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Singapore's Equator and Chinese state-owned firm will export power from Indonesian to Singapore
Equator Renewables Asia, a Singapore-based company, and CRE International, a unit of China’s National Nuclear Corp., will develop a solar project and battery storage system in Indonesia’s Riau Islands, to export clean energy to Singapore. Equator announced that the companies plan to build a photovoltaic system of 900 megawatts (MW) and a battery storage system of 1.2 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2029. They will also generate 830 GWh per year in clean energy, Equator stated. It said that "CREI would lead the generation side investment, construction and operations of the solar PV facilities and BESS, while Equator would manage transmission and offtake co-ordination." Equator's "multi-billion-dollar-project" will be its first project under the Singapore-Indonesia Renewable Energy Programme. Singapore granted six conditional licenses to the company. The specific terms of the investment were not disclosed. Grid interconnection has been widely hailed as an important tool for reducing the region's increasing reliance on fossil-fuels to generate electricity. Singapore aims to import around 6 gigawatts (or about a third) of low-carbon power by 2035. Malaysia currently provides about 1% (or less) of Singapore's low-carbon electricity. (Reporting and editing by Thomas Derpinghaus; Lucas Liew)
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Profit booking eases ahead of Trump-Xi talks, Fed rate call
The copper price eased Tuesday, as investors consolidated gains following the record-breaking rally of the previous session. This was fueled by optimism about the upcoming Donald Trump-Xi Jinping meeting and the Federal Reserve rate decision. The Shanghai Futures Exchange's most traded copper contract erased the morning's gains and closed daytime trading 1.09% lower, at 86.980 yuan (12,211.15 dollars) per metric tonne. As of 0746 GMT, the benchmark three-month price for copper at the London Metal Exchange dropped 1.05% to $10,000 a ton. The decline ended London copper's 4-day rally, and Shanghai's 3-day rise after both reached 17-month highs Monday amid optimism the world's two largest economies were close to a deal de-escalating trade tensions. Traders said that investors booked profits when copper reached its highest point. The demand for red metal has continued to decline. The Yangshan Copper Premium The price of copper fell to $35 per ton from $58 at the end of September. The stakes are high before Thursday's meeting in South Korea between U.S. president Donald Trump and his Chinese equivalent, Xi Jinping. Both leaders are expected finalise a framework for trade that was hammered by officials on both sides at the weekend in Malaysia. Investors will also be watching the Fed rate announcement on Wednesday. The U.S. Central Bank is poised to reduce the short-term lending rate by one quarter of a percentage point. The market will be influenced by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech after the decision. It will indicate whether an additional rate cut, which was widely anticipated, will occur in December. Aluminium, lead, tin, and zinc were all down 0.56%. On the LME, nickel fell 0.69%, tin dropped 0.31%, and lead declined 0.52%. $1 = 7.1230 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (Reporting and editing by Sumana Jacob-Phillips and Sherry Jackson)
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Iberdrola approves an interim dividend and raises its full-year profit forecast
Iberdrola, the Spanish utility company, announced an interim dividend of 0.25 euro per share after announcing a full-year adjusted profit guidance of 6.6 billion euros (7.7 billion dollars). The company saw double-digit growth. Iberdrola reported a net profit of 5.7 billion euro last year. Iberdrola's reported net profit fell by 3% for the first nine-months of the year, due to the effects of the sale in Mexico of assets in 2024. However, the adjusted net profit without one-offs jumped up by 17% from January to September. Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan stated that the improved outlook is due to increased investments in the United States of America and Britain. Iberdrola’s network business has driven gains in operating profits and cash flow. The biggest utility company in Europe by market value plans to invest more than 100 billion euro's worth of money through 2031, as it shifts its focus towards more regulated power grids such as those in Britain and the United States. The company released its latest strategic update last month. It outlines a significant increase in investments into power networks and a more selective approach towards renewable energy projects. It has committed to investing 58 billion Euros through 2028, two-thirds of which will be in power networks in Britain and America. Additional investments of 45 billion Euros are expected between 2029-2031.
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As sanctions threaten Russian supplies, Asia's refining margins are on the rise.
