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Brazilian companies promote U.S. plants, leaning into Trump trade wars
2 of Brazil's. most significant commercial firms, steelmaker Gerdau and. plastics manufacturer Braskem, are currently promoting their. substantial U.S. operations as a hedge versus the danger of. protectionism from Presidentelect Donald Trump. Trump has actually floated the idea of a 10% or greater tariff on all. goods imported into the United States, a relocation he states would. eliminate the trade deficit, while threatening a 200% tariff on. some imported cars, especially from Mexico. On calls with financiers today, Gerdau and Braskem were. quick to point out that a large chunk of their services are. located in the United States, positioning them to actually enhance. earnings if those policies take effect. Gerdau's Chief Financial Officer Rafael Japur told an. incomes call that Trump's steps are anticipated to be positive. for U.S. steel demand, helping its steelmaking plants there. The Brazilian steelmaker, which runs 11 long and unique. steel production units in the U.S. and Canada, also promoted the. benefits of a stronger dollar for its Brazilian operations,. where it would take on more costly imports. Gerdau shares leapt in Sao Paulo on the U.S. election. outcomes, surpassing peers with more direct exposure to the Brazilian. market such as Usiminas and CSN. Following Trump's success, we see Gerdau as a key. beneficiary in the area, experts at BTG Pactual stated in a. note to clients, including that the Republican politician's trade policy could. imply a stronger-for-longer pricing environment. Trump's protectionist method and concentrate on bolstering U.S. industry would even more suppress direct and indirect steel imports,. the analysts stated, keeping in mind that potential business tax cuts. might likewise support Gerdau's financial efficiency. Petrochemical producer Braskem, which is owned by state-run. oil giant Petrobras and engineering group Novonor as. significant shareholders, might likewise gain from Trump's policies. Braskem CFO Pedro de Freitas told reporters on Thursday that. it was a crucial domestic provider of polypropylene to the U.S. automotive market, which stands to gain from Trump's. protectionism. Braskem has five polypropylene plants in U.S. states from. Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Texas - all of which threw. their support to Trump in his election win against Democratic. Vice President Kamala Harris this week. The U.S. represent 15% to 20% of Braskem's core profits,. Freitas stated. Both Braskem and Gerdau likewise urged Brazil to lean into what. might be a brand-new trade war, imposing tariffs to secure the. Brazilian market in the face of U.S. protectionism. Brazilian steelmakers have long prompted the federal government to. impose taxes to fight what they consider disposing practices. from Chinese suppliers who have flooded the market with cheap. items. Last month, Brazil's government responded with approximately. 25% import tariffs. Gerdau CEO Gustavo Werneck said those tariffs should increase to. a minimum of 35% as steel that was being offered to the U.S. may now. be directed to other areas, consisting of Brazil. China has. managed to offer steel to Brazil even with the 25% levy, he stated. Braskem's Freitas had a comparable view. If the U.S. is more closed, those who were selling there. will sell in other places - and products will concern Brazil, he. stated. New tariffs in Brazil must use Braskem some short-term. aid, experts say, pointing to the increase in the import tax. for polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC from 12.6% to 20%.
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Vulcan pushes back massive production date for German lithium plant to 2027
Start-up Vulcan Energy will start largescale commercial production of lithium hydroxide in Germany in 2027, two years later than originally prepared, the business said on Friday as it started operations at a demonstration plant. Vulcan began producing lithium chloride, an important element in producing lithium hydroxide, at its upstream extraction plant in Landau, Germany, in April. It is currently raising funds for its first massive industrial plant with an objective of providing an anticipated 24,000 lots of lithium hydroxide a year, comparable to 500,000 electrical lorries, from 2027. The funding procedure has actually taken longer than anticipated, Christian Freitag, the Vulcan CEO responsible for supply chain management, told Reuters. Vulcan's financial requirements now total up to 1.9 billion euros ($ 2.04 billion), consisting of funding expenses, with the required funds expected to be protected in the first quarter. The company will raise more than 600 million euros in equity from a handful of investors, Freitag stated, and the staying 1.3 billion euros through loans from banks, including the European development bank EIB, which has actually promised half a billion euros. Vulcan's production of the battery basic material will assist Germany cut dependence on lithium manufacturers China and South America. The energy it will use to extract lithium from salt water in underground reserves is concurrently produced CO2-free utilizing geothermal power plants. Lithium demand is forecast to rise later on this decade from development in lithium-ion batteries utilized in electrical lorries. Vulcan, which is noted both in Australia and Frankfurt, has already sold its first ten years of production through purchase deals with carmakers including Volkswagen, Stellantis and Renault. The company has already once delayed the start date for large-scale production at its plant by a year to 2026, mentioning supply chain hold-ups.
