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Copper producer Aurubis aims to boost US sales without tariffs
Toralf Haag, CEO of Europe's biggest copper producer Aurubis, told analysts that the company is interested in increasing its sales to the U.S. because there are no tariffs on imports. The U.S. did not include copper in its list of reciprocal tariffs, announced in April. However, President Donald Trump had ordered an investigation into the imports of copper in February. Aurubis stated that its findings should be available by the end of November 2025. Haag added that the company had limited sales in the U.S. Haag announced in April that Aurubis will increase its copper recycling smelter capacity in the U.S. in this year. Additional investment is possible in future years. The only U.S. operations of the company are located in Richmond County, Georgia. Steffen Hoffmann, CFO, said that projects such as Richmond, the multimetal recycling facility in the United States, would contribute to earnings of the company before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization next year. The company's core profit for the first half of this year was higher than expected, thanks to higher prices for sulphuric acids and precious metals. Operating earnings before taxes (EBT) dropped 5.8% from 243 millions euros to 229,2 million euros in the six-month period ending March 2025. This exceeded the 221 million euro expectation of analysts in a poll provided by the company. Aurubis stated that the EBT operating result was negatively affected by the reduced concentrate throughput due to lower treatment and refinement charges, and the higher ramp-up cost for strategic projects such as the multimetal recycling facility in the United States. The metals recycling and smelter confirmed their forecast for 2024/25, adding that they expected the full-year operating EBT to be around the middle of the range between 300 million and 400 million euros. $1 = 0.8836 Euros (Reporting from Bernadette in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak. Jane Merriman edited the article.
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India's Titan reports higher quarterly profits on demand for premium jewellery and gold coins
Indian watchmaker Titan posted a profit increase of nearly 13% in the fourth quarter on Thursday, as demand from wealthy customers for gold coins and premium jewellery remained strong despite rising bullion costs. The company's net profit for the three months ended March 31 was 8.71 billion rupees (101.97 millions dollars), compared to last year's 7,71 billion rupees. The price of gold rose by nearly 17% during the first quarter of this year, and 10 grams of 24-carat gold exceeded 90,000 rupees (1,062.39 dollars) at the end of the month. Reports indicate that despite record-high jewellery prices, the demand for it has continued to grow. Many people are exchanging their old jewelry for new pieces in order to keep within budgets when planning for weddings and festivals. Titan said in April that while demand in Titan's lower price segments cooled, wealthy customers continued to purchase high-end jewellery as well as investment-grade gold coin. The mainstay jewellery business of the company, which includes the brands 'Tanishq and 'Mia,' and is the source of the majority revenue, saw a 25 percent increase in sales. Titan's gold coin segment saw sales increase by 64% on an annual basis as more Indians invested in bullion. Titan's profit margins contracted from 12.1% to 11.9% during the third quarter, a decrease that was primarily due to the lower profitability of jewellery compared with gold coins. In an interview conducted in February, Ashok sonthalia, the company's finance director, said that rising gold prices might threaten its target margin of 11% to 11,5% for fiscal 2026. The company's second largest business, watches, also saw a 20% increase in revenue. This was due to the premium products offered under its Raga Sonata Fastrack brands. Ajoy Chawla, head of the jewellery division at the company, will replace C. K. Venkataraman as managing director by year's end. $1 = 85,4150 Indian Rupees (reporting from Ananta Aggarwal and Praveen Parmasivam; editing by Sonia Cheema & Vijay Kishore).
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China-led funds drive largest monthly inflows into gold ETFs for three years
Data from the World Gold Council on Thursday showed that the inflow of physical gold ETFs in April was the highest since March 2022. China-listed funds led the way due to China's trade conflict with the U.S. In April, the two world's largest economies traded tit-fortat import tariffs. However, investors looking for shelter from political and financial volatility have been moving into gold exchange-traded funds since 2025. Last month, gold ETFs received 115.3 metric tonnes worth $11.2 billion, the highest amount since March 20,22, when the global markets were still grappling with the immediate effects of Russia's invasion in Ukraine. The total gold ETF holdings increased by 3.3%, to 3,560.8 tonnes by the end April. This is the highest amount since August 2022. The previous record was 3,915 tonnes in October 2020. The WGC reported that China-listed funds were the top inflows in April with 64.8 tonnes, followed by U.S. listed funds at 42.4 tons. It added that, in addition to trade wars, and demand for safe havens, the appetite for gold ETFs is driven by rising gold prices. Gold prices are up 28 percent so far this season after reaching a record of $3,500 an ounce last April. (Reporting and editing by Paul Simao; Polina Devitt)
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US CPC predicts ENSO neutral conditions for June to August with 74% probability.
