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Indonesia president-elect's consultants examining sugar import tax
A team of experts encouraging Indonesia's presidentelect Prabowo Subianto are reviewing a. plan to enforce levies on sugar imports to help finance the. nation's bioethanol programme, a member of the group stated on. Thursday. Broader adoption of biofuel, both palm oil-based biodiesel and. in ethanol fuel, becomes part of the energy shift program by. Prabowo who will take workplace on Oct. 20. Indonesia, nevertheless, does not have adequate production of. sugarcane, the primary bioethanol feedstock, for its domestic. need and still relies on imported sugar. Meanwhile, production expense of bioethanol in Indonesia is. presently higher than production cost of gasoline per litre,. making it unappealing for producers. To assist finance the price gap, specialists encouraging Prabowo are. evaluating the expediency of enforcing levies on imports of. sugar, stated Ali Mundakir, a member group recommending Prabowo. So it would be the opposite of the levies on palm oil,. which are imposed on exports, Ali told individuals of a. webinar held by think tank Institute for Important Solutions. Reform. Indonesia collects levies on exports of palm oil to finance. numerous programmes for the sector, including to subsidise the. nation's biodiesel program. This is still being reviewed, while we seek for other. feedstocks for ethanol production, Ali added. It was unclear whether the group has talked about the proposition. straight with Prabowo. Indonesia prepares to ultimately mandate bioethanol material for. gasoline at 15%. The existing federal government intends to expand the country's sugar. plantation location to 700,000 hectares (1.73 million acres) from. 180,000 hectares in 2022 and targets be self-dependent in sugar. production by 2028.
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London copper rebounds as market waits for China stimulus cues
Copper prices rose in London on Thursday, rebounding from a twoweek low hit in the previous session, as traders and financiers waited for a China briefing later on today for more stimulus hints. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME). increased 0.5% to $9,727 per metric lot by 0524 GMT. The. agreement struck its least expensive given that Sept. 24 in the previous session. on disappointment over China's latest stimulus statement. The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai. Futures Exchange (SHFE) dipped 0.3% to 77,370 yuan. ($ 10,949.15) a load, tracking over night losses in London. Costs have gone back to levels seen before China started. announcing its helpful measures, which have actually been below. expectations and lacked details. Market gamers are now anticipating a news conference. by China's financing ministry on Saturday, where the federal government is. anticipated to detail its plans on fiscal stimulus. We expect copper need will find some support from the. current stimulus ... Nevertheless, if costs continue to increase due. to the optimism emerging from interest rate cuts, need could. be hit ... as end-use players may delay placing orders, stated. specialist Zhifei Liu at Wood Mackenzie. The current rally in copper rates, as well as the (Oct. 1-7) National Day Holiday, has damaged buying interests of. semis producers, specifically copper-wire rod players. LME copper rates have decreased 1.6% so far this month after. increasing 6.4% in September in their finest monthly gain considering that April. LME aluminium rose 0.8% to $2,560 a load, nickel. climbed 0.4% to $17,445, zinc advanced 0.5% to. $ 3,035, tin was up 1.2% at $32,870, while lead. dipped 0.1% to $2,060. SHFE aluminium edged up 0.2% at 20,615 yuan a ton,. tin increased 0.2% to 266,010 yuan, while nickel. dropped 1.3% to 133,140 yuan, zinc decreased 0.7% to. 25,000 yuan and lead decreased 1.3% to 16,640 yuan. For the top stories in metals and other news, click. or
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Wall Street Journal - Oct 10
The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has actually not validated these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Cyclone Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, bringing dangerous winds, dangerous storm surge and heavy rain to a region that was mauled by Cyclone Helene less than 2 weeks ago. - TD Bank is anticipated to pay about $3 billion in penalties and accept limits on its development in the U.S. as part of a settlement with regulators and prosecutors over charges it failed to effectively keep track of cash laundering by drug cartels. - Home Depot is shedding some of the sprawling storage facility space it had actually added in the midst of the pandemic as the home-improvement items merchant faces falling sales in an unsure consumer market. - Freddie Mac is set to end its blacklist of Meridian Capital Group after the real-estate broker upgraded its risk and controls, signaling the type of requirements the rest of the market might quickly face as regulators ramp up a broader fraud crackdown. - Marriott agreed to pay a charge and carry out boosted data-security practices as part of separate settlements with the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. states associated to data breaches that impacted numerous countless clients.