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Neste stops briefly Rotterdam refinery due to fire, reduces renewables guidance
Neste has briefly closed down its refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands due to a fire, it said on Friday, and lowered its fullyear guidance for eco-friendly products sales volumes. Shares in the Finnish business were down 4% at 1537 GMT. Neste stated in a declaration the fire at the refinery was snuffed out and no persons were injured in the occurrence. Based upon our initial evaluation, the Rotterdam refinery production will be down for numerous weeks affecting the sustainable diesel customer deliveries, the company stated. It stated it due to the temporary closure now saw sustainable products' overall sales volumes at around 3.7 million lots, versus previous guidance of 3.9 million. The business still anticipates the 2024 average equivalent sales margin for its sustainable items to be in between $360 and $480. per heap, it included. Neste's present 1.4 million ton capability for renewable. products in Rotterdam is the largest in Europe, according to the. business's site. Neste stated the incident had no impact on a continuous $2. billion expansion of the refinery.
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Spain records rainiest October ever, culminating in deadly floods
Spain has actually registered the rainiest October on record, culminating in the most fatal floods in years in the country, the nationwide weather condition company AEMET stated on Friday. More than 220 individuals died after downpours on Oct. 29 triggered flash floods that rose through residential areas south of the city of Valencia, in eastern Spain, sweeping away automobiles and bridges and flooding homes and underground parking lot. Seventy-eight individuals are missing, although the federal government believes some of them could match some of the 48 bodies still to be recognized. Researchers say extreme weather occasions are ending up being more regular due to climate modification. Meteorologists believe the warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key function in making torrential rains more serious. Peninsular Spain had an average of 147 millimetres (mm) of rain this October, practically twice the average amount in a typical October, AEMET added. Turis, a town 15 km (about 9 miles) upstream from Valencia city where a year's worth of rain fell in a day, broke the nationwide record of rains in an hour with 184.6 mm falling. With 771 mm of rain in 24 hours, Turis was likewise near to breaking the record registered in 1987 in close-by Oliva of 817 mm. AEMET said October was a warm month in general, with an average temperature over peninsular Spain of 15.5 ° Celsius
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COP29 climate agenda clouded by trade tensions ahead of top
China has actually put trade talks onto the proposed agenda for the COP29 summit, a. U.N. document showed, raising the prospect that the problem could. disrupt the start of international climate talks. The draft agenda for this year's environment top, published. on Friday, consists of a Chinese proposal, formerly reported by. Reuters, for talks on carbon border taxes and other limiting. trade measures that Beijing states hurt establishing nations. Delegates at the conference must embrace the summit agenda by. agreement as their first task when the COP29 talks start on Nov. 11 in Baku, Azerbaijan. However some diplomats said the European Union is most likely to. oppose the Chinese proposition. Failure to approve the program might postpone the start of. settlements - cutting into the time left for the primary task of. authorizing potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in new. funding to address environment change. China sent the trade talks proposal on behalf of the. Standard group, which also includes Brazil, India and South Africa. We will speak about it, relentlessly, South Africa's. Environment Minister Dion George informed Reuters. George stated BASIC countries believe the U.N. talks is the. appropriate forum in which to discuss climate-related trade. policies, consisting of the EU's carbon border levy. Fundamental nations have actually been strong critics of the EU carbon. border policy, which from 2026 will impose costs on imports of. high-carbon goods, including steel and cement. We are displeased about it and we do not think it's good for. our economy, George said, including that South Africa and China. are having extreme discussions with the EU. A European Commission representative decreased to comment. The EU has formerly stated disputes over trade should be. dealt with at the World Trade Company. One European mediator informed Reuters that it had always. been a no-go to talk about trade procedures such as carbon border. levies at U.N. environment summits. The arbitrator expressed issue that the BASIC proposition was. meant to prevent discussions at COP29 on cutting CO2. emissions and financing from moving on. A fight over the program at a round of U.N. environment. negotiations in 2023 did not get resolved for more than a week,. effectively killing off progress at the talks.