Analysts and trade sources reported that Asian oil refinery profits had risen to their highest level in 20 months. This was due to a strong diesel performance, which has been boosted by a tightening of the outlook following US sanctions against two major Russian suppliers. Singapore's complex refinery margin, a proxy of Asia's refining profitability rose to almost $9 a barrel Tuesday, the highest since February 2024. LSEG data shows that it was about $2 a barrel early October. The global diesel market has been the main driver of strength in recent weeks, with a strong demand and tighter supplies. On Tuesday, the price of refining cracks used to refine 10ppm gasoil benchmarked at sulphur reached $26 per barrel. This is a record high for more than 1 1/2 years. US SANCTIONS RUSSIAN OPEC EXPORTERS The markets were further boosted last week by U.S. Sanctions on Russian Oil Exporters Rosneft & Lukoil. The latest sanctions against Russia could threaten diesel exports, since Russia exports about 1 million barrels of diesel per day," ING commodities analysts said in a Tuesday research note. There is also a risk that Indian refiners will reduce their run rates if they cease to buy Russian oil. This would result in lower export volumes of middle-distillates from India," ING said. Diesel supplies from India were shifting to Europe before the latest sanctions as refineries reached peak maintenance and production dropped. According to June Goh of Sparta Commodities Senior Oil Market Analyst, the current diesel rally is a result of reduced Russian diesel exports as a result Ukrainian drone attacks and seasonal refinery turnarounds, along with limited Chinese clean products export quotas in Q4. "Also, the distillate arbitrages in the Arab Gulf and West Coast India are pointing East and tightly shutting into Europe. The diesel shortage in Europe is expected to be more severe, said Goh. The short-term sentiment was also boosted by the market talk that fewer spot shipments from Asian suppliers including South Korea China and Taiwan for November shipments. Other parts of the Barrels The profit on processing a barrel gasoline jumped nearly 30% to $13 this month, driven by the tight supply due to unplanned outages in Southeast Asia, while margins are narrowing in other regions as winter approaches, traders reported. Energy Aspects' monthly outlook on middle distillates stated that "Strong margins will keep refinery operations high and a rising OPEC+ supply, particularly medium sours, is expected to improve crude slate optimisation, boosting clean product yields, and increase crude slate optimisation." The margins on fuel oil remained mediocre. Low-sulphur cracks are down, while high-sulphur fuels have seen some recent gains.
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Gold falls to a three-week low amid optimism over US-China trade
Gold prices fell on Tuesday, reaching a three-week-low, as investors awaited major central bank announcements. As of 0652 GMT spot gold fell 1% to $3,941.65 an ounce, its lowest level since 10 October. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery fell 1.5% to $3.957.50 an ounce. Tim Waterer, KCM Trade's Chief Market Analyst, said that the defrosting of U.S. China trade relations had a negative impact on the gold price because it has led to fewer safe-haven purchases. Top Chinese and U.S. economists hammered out the framework for a trade agreement that U.S. president Donald Trump and his Chinese equivalent Xi Jinping will decide on this week. If Trump and Xi had a productive trade meeting this week, gold could be swimming against the flow to a certain degree. Waterer noted that this could be countered if the Fed adopts a more dovish tone in its rate-cutting announcement this week. Trump told reporters that he believed a deal with China would be made. He also announced in Malaysia a series of deals with four Southeast Asian countries on minerals and trade. This was the first stop of a five-day Asia tour. Asian shares continued to consolidate recent gains on Tuesday, as the risk appetite remained high amid hopes of a thawing of global trade tensions. Investors are waiting for any future-oriented language from Fed chair Jerome Powell. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to reduce interest rates by the end of their policy meeting on Tuesday. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan, are expected to keep rates unchanged this week. The gold price has risen by 53% in the past year. It reached a high of $4,381.21 at the end of October, boosted by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, bets on rate cuts, and central bank purchases. Spot silver dropped 0.8%, to $46.51 an ounce. Platinum fell 2.6%, to $1.549.85, and palladium fell 1.2%, to $1.385.50. (Reporting and editing by Sherry Jac-Phillips, Subhranshu Sahu, and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru).