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Dalian iron ore rebounds on fresh China stimulus hopes, seasonal steel demand
Dalian iron ore futures prices rebounded on Thursday, buoyed by hopes of more financial stimulus from top customer China and firmer seasonal need for steel items. The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Product Exchange (DCE) ended morning trade 1.15%. higher at 792.5 yuan ($ 112.19) a metric heap, after falling more. than 4% in the previous session. The benchmark November iron ore on the Singapore. Exchange was 2.16% higher at $107.15 a load, as of 0330 GMT. China's finance ministry will detail plans on financial. stimulus to boost the economy at a highly-expected news. conference on Saturday, the government's main information workplace. said on Wednesday, signalling more strong policies to revive. development. The statement enhanced speculation of more stimulus procedures,. supporting iron ore futures, ANZ experts said in a note. We continue to expect a fiscal stimulus push in the coming. weeks and months and have actually updated our 2025 development projection from. 4.6% to 4.8% year-on-year in anticipation of more powerful policy. support, said ING experts. On Thursday, China shares rose at open after individuals's. Bank of China started a swap programme aimed at lifting the. stock market. Meanwhile, there are signs that recent policy support. steps are stabilising China's steel market, stated the ANZ. analysts. Rates of area rebar increased to their highest level in more. than 2 months, and steel mill margins have likewise enhanced in. recent weeks, ANZ stated. Robust seasonal demand in the steel market's key golden. October duration is also supporting an improvement in the. supply-demand balance for industrial steel items, stated. Chinese consultancy Steelhome. Other steelmaking components on the DCE were combined, with. coking coal down 0.77%, while coke was up. 0.16%. Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange traded. sideways. Rebar edged 0.14% greater, hot-rolled coil. ticked up 0.36%, stainless steel dipped. 0.07%, and wire rod was flat.
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RPT-Arcadium offer to rise Rio Tinto into lithium provider major league
Rio Tinto said on Wednesday it would obtain Arcadium Lithium for $6.7. billion in an allcash deal that would make it one of the. world's biggest lithium manufacturers. The worldwide miner would gain access to Arcadium's vast array. of mines, processing centers and deposits together with a. consumer base that consists of automakers Tesla, BMW. and General Motors. Rio's Rincon job in Argentina is because of begin producing. later on this year, while its Jadar project in Serbia might take at. least 2 years to protect all the necessary licenses. Below is a list of the top lithium producers on the planet as. per market cap: 1. Albermale Albemarle is the world's largest lithium producer,. with a market cap of about $12 billion. It runs the only. producing lithium mine in North America, and also has operations. in Chile and Western Australia. It holds joint endeavors in Australia with Mineral Resources. at the Wodgina mine and with Tianqi Lithium. at the Greenbushes mine. In 2023, it produced 39,000 lots of lithium metal. 2. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Chile's SQM is the second-largest lithium. producer, with a market cap of $11.43 billion. China's Tianqi. Lithium owns about a fifth of the business. SQM in 2015 produced around 165,500 lots of lithium. hydroxide and lithium carbonate, according to its yearly. report. 3. Ganfeng Lithium China's Ganfeng Lithium has a market cap of. $ 9.37 billion. It likewise owns a 6.16% stake in Australia's Pilbara. Minerals. It has operations in Western Australia,. Argentina, Mexico and China. 4. Tianqi Lithium Tianqi Lithium, which has a market cap of $8.11. billion, has operations in Australia, Chile and China. 5. Mineral Resources Australia's Mineral Resources has a market cap of. $ 7.12 billion and is the world's most significant miner of hardrock. spodumene. It holds stakes in several developers such as Worldwide. Lithium, Delta Lithium and Wildcat Resources . Per in 2015's yearly report, the business shipped 847,000. dry metric lots (dmt) of spodumene concentrate. 6. Pilbara Minerals Pilbara Minerals has a market cap of $6.34 billion. and operates the Pilgangoora mine in Western Australia. In. August, it made a A$ 559.9 million ($ 378.21 million) quote for. smaller peer Latin Resources to gain access to its. Brazilian operations. In 2023, it produced 620,147 dmt of overall spodumene. concentrate. 7. Arcadium Lithium Arcadium Lithium has a market cap of $3.31 billion. and was formed by the merger of Allkem and Livent on Jan. 4,. 2024. It has mining properties in Argentina and Australia, and. downstream conversion possessions in the U.S., China, Japan and UK. As of 2023, both the business together produced around. 29,661 lots of lithium carbonate, and Allkem alone produced. 239,312 dmt of spodumene concentrate. 8. Liontown Resources Liontown Resources has a market cap of $1.45. billion, and runs in Western Australia. In September, it shipped its very first lithium output of 11,855. damp metric tons of spodumene concentrate.