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China opens copper mixing organization to personal firms, sources state
China has actually permitted more private firms to mix more contaminating complex copper focuses domestically as the country that smelts half the world's copper battles to protect enough standard grades, 3 people with knowledge of the matter stated. That could considerably widen the scope of copper concentrates, which are presently based on stringent custom-mades rules, that China can import. Its Ministry of Ecology and Environment did not instantly respond to an ask for remark. China is the world's largest copper customer however just the fourth most significant mined manufacturer, suggesting it needs to import concentrate - a material produced from crushed copper ore which is later processed into refined metal - to satisfy its requirements. Its import standards permit just around 20% of the world's. copper concentrates to be shipped into the country, with the. remainder thought about too contaminating. Just huge state-owned business have typically been. permitted to purchase and mix copper concentrates which contain more. poisonous chemicals like arsenic than standard grades. Foreign traders, also disallowed from processing contaminating. concentrates within China, have to blend focuses in South. Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan prior to sale to Chinese smelters. But the federal government has granted at least three brand-new licenses. to personal firms to process lower grades over the previous couple of. months as a lack of standard copper concentrates worsened,. 3 sources said. Among them consists of the new mixing center in Dalian. port, the Liaoning provincial government of northeast China stated. on Nov. 1. China has rapidly broadened in copper smelting over the. years, accelerating a worldwide lack of copper basic material and. making focuses costlier than ever. An absence of copper concentrates has already caused required. interruptions of a few of China's most enthusiastic copper jobs,. consisting of the postponement of Tongling Nonferrous's new. plant to the 2nd half of 2025. Around 3.2 million tons of brand-new Chinese copper smelting. capability is likewise waiting to come online in the next five years,. according to consultancy CRU.
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United States refiners hold output at high levels as fuel inventories sag
U.S. oil refiners this quarter anticipate to run their plants at above 90% of their crude processing capability on low inventories and enhancing demand for gasoline and diesel, executives and industry experts stated. Run rates in the year's last quarter tend to cool after the end of the U.S. summertime driving season. But weaker than normal fuel stocks are motivating high run rates even in the middle of weaker revenue margins, analysts stated. Leading refiners laid out strategies to run their networks at between 90% and 94% of capability through completion of the year, executives stated during profits calls in current weeks. That variety is somewhat above the year-ago level. This is a bit less of a seasonal decrease than we have seen in previous years, said Matthew Blair, chief refining analyst at monetary company Tudor Pickering Holt. In spite of lower gasoline margins, U.S. refineries are typically still cash-positive. In addition, product stocks are reasonably low. Refiners' operating margins fell this year as brand-new refineries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East came online, improving worldwide materials as need growth weakened. Top U.S. refiner Marathon Petroleum, which runs 16% of the country's 18.4 million-barrel-per-day processing capacity, prepares to operate its 13 refineries at 90% of their integrated capacity, similar to a year back. The international macro environment continues to exhibit refined product need growth, said Marathon CEO Maryann Mannen. HIGH RUNS, LESS UPKEEP The second biggest independent refiner, Valero Energy , anticipates to run at approximately 94%, executives said, after its refining profit tumbled in the third quarter. CVR Energy also will increase its run rate in spite of dramatically lower third-quarter earnings. Phillips 66 intend on running at a combined operating rate in the low-to-mid 90s portion range, executives said. Smaller refiners Par Pacific and HF Sinclair both strategy to decrease their run rates this quarter. But for all U.S. refiners, the upper end of the variety is very strong, said Kpler lead Americas oil expert Matt Smith. It continues the pattern we saw in the 2nd half of this year with high runs and shallow maintenance levels. If you're still earning money on the incremental barrel, if the margin is still above the operating cost, you're going to do it, said expert John Auers, managing director of consultancy Improved Fuels Analytics.
