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Argentina soybean farmers record biggest sales day in 2025
The Rosario grain exchange in Argentina reported on Wednesday that the country had recorded its highest single-day soybean sales volume so far in 2025. This is after the grain transactions slowed down to their lowest pace in more than a decade. The South American agricultural powerhouse, which is a major exporter of soybeans, sold 230,000 tons on Tuesday. This was after heavy rains and the uncertainty surrounding industry policies, exchange rates and harvest delays had caused the trading to slow down. Argentina is the top soybean oil and meal supplier in the world. Analysts attributed the increase to a more stable exchange rate and upcoming financial requirements for farmers in advance of the wheat planting season, which begins next month. Lorena D’Angelo, an independent grains analyst, said: "At the moment, producers must sell due to their upcoming financial maturity." Emilce Terre is a senior analyst with BCR. He said that the sales were also boosted by a relatively calm scenario of exchange rates after Argentina adopted its floating currency scheme earlier this month. The uncertainty surrounding the exchange rate has subsided a little. "The dollar is calm, and no major changes are expected," Terre said. The recent dry weather has improved conditions in soybean harvesting. This was previously below the average pace for the past five years and had also held sales back. The exchange forecasts that the soybean harvest in 2024/25 will reach 45.5 millions tons. It said that sales of soybeans between April 24 to 29 totaled almost 800,000 tonnes, an increase from the 713,000 tones reported by the government during the week April 17 to 23, According to the weather forecast released by the Buenos Aires grain market on Wednesday, Argentina's major agricultural regions will experience mostly dry conditions over the next 7 days.
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Researchers say climate change is responsible for South Korea's deadly blazes.
Scientists said that climate change made the worst wildfires ever seen in South Korea twice as likely. They also warned that such disasters may become more common if temperatures rise. The fires that raged in the southeast of the country lasted for almost a week. They killed 32 people and destroyed around 5,000 structures before being brought under control at the end of March. The fires spread over 104,000 hectares (257,00 acres), which is nearly four times as much land as South Korea's worst fire season of 25 years ago. After combining observations with climate models, a 15-member team from the World Weather Attribution Group found that hot, windy, and dry conditions are now twice as common and 15% more intense. South Korea is prone to fires during this time of year because of its cold, dry winters, and the rapid increase in temperatures in March and April. This was confirmed by June-Yi Lee, Research Center for Climate Sciences, Pusan National university. She told a press briefing that this year's average temperatures between March 22 and 26 were 10 degrees Celsius above normal in the southeast. Patterns of low and high-pressure to the north and the south also generated powerful winds which helped the fire spread. She said that the severity of this year's impact was extreme due to the dry weather and high temperatures. If global warming continues to rise at its current rate, and by 2100 it has risen another 1.3 degrees, the weather conditions that caused fires may become more frequent. Clair Barnes, of Imperial College London's Centre for Environmental Policy (ICL), said that the models predict an average increase of 5% and a doubling in the probability of similar extreme events. Theo Keeping, at ICL's Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, expressed concern that South Korea had become more fire-prone due to its extensive tree planting program since the 1970s. Forest management must be adjusted to cope with the extreme heat challenges, he said. He said that once a wildfire is severe enough, it cannot be extinguished by drops of water sprayed from helicopters and planes. We must manage the risk before such events occur. Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Lincoln Feast.