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ABL to Oversee Installation of Offshore Wind Substations in France
Energy and marine consultancy ABL has been appointed as marine warranty surveyor to support the marine transportation and installation (T&I) operations relating to the construction of the grid connection system known as Centre Manche 1 and Centre Manche 2, offshore Normandy in France.Centre Manche 1 and Centre Manche 2 are part of two offshore wind projects – Appel d’Offre 4 (AO4) and Appel d’Offre 8 (AO8) – that aim to contribute towards the French government’s ambition of allocating 1 GW of offshore wind energy per year, from 2023 onwards.Centre Manche 1 will connect the AO4 (1,050) offshore wind farm and part of AO8 (200MW) to the 400 kV substation at Menuel through a 100 km long DC export cable.Centre Manche 2 will connect the A08 offshore wind farm to the 400 kV substation at Tourbe via a 105 km long DC cable. Both offshore substations will each have a capacity of 1.25 GW.ABL’s operations in France will act as marine warranty surveyor (MWS) for the transportation and installation campaign for the Centre Manche 1 and 2 offshore substations, the 100 km long DC export cable, and the three 2 km long interstation links.The platforms will be sister topsides, with an estimated weight of 13,300 tonnes each, while the jackets will weigh approximately 7,000 tons each.“Being selected for this project reflects our technical reputation in the French market, particularly for T&I work for France’s offshore wind projects, including bottom-fixed platforms and subsea cables. Further to this, our in-house team of marine and engineering consultants draw upon experience from more than 330 offshore wind projects globally,” said Hugues Delanoue, Regional Managing Director for ABL in Europe and West Africa.
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Gold ticks up, US inflation data in focus
Gold rates nudged higher on Thursday, while traders await a crucial U.S. inflation information due later in the day to determine the Federal Reserve's future monetary policy position. Area gold increased 0.2% to $2,614.00 per ounce by 0246 GMT, after reducing for the previous six sessions. Costs scaled a. record high last month. U.S. gold futures got 0.2% at $2,631.40. The U.S. Consumer Cost Index (CPI) for September is due at. 1230 GMT and Manufacturer Cost Index (PPI) data on Friday. If core CPI comes hotter, U.S. Treasury yields will go. greater and that is bad for gold. I believe there is room for. costs to come down, but don't always see a drop in. the huge image, stated Ilya Spivak, head of worldwide macro,. Tastylive. Markets see an 80% possibility of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut. in November. A significant bulk of Fed authorities at the September. meeting supported starting an era of much easier monetary policy. with an outsized half-point rate cut, however concurred that further. relieving will be data-driven, according to its minutes. If there is a huge geopolitical shock set off by the. scenario in the Middle East and with the Fed in an easing. cycle, there is still an opportunity for the bullion to scale another. record this year, Spivak said. The zero-yielding bullion is chosen in a low-interest. rate environment along with amid periods of economic and. geopolitical chaos. San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly stated one or two. more rate cuts this year are most likely if the economy progresses as. she anticipates. Dallas Fed Bank President Lorie Logan required. gradual cuts and stated that the U.S. central bank ought to not. rush. Meanwhile, Israel's strategies to strike Iran added to concerns of rising stress in the. Middle East. Spot silver increased 0.3% to $30.60, platinum. included 1.4% to $958.60 and palladium firmed 1.3% to. $ 1,052.61.