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Food prices drive inflation in Ukraine as much as 9.7% y/y in October
An increase in food prices and rising business expenses pressed inflation in Ukraine approximately 9.7%. yearonyear in October from 8.6% in September, the stats. service stated on Friday. Monthly consumer rates grew by 1.8% in October compared. with 1.5% in the previous month, it stated. Consumer inflation has actually been growing at a quicker speed than. initially anticipated by the federal government and analysts so far this. year because of a lower harvest, an electrical energy deficit and. rising business costs. Stats information revealed that food rates rose by 10.9%. year-on-year in October, with rates for vegetables up by over. 62% and fruit rates growing by 23.9%. The central bank anticipated the cost pressure to remain. strong in the coming months, peaking at the start of the next. year and inflation starting to slow in spring 2025. As Russia's war in Ukraine approaches the 1,000-day mark,. Ukrainian services battle with increasing business costs due. to electricity deficit and staff lacks. Russian forces have intensified their attacks on the. Ukrainian energy sector since March, knocking out about half of. available generation capacity. Ukraine has to count on more. pricey imported electrical power to cover the need. The war is also draining pipes Ukraine's labour force, with. millions abroad and 10s of thousands Ukrainian males set in motion. into the army.
Asia Gold-India gold demand slows; buying ticks up in Japan, Singapore
Gold demand in India failed this week as price volatility triggered buyers to delay purchases after strong celebration sales, while Japan and Singapore saw some buying.
Sales have actually dipped after Diwali, and the rate swings are likewise turning purchasers away, Ashok Jain, proprietor of Mumbai-based gold wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji.
Indians commemorated Dhanteras and Diwali festivals recently when buying gold is considered auspicious.
In India, domestic prices was up to 76,367 rupees per 10 grams previously this week after striking a record high of 79,775 rupees last week.
Spot gold was off the three-week low hit on Thursday, as markets absorbed Donald Trump's governmental election triumph.
This week, Indian dealers charged a premium << XAU-IN-PREM > of as much as $3 an ounce over official domestic prices-- inclusive of 6% import and 3% sales levies. Recently they were offering a $1. premium to a discount rate of approximately $5.
Jewellers reported strong sales throughout Diwali and need to. renew stocks, however they're holding back, hoping costs will. drop even more, stated a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private. bank.
Top customer China's reserve bank avoided purchasing. gold for its reserves for the sixth successive month in. October, data revealed.
On the retail side, cost decline failed to stimulate any purchasing. interest among Chinese clients, individuals currently do not appear. really interested in gold, said Peter Fung, head of dealing at. Wing Fung Rare-earth Elements, Hong Kong.
Chinese dealers used << XAU-CN-PREM > discount rates in between. $ 15-$ 17 versus last week's $11-$ 14 discounts. In Hong Kong, gold. was offered in between $0.2 discount and $1 premium << XAU-HK-PREM >.
In Japan, bullion was offered << XAU-TK-PREM > at par to $1. premium, while traders in Singapore sold it in between a $0.2. discount rate and a $2.20 premium.
Traders in both the countries noted that there was some. selling before the U.S. election but clients was available in to make. purchases as prices fell after Trump's triumph.
Trump's policies may raise inflation and individuals might purchase. more gold as a hedge versus it, stated a Tokyo-based trader.
(source: Reuters)