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Kenyan lawmaker shot dead in capital Nairobi, local media says
Citizen TV, a local broadcaster, reported that gunmen riding motorcycles shot and killed a Kenyan legislator on Wednesday evening in Nairobi's capital. Other Kenyan media outlets including The Nation and The Standard newspaper also covered the story. Citizen TV reported that Charles Were was killed at 7:30pm local time by two gunmen "who were following him on a motorbike". Citizen TV reported that one of the gunmen jumped off the motorcycle and shot Were from close range. His driver survived. The MP died at the hospital to which he was taken for treatment. Were was once a member in the ODM, an opposition party led by Raila Odinga. Odinga is a veteran politician who lost the 2022 election to William Ruto. Odinga has reached an agreement with Ruto on issues that concern Kenya. Odinga rejected the results of the election, claiming irregularities. Reporting by Humphrey Malalo, Writing by Elias Biryabarema, Editing by Chris Reese & Bill Berkrot
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Low oil prices raise Russia's deficit forecast for 2025 by three times due to the low price risks
The Russian Finance Ministry increased the estimate of the budget deficit for 2025 to 1.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP), from 0.5%, after reducing energy revenues by 24% in anticipation of a prolonged low oil price period. The ministry reduced the forecast for 2025 oil-and-gas revenues to 8.32 trillion Russian roubles ($101.47billion) or 3.7% GDP, from 10.94 trillion Roubles or 5,1% GDP. The ministry also increased spending by 830 billion Russian roubles. In 2025, the Russian government will have increased its state expenditures on national defense by a quarter to 6,3% of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the highest since the Cold War. The Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said that defence spending won't be affected. The budget priorities are unchanged. "The budget priorities remain unchanged." The Kremlin relies heavily on oil and gas revenues, which have accounted for between a third and a half (or more) of the total federal budget revenue over the last decade. Oil prices fell more than 11% last month due to the slowdown in the global economy caused by trade wars. Siluanov said that the announcement was made after a revision to the average oil price used in the budget calculation for 2025. The previous figure of $69.7 per barrel had been revised down to $56. He added that "everything in the budget will be implemented regardless of external factors and conditions." $1 = 81.9955 Russian Roubles (Reporting and writing by Darya Kosunskaya, Gleb Bryanski, Ksenia Orlova; Editing by Sandra Maler).
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In a 'trade-war' scenario, Russia's economic growth in 2025 is projected to be 1.8%
The Russian economy is at risk from international trade wars triggered by protectionist policies in the United States, says the Economy Ministry. It published for the first-time its forecasts of high risks on Wednesday. This scenario projects the price of Brent crude to be $58.1 a barrel. It will then drop to $50 a barrel by 2026. The economic growth in Russia will be 1.8% compared to the 2.5% of the base scenario which is considered too optimistic by most economists. The ministry stated that the scenario "assumes an escalation in trade wars, and a significant slowdown of the global economy which will reduce the global demand for oil and other Russian traditional export commodities." The ministry previously reduced its forecast of the average price for Brent oil in 2025, in the base scenario, by almost 17%. This equates to $68 a barrel. In the first quarter of this year, Russia's oil revenues and gas revenues decreased by 10%. The base scenario projects the average price of Urals blend oil to be $56 per barrel by 2025. In contrast, the Urals blend is expected to cost $48.8 a barrel. The ministry predicted that the inflation rate in 2025 in the high-risk case would be 8.2% compared to 7.6% for the base scenario. It also warned against a delay in reducing the key rate of the central bank. The ministry warned that "the risk is an untimely shift to a softer monetary and credit environment, which would limit the growth in investment activity and expansion of domestic product." In the high-risk scenario, the rouble is expected to fall to an average of 96.6 dollars per rouble in 2025. This compares to 94.3 for the base scenario. The ministry stated that "the volume of exports of goods will decrease more than imports of goods, which will result in a reduction of trade balance, and as a consequence, a stronger depreciation" of the rouble. (Reporting and writing by Darya Kosunskaya; editing by Ed Osmond).