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Zinc dealing with supply deficit as mine output falls once again: Andy Home
The global zinc market is dealing with a large supply deficit in 2024 as a basic materials capture forces smelters to decrease production of refined metal. The International Lead and Zinc Study Hall (ILZSG) has significantly modified its assessment of zinc market characteristics given that it last satisfied in April. A previously expected supply surplus of 56,000 metric tons has actually been updated to a 164,000-ton supply deficit. Mine production is now anticipated to fall for a 3rd successive year and smelter treatment terms, a good indicator of basic material accessibility, have turned negative. China, which hosts the world's biggest smelter network, is feeling the margin pinch and nationwide production of refined zinc is sliding at an accelerating rate. SUPPLY CRUNCH Back in April ILZSG anticipated mine production to increase by 0.7%. year-on-year in 2024. Just five months later on, that forecast has. been slashed with mined zinc output now on track to fall by 1.4%. to 12.06 million heaps, it said. This will be the third straight year of sliding output with. prepared for 2024 production 5.7% lower than 2021, the last year. of the zinc mining boom. Low zinc prices in 2023 took a heavy toll of higher-cost. operators, particularly in Europe, where the suspension of the. Tara mine in Ireland and Aljustrel in Portugal will trigger. regional production to depression by 11.4% this year. The resulting squeeze on smelter margins has ended up being more. intense as the year has actually progressed. Spot treatment charges for. Chinese imports of zinc concentrates fell into unfavorable. area for the very first time ever in August and have continued. sliding. Local information provider Shanghai Metal Market assesses the area. market at an unfavorable $40 per lot, highlighting the mismatch. in between smelter need and raw material schedule. China's fine-tuned metal output was dropping even before some. of the country's leading producers fulfilled in August to agree on curbing. run-rates. The pace of decline has actually sped up in the last number of. months. SMM estimates zinc metal output was down by 7.6%. year-on-year in August and expects the space to have actually broadened to. 10.4% in September. ILZSG forecasts full-year Chinese output to be 3.4% lower. than 2023, adding to a 1.8% drop in international production. It's a significant modification from April, when the group expected. refined output to rise by 0.6%. The group's demand projections have been modified but not. significantly changed. Use is anticipated to grow by 1.8% this. year with the rest of the world taking up the slack from China. as the core development chauffeur. Chinese need will increase by just 0.7% in 2024, showing. zinc's exposure to the country's struggling home sector. Galvanised steel, commonly used in building and construction, is zinc's most. essential end-use sector, representing 60% of all need, and. China has been the world's most active builder over the last. years. HEALING NEXT YEAR? ILZSG anticipates this year's supply deficit to be followed by a. healthy 148,000-ton surplus in 2025 due to greater zinc costs. London Metal Exchange zinc has recovered a lot of ground. since 2023, when it touched a three-year low of $2,215 per lot. in May. Three-month metal struck a year-to-date high of. $ 3,209 recently. The enhanced cost environment ought to encourage restarts. Swedish manufacturer Boliden has actually currently announced the. reactivation of Tara in Ireland. ILZSG expects global mined production to leap by 6.6% next. year from this year's distressed levels due to a mix of. restarts and the delayed ramp-up of the Ozernoye mine in Russia. Much better concentrates schedule is anticipated to feed a 3.9%. year-on-year healing in international refined zinc production and a. return to provide surplus. However, that presumes both a quick reactivation of. mothballed operations and no significant unpredicted interruptions. Within days of ILZSG settling its figures, Ivanhoe Mines. revealed a significant downgrade of anticipated production from. its brand-new Kipushi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This year's assistance has actually been cut from 100,000-140,000 heaps. to 50,000-70,000 lots of contained zinc due to a mix of. functional teething issues and an absence of power. As ILZSG's modifications considering that April plainly show, zinc's. supply characteristics are in a state of high flux right now and are. likely to stay that method for a long time yet. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a. columnist .
Norway wealth fund ends observation of Malaysia's Supermax, two others
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has ended observation of Supermax, 2 years after positioning the Malaysian medical glove maker under monitor accusations that the company contributes to human rights infractions.
Norges Bank's decision comes by a year after the United States
lifted a restriction
on Supermax, permitting it to resume sales. The company's. imports were barred from the U.S. in October 2021 over the. alleged forced labor practices.
According to the Council on Ethics, the company has. throughout the time of observation reported that it has implemented. numerous steps to enhance conditions, Norges Bank Financial Investment. Management stated in a statement on Wednesday. The risk that the. company is adding to human rights violations is no longer. thought about unacceptable.
The trillion dollar wealth fund has actually also ended the. observation of Southern Co and BHP, without. providing any direct factor, and withdrawed exemption of 6. companies, the fund stated.
BHP was put under observation by the fund in 2020 for. coal usage and production.
Supermax, Southern Co and BHP did not instantly. respond to Reuters requests for remark.
As part of Norges Bank's deal with the product-based coal. criterion, the fund monitors company events and business. entering the marketplace.
The sovereign wealth fund is likewise revoking exemption of TXNM. Energy, Public Power Corp, TransAlta,. Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, Eneva SA and. Capital Power.
The business did not instantly respond to Reuters. ask for comment.
(source: Reuters)