Latest News
-
VEGOILS-Palm increases on firmer soyoil rates, anticipated output decline
Malaysian palm oil futures rose for a second successive session on Tuesday, supported by firmer rival soyoil costs and anticipation of production decreases in Malaysia The benchmark palm oil contract for February shipment on the Bursa Malaysia. Derivatives Exchange rose 35 ringgit or 0.74%, to 4,734 ringgit ($ 1,062.63) a metric ton at the close. The palm market is responding to stronger soyoil rates, stated David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd. Palm oil has actually also been seeing a lot of offering pressure of late and provided the anticipation of weaker output in Malaysia as well as positive belief in the soyoil market, the marketplace is looking for catalyst that can drive it greater, he stated. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is anticipated to release its regular monthly supply-demand information for November on Dec. 10. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.05%, while its palm oil agreement acquired 1.48%. Soyoil rates on the Chicago Board of Trade included 3.07%. Palm oil tracks price motions of competing edible oils as it competes for a share of the global veggie oils market. The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, damaged 0.31% versus the U.S. dollar, making the product more affordable for purchasers holding foreign currencies. Oil rates edged greater after falling in the previous session as investors analyzed a. potential ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, weighing on oil's risk premium. More powerful petroleum futures make palm a more attractive alternative for biodiesel feedstock. Rapeseed and mustard planting in India will likely drop as above-average temperatures throughout. the sowing season triggered farmers to switch to crops less impacted by heat however deal similarly. good returns, industry authorities informed Reuters. Lower production of India's primary winter-sown. oilseed crop might require the country to increase expensive imports of cooking oils such as palm. oil, soyoil and sunflower oil to satisfy need. ($ 1 = 4.4550 ringgit)
-
Russian rouble at 32-month low, an advantage for exporters, minister says
The Russian rouble continued to slide, dropping to its most affordable since March 2022 against both the dollar and the yuan, and the financing minister showed the government did not object to the currency's weakness, an advantage for exporters. The rouble hit 14.5 versus China's yuan for the very first time given that March 2022. And by 0930 GMT, the rouble was down 0.8% at 104.85 versus the dollar, according to LSEG data, a. fresh low since March 2022, the first month of the Ukraine war. The rouble crossed the 110 mark versus the euro. Throughout the session, the rouble hit 105.79 against the dollar. and 111.07 against the euro. In an uncommon official talk about the exchange rate, Financing. Minister Anton Siluanov stated that Russia's weak rouble was. benefiting exporting business, balancing out the negative effect. of the central bank's high benchmark rates of interest. I am not stating whether the currency exchange rate is excellent or bad. I. am simply saying that today the exchange rate is very, very. favourable for exporters, Siluanov informed a monetary conference. in Moscow. Siluanov's remarks are the first admission from a senior. federal government figure that Russian authorities, at least for the. minute, do not challenge the exchange rate's weak point. The essential thing is that the currency exchange rate is more vital. for exports than the rates of interest, Siluanov included. The rouble's main exchange rate, set by the central bank. using over the counter information, for the very first time since March 24. crossed the 103 mark and was set at 103.79 to the dollar. Experts stated the recent U.S. sanctions versus Gazprombank,. the primary bank maintenance Russia's energy sector, interfered with some. payments for energy exports for the coming months, contributing. to the rouble's weak point. The disturbance created a shortage of foreign currency in the. domestic market and raised expenses for global transactions. Some analysts forecast the rouble would hit 110 to the U.S. dollar before the end of the year. The dollar rally following the U.S. election also. added to the rouble's slide. One-day rouble-dollar. futures, which trade on the Moscow exchange and are a guide for. OTC market rates, were down 0.2% to 104.73. The Russian currency is expected to get some support. this week from sales of foreign currency by exporting companies. ahead of tax payments. Brent petroleum, a global criteria for Russia's. primary export, was up 0.7% to $73.52 in the middle of opportunities for a possible. ceasefire in the Middle East.
