotiations to settle a long-running dispute about Tehran's nuclear aspirations. Oman, the Middle East envoy of President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, mediated discussions between Iranian Foreign Ministry Abbas Araqchi, and Steve Witkoff, who presented the U.S. proposal to Iran for a nuclear deal. Iran has refused to send its entire stockpile highly enriched uranium abroad, which could be used as raw material in nuclear bombs, and Tehran refuses to ship it out. Khamenei has the final word on all state matters. He did not mention a halt to the talks but he said that the U.S. plan "contradicts the belief of our nation in self-reliance, and the principle 'We Can.'". Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Editing by Andrew Osborn
-
The German wind energy supply nearly doubles, lowering the spot price
German spot electricity prices fell sharply Thursday, as the wind power supply was forecast to double in Germany and demand to decline. At 09:29 GMT, the German baseload contract for Friday had fallen 39.1% to 48.75 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWH). The French equivalent contract increased by 133.3% to 21 euros/MWh as the renewable production in France is expected to fall and nuclear power is less available. According to LSEG analyst Florine Engl, residual load in Germany is expected to decrease on Friday as a result of a significant increase in wind energy supply. Exports are also expected into the evening. Data compiled by LSEG shows that the German wind output will jump to 31.9 GW this Friday, while France's supply is expected to drop 1.6 GW to 7.5 GW. The data also showed that the German solar power production has increased by 1.1 GW to 14.3 GW. The mix of power generated in Europe is likely to become dirtier this summer, after a prolonged dry spell has depleted the reservoirs and reduced hydro-electricity production. The French nuclear capacity has fallen by two percentage points, to 67%. LSEG data showed that power usage in Germany will drop by 210 Megawatts (MW), to 52.9 GW. In France, demand is expected to fall by 950 MW, to 42.2 GW. The German power contract for the year ahead was up 1.4%, at 88.80 Euros/MWh. In France, 2026 baseload contracts were untraded and had a range of bid-ask between 62.50 Euros/MWh to 63.50Euros/MWh. The benchmark European carbon permits increased 0.7%, to 73.16 Euros per metric ton. The International Energy Agency reported on Thursday that despite geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, clean energy investments will drive global energy investment to a record level of $3.3 trillion by 2025. (Reporting and editing by Forrest Crellin)
-
Investors continue to buy gold as they focus on US payrolls
The gold price remained stable on Thursday, as investors awaited the non-farm payrolls report due Friday in order to determine how the Federal Reserve will set its interest rates. Meanwhile, global trade tensions continued. As of 0843 GMT, spot gold remained unchanged at $3,373.69 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures fell 0.1% to $3397.20. I would say the path of least resistence is still upwards, despite the flat trading of gold today. This is due more to traders waiting and watching for non-farm payrolls, said Ricardo Evangelista senior analyst at brokerage ActivTrades. The ADP National Employment Report released on Wednesday revealed that private payrolls in the United States increased much less than anticipated in May. According to an economist survey, the more comprehensive nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday will show that nonfarm payrolls grew by 130,000 jobs last month after increasing by 177,000 in March. On Wednesday, Donald Trump called on Jerome Powell, the Fed chairperson, to lower interest rates. "I believe that a weakening of the US labor markets will increase bets for a dovish Fed and, therefore, on the Fed lowering interest rates (which) would have a positive effect on gold," Evangelista continued. In a low interest rate environment, gold, which is a safe haven during periods of economic and political uncertainty, tends thrive. In a post on social media, Trump referred to China's Xi Jinping in a negative light. He said that he was "tough" to deal with and "extremely difficult to do business with". This dampened hopes of a quick resolution to the trade tensions. In the meantime, Trump's doubling of tariffs for steel and aluminum imports went into effect on Wednesday. Carsten Menke is an analyst at Julius Baer. He said: "We are sticking to our price target of USD 3,350 in three months and USD 3,500 within a year, reflecting both continued central bank purchases and sound demand from safety-haven investors." Silver spot fell by 0.6%, to $34.74 per ounce. However, it reached its highest level since November 2012. Platinum rose by 3.6% to reach $1,123.15 - its highest level since the beginning of April 2023. Palladium increased by 1.7%, reaching $1,017.37. (Reporting and editing by Anushree mukherjee, Bengaluru)
Zimbabwe issues permits to cull at least 50 elephants
Wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe said that they have issued permits for the culling of at least 50 elephants from a reserve with three times as many elephants as it can support.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority stated in a press release that the Save Valley Conservancy, in southern Zimbabwe, is home to approximately 2,550 elephants. However, it only has "carrying capacities" for 800 elephants.
In the last five years, the conservancy has already relocated 200 elephants from its reserve to another reserve to control elephant numbers.
The meat from the cull is distributed to the locals for consumption, and the ivory of the animals killed will be given to the park authority.
Zimbabwe has one of the world's largest elephant populations. Climate change has exacerbated conflict between humans and wildlife as elephants are encroaching on human settlements in search of water and food.
Last year, the country in Southern Africa authorized a second cull of around 200 elephants. This was the first time since 1988. Authorities said at the time they would distribute the meat from the cull among communities that were suffering a severe drought in the region. This was shortly after Namibia announced it would do so. (Reporting and editing by Alexander Winning and William Maclean; Alessandro Parodi, Nelson Banya)
(source: Reuters)