The United States Climate Prediction Center announced on Thursday that El Nino-Southern Oscillation neutral conditions will be preferred in the Northern Hemisphere during summer 2025 (74% probability between June and August). It added that the chances of ENSO neutrality will exceed 50% between August and October 2025. Why is it important? La Nina is a part of the El Nino Southern Oscillation cycle (ENSO), which affects the water temperatures throughout the Pacific Ocean. La Nina causes cooler water temperatures which increases the risk of droughts and floods. This can have an impact on crops. When ENSO neutral, water temperature stays around average, leading to better weather and possibly higher crop yields. CONTEXT Due to El Nino's adverse effects and the limited water resources available for irrigation, the sugar production estimate has been reduced to 28 million tonnes. This was revealed in a report released on May 5 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Post at New Delhi. KEY QUOTES AccuWeather’s international forecaster Jason Nicholls, the lead for AccuWeather, said: "A neutral ENSO has no usual conditions as a neutren ENSO results in conditions influencing both local and global patterns." The pattern of this spring has caused some concerns about dryness in the UK and Northern Europe, while southern Europe was wet. The pattern is changing heading into the summer, with more chances for rain in northern Europe. This could improve crop prospects. (Reporting by Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru)
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Gold prices fall as Trump signals a potential trade agreement with Britain
Gold prices fell slightly on Thursday ahead of President Donald Trump's expected announcement of a possible trade agreement between the United States of America and Britain. As of 1318 GMT spot gold fell 0.1%, to $3,362.19 per ounce, after rising by 1% in the previous session. U.S. Gold Futures fell 0.7% to $3368.50. The gold market has been extremely volatile. Jeffrey Christian, managing director of CPM Group, said that short-term investors are buying and selling gold based on headlines. Prices could be as low as $3.050 on a long-term basis or as high at $3.500. Trump announced on Truth Social that he will hold a news conference in the Oval Office at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) to discuss a "major deal" with representatives of an important and highly respected country. The New York Times had reported earlier in the day that the United States and Britain were likely to announce an agreement. Bullion is widely considered a hedge to geopolitical unrest. It has risen over $300 since Trump announced his tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer and China's top economist will meet on Saturday in Switzerland. Two people with first-hand knowledge of the situation said that China's central banks has also approved commercial banks purchasing foreign currency to pay for imports of gold under newly increased quotas. Theoretically this move could boost gold prices, as the increased demand from China is a factor. The current market dynamics, however, are dominated by the developments around tariffs," Zain Vawda said, an analyst at MarketPulse. The Federal Reserve, which is responsible for monetary policy in the United States, held interest rates at the same level on Wednesday, but warned that the risks of inflation and unemployment were rising as policymakers struggled to deal with the impact tariffs. Silver spot was up by 0.2%, at $32.52, platinum rose 1% to $884.15 while palladium gained 0.2% to $973.92. (Reporting from Ashitha Shivaprasad, Anjana Anil and Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru. Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri.)
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JP Morgan creates a new role in green banking leadership
JP Morgan has strengthened its green finance advisory and offering in Europe by appointing a new division leader to support clients on renewable energy and green technologies. An internal memo viewed by us on Thursday stated that the Wall Street lender promoted Kai-Christian Nerger into the newly created position of head of green economic banking for Europe in its global corporate banking division. Nerger has worked at JP Morgan more than 10 year and will now lead a team that helps the bank's European customers reduce their carbon emission levels, as well as benefiting from the growth opportunities available in the green economy. Nerger worked previously in the bank's teams covering diversified industries, power and renewables. The memo stated that he had been focusing on clients from the German industrial, utility, and green economy sectors. Some North American and European Banks have scaled back their climate ambitions, both before Donald Trump's election and after. JP Morgan, in early January, left a banking alliance that was aimed at advancing climate ambitions within the sector. JP Morgan stated in the memo that they continue to help clients scale up energy transition and climate technology businesses around the globe. JP Morgan has allocated $1 trillion to initiatives that support climate change and facilitated $242 Billion towards its green goal since 2021. (Reporting and editing by Virginia Furness)
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Utility Talen Energy reports quarterly loss due to higher expenses