-
Brazil's federal government and banks in speak to take Novonor's Braskem stake, sources say
Brazil's federal government and numerous of its biggest industrial banks are dealing with a strategy to speed the divestment of engineering group Novonor's majority stake in Braskem, Latin America's biggest petrochemical company, according to six individuals acquainted with the talks. Novonor, which altered its name from Odebrecht after a major graft scandal almost a decade ago, has been checking out a sale for years but stopped working repeatedly to get a deal throughout the line. The group has actually been under pressure to disinvest because, at the height of the Car Wash corruption scandal, it installed its Braskem shares as collateral for 15 billion reais ($ 2.6 billion). in bank debt, consisting of cash owed to the state advancement. bank, BNDES. Today, the shares deserve less than a third of. the arrearage. Rather than a basic swap of Novonor financial obligation for Braskem. shares, as first proposed, the dominating concept amongst creditor. banks today is to consolidate the shares pledged as collateral. into a private equity fund managed by the banks. The fund would be managed by a skilled executive with the. capital and know-how to make financial investments for a turn-around,. possibly increasing Braskem's market price, said three of the. 6 people, who requested anonymity since the negotiations are. private. The leftist government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da. Silva, through the BNDES, is leading some of those talks,. sources say, with an eye to keeping influence through a. shareholder agreement including state-run oil firm Petrobras. , Braskem's second-largest investor. In an interview with Reuters, BNDES President Aloizio. Mercadante verified the interest in solving Braskem's. standoff. An option for Braskem is in development, stated Mercadante. All creditor banks are interested, and so is Petrobras, he. included, without offering details or defining a timeline for. settlements. Braskem's other creditor banks, Bradesco, Itau. Unibanco, Banco do Brasil and Santander. , decreased to comment for this story. Novonor, which in May stated in a declaration it was participated in. offering its stake in Braskem, declined to comment. Sources stated Novonor wishes to keep a small stake in the. petrochemical company, however not all banks concur with that. The engineering group holds 50.1% of Braskem's ballot shares. and 38.3% of total shares. Due to difficulties in the petrochemical sector and a string. of domestic obstacles, including environmental problems, Braskem's. market value plunged to around 12 billion reais, reducing the. value of Novonor's shares to less than 5 billion reais. For these debts to be paid, the value of Braskem's shares. need to value, said one of the sources familiar with the. discussions, determining the exit share cost for banks would be. around 60 reais, about 4 times the existing stock cost. TROUBLE WITH SUITORS The sale of most of Novonor's stake to a 3rd party that. would share control with Petrobras is still not completely ruled. out, regardless of a string of failed efforts, the sources said. Nevertheless, offering control of Braskem continues to be. challenging offered the shareholder arrangement with Petrobras,. according to analysts and people involved in the transaction. Anybody getting Braskem will need to deal with a partner. whose interests will not necessarily be aligned with their own,. said Ricardo Schweitzer, an independent monetary expert. Braskem is also still dealing with the consequences of a 2018. disaster in Maceio, the capital of Alagoas state, where. authorities state the business's salt mines destabilized the ground,. breaking buildings and requiring tens of thousands of citizens. from their homes. In a recent declaration, Braskem said it has. always acted in line with the laws and regulations of the. sector. In the last six years, Novonor participated in not successful talks. with LyondellBasell Industries in addition to Brazilian. groups Unipar and J&F Investimentos. Someone acquainted with the circumstance told Reuters that. LyondellBasell quit on the offer due to unpredictabilities related. to an examination into the Maceio catastrophe. LyondellBasell did. not react to a request for comment. In 2023, Abu Dhabi's National Oil Co (Adnoc) and Apollo Global. Management made a joint deal for up to 37.5 billion reais to. purchase all of the business's shares, before negotiations fell. through. Adnoc continued working out alone, providing to purchase just. Novonor's stake in the company, but likewise ended talks as the. circumstance in Maceio ended up being more significant, 2 sources said. 2 stopped working bidders informed Reuters on condition of privacy. that it was hard buying such a large stake of a company. co-owned with state-run Petrobras. The others decreased to. comment or did not respond to ask for remarks.
-
ADB authorizes $500 mln loan for Philippines' climate modification efforts
The Asian Advancement Bank has approved a $500 million loan to support the Philippines' efforts to take on climate modification, it said on Tuesday. The loan will assist speed up reforms in the Southeast Asian nation to put sectors like farming, natural deposits, energy and transportation on a climate-resilient and low-carbon path, it added. The Philippines, an island chain of more than 7,600 islands, faces the greatest disaster risk worldwide. It topped the 2022 to 2024 World Threat Index which assesses populations most at threat from earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts and sea-level rise. The country's high vulnerability impacts its economic momentum and outlook, ADB Philippines Country Director Pavit Ramachandran stated in a declaration. In 2021, the Philippines pledged a 75% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, up from a target of 70% set 4 years prior. In December, the multilateral loan provider revealed $10 billion in environment finance for the Philippines in between 2024 and 2029 to assistance low-carbon transport and climate strength. The ADB approved a brand-new goal in September to devote 50% of its annual lending to environment finance by 2030.