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Oil prices set to fall at the fastest rate since 2021
The oil prices dropped on Wednesday, and are set to have their biggest monthly drop in nearly three and a quarter years. Saudi Arabia has signaled that it will increase production and expand its market share. Meanwhile, the global trade conflict is reducing the outlook for fuel consumption. Brent crude futures fell $1.16 or 1.81% to $63.09 per barrel at 1:00 pm EDT (17:00 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude Futures fell $2.38 or 3.94% to $58.04. Brent and WTI are down by about 15% and 18%, respectively, this month. This is the largest percentage drop since November 2021. Both benchmarks fell after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, said it would not continue to cut oil supply and that the market could survive a long period of low oil prices. Phil Flynn is a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. He said: "It makes me worry that we may be heading towards another production battle." Are the Saudis sending a message to their customers that they will regain market share? We'll just have to wait and watch." Saudi Arabia pushed earlier this month for a higher-than-planned OPEC+ production increase in May. Sources told us last week that several OPEC+ countries will propose a ramping up of production increases for a 2nd consecutive month in June. The group will discuss plans for output on May 5. Analysts at PVM said: "The very real chance that OPEC+ continues to bring additional barrels to market in its fight to maintain order within their ranks is added to diplomatic efforts in Ukraine and Iran which, if successful, means more international crude oil on the water during a period when a trade conflict will squash any hopes of demand growth." U.S. president Donald Trump announced tariffs on U.S. imported goods on April 2, and China responded by imposing its own duties, sparking a trade conflict between the two world's largest oil consumers. Oil prices continued to be impacted by concerns about the weakening global economy. Data released on Wednesday revealed that the U.S. economic contraction was exacerbated by the influx of goods imported into the country by companies eager to avoid increased costs. A poll suggests that Trump's tariffs make it likely the global economy will slide into recession in 2019. Data showed that the U.S. consumer's confidence fell to its lowest level in almost five years in April, due to growing tariff concerns. Last week, U.S. crude stockpiles dropped unexpectedly due to higher demand from refineries and exports. This helped limit some price declines. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that crude inventories dropped by 2.7m barrels, to 440.4m barrels for the week ending April 25. This was in contrast with the analysts' expectation in a survey of a 429,000 barrel increase. (Reporting and editing by Peter Graff; Additional reporting and editing by Ahmad Ghaddar and Siyi Liu, both in Singapore and London; Reporting and Editing by Shadia Nazarala)
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Pemex's quarterly losses of $2.12 billion as sales fall
The Mexican state-owned energy company Pemex announced a net loss for the first quarter of $43.3 billion ($2.12 billion), mainly due to falling sales, increasing expenses, currency losses, and financial costs. Pemex reported in a filing to Mexico's stock market that revenue during the period of January to March fell by 2.5%, to 395.59 trillion pesos. This was primarily due to lower crude sales volumes. Pemex, along with its partners, pumped 1,62 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), down 11.3% from a year ago. In its local refineries the company processed 936, 000 barrels per day (bpd), down 5% from a year ago. According to the filing, its refinery unit produced 305,000 bpd gasoline and 171,000bpd diesel in the third quarter. Pemex reported that its debt for the quarter totaled $101.1 Billion, an increase of $97.6 Billion from the fourth quarter 2024. Pemex, the most indebted company in the energy sector in terms of debt, has received government assistance in billions pesos. Pemex reported that it received 80 billion pesos in the first quarter from the government, mostly to pay off debt. It added that its goal was to "reduce the financial debt over the course the year, with a balance lower at the end 2025 than the end 2024." The Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to increase production to 1.8 millions bpd, despite the fact that older fields are depleting, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. More recent discoveries failed to make up for this. Jorge Alberto Aguilar, Pemex’s chief of corporate planning, said that the company is working hard to achieve the 1.8-million bpd target by the end the year and to maintain it at this level.
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The Brazilian indigenous fund wants to take on nature finance
Global expansion of community-managed nature fund In four years, investments in communities have increased by 38% but are still small Community funds are looking for local priorities and a simpler bureaucracy By Andre Cabette Fabio Atelie Derequine Indigenous Fashion Collective, founded in 2020, produces masks against COVID-19. Models are dressed and take part in runways in Brazil's industrial city of Manaus. This fashion collective provides jobs for Indigenous people and is a platform to promote their rights. Vanda Witoto is the person responsible for mobilizing AtelieDerequine. She said, "We bring political awareness to the runways where we have raised banners to demarcate" Indigenous territories. The growth of the collective was made possible by a 50,000 reais (8,600 dollars) grant from the Indigenous Fund of the Brazilian Amazon (Podaali), the first Amazon rainforest trust run entirely by Indigenous people. In Baniwa, Podaali is the Baniwa word for giving without expecting anything back. Witoto says that Atelie