Talen Energy, a utility, reported a first-quarter loss on Thursday. Higher interest and energy costs were to blame, and its shares fell 3.3% during premarket trading. Interest rates that are higher for longer burden utilities, as they make the cost of investing in power grids and infrastructures such as roads and bridges higher. Talen reported that its interest costs increased 25.4%, to $74 millions during the quarter. Total energy expenses also rose 10.8%, to $235,000,000. The loss for the quarter was also due to the absence of gains from the $650 million sale of a Data Center last year to Amazon. These results are similar to those of nuclear utilities such as Vistra or Constellation Energy that were also affected by rising interest rates. Talen operates and owns approximately 10,7 gigawatts in power infrastructure across the United States. It sells wholesale power in the U.S. markets, including electricity, capacity and ancillary service. Talen has lowered its outlook for the full year adjusted core profit to a range between $975 million and $1.13 billion, down from an earlier view of $925 to $1.18billion. Utility said that it also identified additional maintenance work at Unit 2 of Susquehanna Nuclear Facility, which was already placed under planned outage back in March. Talen added that the unit 2 outage would be extended until mid-May. The Houston, Texas based company reported that it had a net loss of $135,000,000 for the quarter ending March 31. This compares to a profit last year of $294,000,000. (Reporting and editing by Shailesh Kuber in Bengaluru)
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Utility Evergy misses its quarterly profit forecast due to lower demand and higher costs
Evergy Inc missed Wall Street expectations for the first-quarter profits on Wednesday. The utility was hurt due to higher costs and lower demands as a result of an unplanned shutdown by a major customer. Interest rates that are higher for longer raise the borrowing costs of power companies. These companies need to borrow more money for maintenance and upgrades of grid infrastructure. Interest expenses for the company increased by 14.5%, to $152.5 millions in the third quarter. Total operating expenses also increased to $1.08 Billion. Evergy said that its industrial demand also decreased due to an unnamed large client having an unplanned maintenance shut down. The company said that the customer's production is expected to be near normal levels in this month. Evergy’s total revenue rose by 3.3% to $1.37bn from the same quarter last year. The total retail sales of the company for the first quarter were up 1.6% compared to a year ago, reaching $1.10 billion. A colder-than-expected-winter increased electricity and gas consumption during the quarter, as residences and businesses had more heating demand. Evergy expects a strong increase in commercial and industrial loads as Meta and Panasonic ramp-up operations in the second part of this year. Evergy announced in February that it had secured customers such as Google, Meta and Panasonic to provide data centers and advanced manufacturing. In the third and fourth quarters, the utility expects a growth of between 3% and 5% in commercial loads and 6% to 8 % for industrial. Evergy supplies power to over 1.7 million Kansas and Missouri customers through its operating subsidiaries Evergy Kansas Central and Evergy Metro. According to LSEG, on an adjusted basis the company reported a loss of 54 cents for the first three months, falling short of analysts' expectations of 66 cents. The company confirmed its forecast of adjusted earnings between $3.92 and $4.12 for each share. (Reporting and editing by Sahal Muhammad in Bengaluru, with Pooja Menon from Bengaluru)
Mining chamber expects a lithium boom in Argentina this year
The mining chamber CAEM announced on Wednesday that lithium production in Argentina will increase by 77% this coming year. This is equivalent to 131.800 metric tonnes of lithium carbonate (LCE).
CAEM stated that silver production could drop between 9.3% to 14.3%. Gold output is expected to fall between 0.6% and 93%.
CAEM CEO Alejandra Cardona said that Argentina's lithium production has increased from three to six projects, thanks to new projects by Gangfeng Eramine, and Posco.
Exports will drop 24% in 2024 to $631mn, due to lower international prices, according the chamber.
Cardona informed attendees at a presentation to announce the Arminera event, an important mining industry conference, which will take place later in May, that there is a continued interest from Saudi Arabia. She added that for the time being, due to the drop in reference price, there have been no concrete investments.
The third-largest economy in Latin America is also the fourth largest exporter of "white metal" and forms part of the "lithium triangular", which includes Chile and Bolivia.
In 2025, gold production is expected to drop between 0.6% to 9.3% to 1.14 to 1.27 million ounces. CAEM reported that silver production could fall between 9.3% and 14.3% as mine lifespans decrease despite 2024's record gold exports.
Javier Milei, the libertarian president of Argentina, has taken measures to deregulate and attract investment in order to overcome an economic crisis that lasted for years. In order to do this, he has promoted fiscal incentives and lifted the currency controls.
Cardona believes that the removal of currency controls will improve the climate, provide certainty and not affect investments in projects which require many years before production can begin. Reporting by Lucila SIGAL; Writing by Rafael Escalera Montoto, Editing by Natalia Sinawski & Brendan O'Boyle
(source: Reuters)