-
Dollar up, Europe stocks come under fire as Trump swears tariffs
The dollar rallied on Tuesday while European shares fell after U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump promised tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, and additional tariffs on China. European equities dropped, led by high declines in automaker stocks, among the potential losers from any Trump-imposed tariffs on the European Union. The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar came under fire, while the euro likewise wilted. The dollar's had a knee-jerk move higher, the Canadian dollar's softer, the peso is softer and the equity response - especially in Europe - makes sense, Pepperstone senior market strategist Michael Brown said. Since the marketplace's thinking, 'well, what's the one nation or the one bloc that's most likely to be next? It's probably going to be the EU. So naturally you're going to be short European equities today, he said. The STOXX 600 fell 0.7% in early trade, with shares like Volkswagen and Stellantis - the maker of Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat - down 2.6-5%. U.S. S&P 500 futures alleviated 0.1% following a 0.3%. gain in the cash index overnight. The weekend election by Trump of Scott Bessent as Treasury. Secretary triggered a wave of favorable sentiment on Monday that. improved stocks and bonds, as the fund manager is viewed as a. voice for Wall Street in Washington. But Tuesday's tariff statement undid much of that. optimism. It's almost as if Trump wishes to advise markets who remains in. control, after nominating Scott Bessent as Treasury Sec - a man. markets expected to cool Trump's strength, said Matt Simpson,. senior market expert at City Index. With the Canadian dollar rising against the Mexican peso,. markets are presuming this will hit Mexico the hardest. DOLLAR BOUNCES The dollar jumped as much as 2.3% to 20.75 Mexican pesos. and was last up 1.7% on the day and increased 1% against the. Canadian dollar to C$ 1.4139. It enhanced 0.3% to 7.2674 yuan in overseas trading. , after earlier reaching the highest since late July at. 7.2730 yuan. It was simply last month that Trump said that 'the most. stunning word in the dictionary is tariff', so there truly. need to not have actually been a surprise in Trump's objective, just in. the timing of the comments, said Sean Callow, a senior FX. expert at ITC Markets. The fall in trade-sensitive currencies makes sense, and. should persist near term. Trump stated in a post on Fact Social that on his very first day. in workplace he would enforce a 25% tariff on all products from. Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on products from. China, mentioning concerns over unlawful immigration and the trade of. illegal drugs. Trump has formerly threatened to slap tariffs on Chinese. imports in excess of 60%. Our view remains that tariffs will ultimately not end up as. bad as feared, however we will see increased uncertainty over the. coming months. Waking up to check the tweets for any policy. announcements could end up being the norm, Jefferies strategist Mohit. Kumar said. The euro fell 0.1% to $1.04838, while sterling. eased 0.2% to $1.2548. At the exact same time, the dollar compromised 0.3% to 153.66 yen. , after at first reinforcing following Trump's. tariff remarks. The dollar-yen pair tends to track long-lasting U.S. Treasury. yields, which ticked up about 3.7 basis indicate. 4.3% in Europe, after Monday's 15 basis-point fall. Bitcoin fell 1% to $92,781, relieving further from last. week's record high at $99,830. The token has actually benefited from. speculation of a simpler regulatory environment for. cryptocurrencies under Trump. Gold caught the dollar's strength, dipping to a. one-week low of $2,604.99. Oil prices recovered slightly from the previous session's. 2.8% drop as investors mulled the implications of a potential. ceasefire in between Israel and Hezbollah. Brent unrefined futures increased 0.6% to $73.41 a barrel,. while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose. 0.45% to $69.25 a barrel.