Derequine's life would have been difficult without the Podaali Fund. She said that conventional finance institutions want indigenous people to "just plant trees." They don't even care about us. "We go to international events and no one wants to talk to us," she said. The fashion collective uses Indigenous networks that reach deep into the Amazon where local communities provide seeds and fasteners for clothing. Podaali and the organisers claim that its designs attract support far beyond the Indigenous Community. The Podaali Fund, launched by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon in 2019, is one of a growing number of finance institutions that are led by political groups from Indigenous and local communities. Since 2021, the movement has gained momentum. This is when environmental NGO Rainforest Foundation Norway released a report that showed in the decade prior, only 1% global funding had been allocated to climate adaptation and mitigation. The U.N. COP26 Climate talks in Glasgow, that year, wealthy nations and charities pledged an increase of funding for Indigenous peoples and other land owners. Land Rights Data from the Rights and Resources Initiative (a global land rights alliance) shows that $2.22 billion has been disbursed between 2021 and 204 to protect and manage the land of these communities. This is 38% more money than the four previous years, but it's still a relatively small amount compared to global investments. Juan Carlos Jintiach said that there are "entities" who do not want to abandon colonialist attitudes, and therefore, they will continue to ignore investments in Indigenous communities as well as other local communities. He said that a large portion of the climate change and biodiversity investments managed by foreigners is spent on administrative costs before they reach local communities. In a report published last year, the Forest Tenure Funders Group - a coalition of wealthy nations and philanthropic organizations that had pledged to give $1.7 billion in grants to communities by 2025 - concluded that only 10.6% was managed directly by communities. According to a report published by Shandia in 2023, an initiative launched by GATC, by creating its own fund, the Indigenous Movement aims to have more control over money and to distribute it to local priorities. This will also simplify bureaucracy. Podaali belongs to a network of nine funds that are part of the Amazonian communities of Brazil. This includes "quilombola", descendants of enslaved Africans, and other groups who depend on the forest. Aurelio Vianna is a programme officer at international NGO Tenure Facility. This organization helps to structure community funds, and is one of Podaali’s funders. Vianna stated that the funds were being directed by Indigenous leadership "despite enormous global backlash" towards nature-focused policies, such as U.S. Government's cuts to global climate projects. SIMPLIFIED BUREAUCRACY Podaali is located in a downtown office building, far from tourist areas. The building's inner doors and windows are reinforced with metal grids to ensure security. Rose Meire Apurina is Podaali’s deputy director. She said that funding decisions were based on simple questions to reduce bureaucratic hurdles and snarls. She said that instead of prescribing top-down what types of initiatives should be prioritized by communities, the fund aims to "intensify" the work already done. Podaali awarded between 20,000 reais (3,500 dollars) and 50,000 reais (8,800 dollars) in 2023 and 2024 to 77 initiatives. The money was spent in part to purchase drones to monitor forests and to finance protests in Brasilia against anti-environmental laws. Last year, Podaali raised $9 million ($1.6 million), mainly with international partners, such as the U.S. based Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Christensen Fund Nia Tero Foundation. Brazil's Indigenous Movement is looking to expand these funds beyond the Amazon with Podaali. Last year, at the Climate Week in New York Apib (Brazil's largest indigenous umbrella organization) launched a fund named Jaguata with Podaali’s support. Dinamam Tuxa, Apib Coordinator, said that financiers are prioritizing the Amazon over less-known natural areas like the Cerrado Savannah. The National Institute for Space Research has listed the Cerrado savannah as Brazil's deforested Biome by 2024. Jaguata is determined to close this gap.
Liberty Steel UK to restructure business after Deal with Creditors
Liberty Steel, which is owned by commodities tycoon SanjeevGupta has reached an accord with major creditors following the raising of capital. This agreement paves the way for restructuring its British business.
Liberty is part Gupta’s family conglomerate GFG Alliance. The company has refinanced its steel, aluminum and energy businesses after its financier, supply chain financing firm Greensill filed for bankruptcy in March 2021.
A statement stated that the capital increase included a $350m bond issued by one of their Australian units via Jefferies, and a term loan of $350m asset-backed from BlackRock and Silver Point Finance.
The creditor agreement will allow Liberty, whose British steel business is primarily based on debt, to consolidate it under a new corporate structure and entity.
Liberty, which operates nine sites across Britain, will double the melting capacity of its Rotherham facility in northern England, to 2,000,000 metric tons per year.
Liberty cut production at Rotherham and two British plants in January of last year due to high electricity prices.
Liberty has also operations in Europe and Australia.
Liberty Ostrava, a Czech company, had announced that it would restart the blast furnace and increase production in January.
In 2021, the Serious Fraud Office of Britain opened an investigation on alleged fraud, fraudulent trades and money laundering by GFG Alliance.
The company has consistently denied any wrongdoings and promised full cooperation. Reporting by Eric Onstad. (Editing by Jane Merriman.)
(source: Reuters)