-
India's JSW Steel, SAIL in talks with Mongolia for coking coal deliveries, sources say
India's JSW Steel and staterun Steel Authority of India (SAIL). remain in talks with Mongolian authorities to import two. deliveries of coking coal, two sources with direct knowledge of. the matter stated. JSW Steel, the nation's biggest steelmaker by capability,. plans to purchase 2,500 metric lots, while SAIL intends to import 75,000. metric lots of the steelmaking raw material from Mongolia, said. the sources who requested privacy as the plans are not public. Both JSW Steel and SAIL would import Mongolian coking coal. either via Russia or China, said the sources. We are simply trying to comprehend how the logistics work,. SAIL Chairman Amarendu Prakash informed Reuters when asked if the. business was looking to receive a shipment from Mongolia. SAIL was exploring sourcing coking coal from Mongolia to. diversify its suppliers, it stated in an emailed declaration to. Reuters. India, the world's second-largest manufacturer of unrefined steel,. fulfills 85% of its coking coal requirements through imports. Late in 2015, irregular climate condition hit coking coal. supplies from Australia, which represents over half of India's. coking coal imports of around 70 million metric tons a year. Since then, Indian steel mills have been looking for to source. coking coal from other countries. Last month, a source said India was checking out methods to import. routine materials of Mongolian coking coal by means of Russia to reduce. dependence on materials through China. Industry officials state landlocked however resource-rich Mongolia. can offer exceptional grades of coking coal at fairly lower. rates to India, which is witnessing strong steel demand driven. by quick financial growth and increasing facilities spending. Mongolian coal is about $50 a metric ton cheaper than the. Australian materials, they stated. India's Jindal Steel and Power is likewise eager to. source coking coal from Mongolia, one of the sources stated. India's JSW Steel and Jindal Steel and Power didn't react. to Reuters emails for comment. The Indian government is working to assist steel business. diversify imports to avoid over-reliance on particular countries,. commodities consultancy BigMint said. India imported 29.4 million metric lots of coking coal. during the very first half of the , up almost 2% from a. year earlier, the consultancy added.
-
Iron ore rangebound amid China rate cut hopes, Trump tariff strategies
Iron ore futures sold a narrow variety on Tuesday as a softer yuan boosted hopes of a. rate cut by China's central bank while higher tariffs loomed. after a promise by U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump. The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian. Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 0.32%. higher at 783.0 yuan ($ 107.90) a metric ton. The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore. Exchange was flat at $102.6 a lot as of 0803 GMT. Individuals's Bank of China (PBOC) enabled the USD/CNY to. break above 7.25 over night - a line in the sand it had actually been. defending because late July, said Navigate Commodities handling. director Atilla Widnell. As such, China's industrial metals complex is now. prices in growing expectations the PBOC will possibly cut. reserve requirement ratios quicker rather than later on. The Chinese yuan on Monday was up to its weakest in nearly. 4 months against the U.S. dollar,. following Trump's vow to slap an additional 10% tariff on all. Chinese products. The Chinese economy is now in a far more vulnerable. position offered the country's prolonged residential or commercial property decline, financial obligation. risks and weak domestic need. China still faces extreme structural headwinds to. development, however at least, financial and monetary policy. settings are now more undoubtedly injecting meaningful support,. Westpac said in a different note. In October, the PBOC governor had flagged further cuts to the reserve requirement ratio for. industrial loan providers by the year-end. Iron ore markets remain concentrated on upcoming Chinese. meetings set up for December, consisting of the Politburo conference. and Central Economic Work Conference, Westpac analysts stated in a. note. Other steelmaking components on the DCE lost ground, with. coking coal and coke down 0.97% and 0.47%,. respectively. A lot of steel standards on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. reversed earlier gains. Rebar and hot-rolled coil. lost 0.12%, stainless-steel shed 1.24%,. although wire rod reinforced almost 0.3%.
-
Leading importer Vietnam has a hard time to recycle plastic waste
Countless discarded bags float on the canal going through Minh Khai village, whose narrow streets are obstructed with high stacks of plastic waste spilling out from villagers' front lawns and stacked near furnaces where nonrecyclable scrap is burned. This socalled plastic recycling craft town, an hour's. drive from Vietnam's capital Hanoi, is where a few of the plastic. arranged for recycling in Japan, America and Europe ends up for. final treatment. Delegates at a United Nations summit in South Korea this week. are talking about brand-new worldwide guidelines that could restrict that trade,. which U.N. data shows deserved $3.8 billion in 2015. Stricter. domestic requirements on waste imports will likewise apply. in Vietnam from next year. The Southeast Asian country has actually become a significant importer. of plastic scrap recently after China, when the top. player in the industry, prohibited imports in 2018. Vietnam was the. world's 4th biggest importer in 2022, according to the. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Advancement (OECD). But that rise in imports has actually taken place as the nation is. struggling to recycle even its own plastic waste. Extra constraints could minimize the trade however the big. size of the domestic informal market might make it hard to. monitor industrial flows and recycling rates, experts and. officials said. FROM SORTING TO LANDFILLS. More than one quarter of Vietnam's plastic recycling capacity is. concentrated in craft villages like Minh Khai, the World Bank. stated in a 2021 report, noting that extra capacity to procedure. imported plastic totaled up to 300,000 metric tons. That was well short of the 420,000 tons of plastic scrap. Vietnam imported last year, which was up 11% from 2022,. according to U.N. data, which does not catch the whole. volume. Vietnam's environment ministry did not reply to requests for. updated figures. Scientists have discovered that recycling is being hindered by. the inability to effectively arrange plastic waste, both offshore and. in Vietnam. Only 30% of plastic waste generated in Vietnam is. sorted, stated a government-backed WWF report in 2023. As a result, in spite of shipment expenses, Vietnam's recyclers. depend on higher-quality foreign plastic scrap, according to. FiinGroup, a research study firm. However price quotes recommend Vietnam recycles just up to one-third. of the imported plastic waste, stated a term paper published. in January. That is partially due to the fact that some imported plastic is often mixed. with natural waste that makes it hard or impossible to deal with,. stated one of the paper's authors, Kaustubh Thapa, from the. Netherlands' Utrecht University. A recycler at Minh Khai village was more upbeat. The quantity. of imported waste that can't be recycled is often about 5% of. the volume, however sometimes it increases to 25%, said Chi, who. decreased to provide his complete name. Many people contacted in the village personally or by phone. declined to talk with media for worry of effects on their. activities. Much of the unrecycled plastic is discarded in unsanitary. garbage dumps, and about 15% of that is directly launched into the. environment and the oceans, the WWF report said. Exporting waste for recycling to destinations without noise. recycling capacity raises questions of fairness and. sustainability, concluded the research paper by Thapa and. co-authors.
Chevron, GEPetrol Sign PSCs for Two Equatorial Guinea’s Offshore Blocks
Oil major Chevron and Equatorial Guinea’s state-owned oil company GEPetrol have signed two production sharing contracts (PSCs), for offshore blocks EG-06 and EG-11 in Equatorial Guinea, representing a $2 billion investment.
Situated in close proximity to producing Block B which houses the Zafiro field, the blocks are considered to be highly-prospective and are poised to play a major part in revitalizing exploration and production offshore Equatorial Guinea.
Previously held by energy major ExxonMobil before its exit from the country earlier in 2024, Blocks EG-06 and EG-11 are located in deepwater acreage.
Block EG-11 measures approximately 1,242 km² while Block EG-06 featured an oil discovery at the Acestruz-1 well in 2017.
With the new PSCs signed with Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Chevron and GEPetrol will kick off a new exploration and production campaign at the blocks, according to African Energy Chamber (AEC).
The contracts include provisions on aspects such as minimum investments, exploration programs, sustainable development and benefits for the state, therefore outlining a clear development plan for the assets.
This partnership is a testament to the country’s commitment to revitalizing exploration and boosting production offshore
“The recent PSC signing between Chevron, the Ministry, and GEPetrol marks a significant milestone in Minister Antonio Oburu’s upstream investment drive. This partnership is a testament to the country’s commitment to revitalizing exploration and boosting production offshore,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.
Beyond Blocks EG-06 and EG-11, Equatorial Guinea has seen a wave of activity in recent months.
E&P company Trident Energy launched a three-well infill drilling campaign on Block G at the start of 2024, with all three wells expected to come online mid-year.
The program utilizes the Island Innovator Rig which will then proceed to drill the Akeng deep exploration well in the Kosmos Energy-operated Block S. This campaign targets 180 million barrels of oil.
Additionally, VAALCO Energy is developing the Venus field in Block P. The upstream program involves the drilling of two producer wells and one water injector and the company aims to bring them online by 2026.
Meanwhile, Atlas Petroleum is seeking farm-in and drilling partners for Blocks EG-02 and H while three PSCs were signed in 2023 for Blocks EG-18 and EG-31 (Africa Oil Corp) and Block EG-01 (Panoro Energy).
To note, Equatorial Guinea boasts 1.1 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 1.7 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.
(source: Reuters)