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Gold falls to a three-week low amid optimism over US-China trade
Gold prices fell on Tuesday, reaching a three-week-low, as investors awaited major central bank announcements. As of 0525 GMT, spot gold was down by 0.2%, at $3,974.66 an ounce. Bullion fell to its lowest levels since October 10 during the morning session. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery fell 0.8% to $3.989.10 an ounce. Tim Waterer, KCM Trade's Chief Market Analyst, said that the defrosting of U.S. China trade relations had a negative impact on the gold price because it has led to fewer safe-haven purchases. Top Chinese and U.S. economists hammered out the framework for a trade agreement that U.S. president Donald Trump and his Chinese equivalent Xi Jinping will decide on this week. If Trump and Xi had a productive trade meeting this week, gold could be swimming against the flow to some extent. Waterer noted that this could be countered if the Fed adopts a more dovish tone in its rate-cutting announcement this week. Trump told reporters that he believed a deal with China would be made. He also announced in Malaysia a series of deals with four Southeast Asian countries on minerals and trade. This was the first stop on his five-day Asia tour. Asian shares continued to consolidate recent gains on Tuesday, as the hopes of a thawing of global trade tensions fueled risk appetite. Investors are waiting for any future-oriented language from Fed chair Jerome Powell. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to reduce interest rates by the end of their policy meeting on Tuesday. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan, are expected to keep rates unchanged this week. The gold price has risen by 53% in the past year. It reached a high of $4,381.21 at the end of October, boosted by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, bets on rate cuts, and central bank purchases. Other than that, silver spot fell by 0.5%, to $46.68 an ounce. Platinum dropped 1%, to $1574.25; and palladium rose 1.1%, to $1417.30. (Reporting and editing by Sherry Phillips, Subhranshu Sahu, and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru).
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Thailand still has not approved transmission charges for regional electricity deal
The deputy energy minister of Thailand said that the country has not yet approved transmission charges to extend a deal for hydropower to be sent from Laos in Singapore. The Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project, first unveiled in 2022, has been recognised as a precursor to an ASEAN Power Grid, an attempt to reduce Southeast Asia's growing reliance on fossil fuels for power generation. In October, Malaysian energy minister stated that approval could be granted as soon as next month. Sompop Pattanariyankool said that the Thai authorities must still approve the second phase of this power project. He was speaking on the sidelines of a Singapore event. Pattanariyankool stated that "the movement of charges from Malaysia to Singapore has already been done." "Thailand needs to approve it." Pattanariyankool stated that he was unable to provide a timeframe for approval as it depends on the National Energy Policy Council's decision. The membership of the council changed last month when a new administration took office. The term "wheeling charges" refers to the costs associated with transmitting electricity over a grid. In the absence of an agreement on wheeling between Singapore and Thailand, exports to Laos would be blocked until a solution is found. The power generated in Laos is transmitted via Thailand. Malaysia's Energy Minister said earlier this month that political changes delayed the resume of power exports to Singapore from Laos. Singapore announced on Monday that a restart was imminent, but did not provide any further details. (Reporting and editing by Thomas Derpinghaus; Sudarshan Varadan, Florence Tan)
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Sany Heavy Industry debuts in Hong Kong after $1.6 billion IPO
Sany Heavy Industry's shares rose up to 4.7% on their Hong Kong debut Tuesday, after the Chinese construction equipment maker raised HK$12.36bn ($1.59bn) in one the biggest listings in the city this year. According to the prospectus, this company was founded in 1994 and is part of the Sany Group. It is now China's leading construction machinery manufacturer, and ranks among the top three worldwide. Sany, which manufactures excavators and concrete machinery as well as road construction equipment and cranes, operates 16 production bases in different countries and sells its products to more than 150. The stock price opened at HK$21.30 and matched the offer, but then rose as high as 4.7%, to HK$22.30. Later, it trimmed these gains to trade at HK$21.84 slightly higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index remained unchanged. Sany's Hong Kong listing joins a long list of recent large share offerings, including Zijin Gold International's $3.2 billion IPO - the biggest deal of its kind globally to date. Dealogic data shows that companies raised $23 billion total in Hong Kong during the first nine month of this year. This is more than three-times the amount of the same period of 2024. Sany's Shanghai listed shares fell 1.9% to 22.11 Yuan. Stocks have gained 34% this year, mainly due to strong demand and growth overseas. The company's market value is now $26,8 billion. According to the company prospectus, Hillhouse, BlackRock and Temasek via Aranda Investments were among the cornerstone investors of the Hong Kong offering. Sany stated that it would use proceeds to fund overseas growth, invest in intelligent and electric machinery research and development, repay debt, and for general operating capital. Reporting by Yantoultra NGi; editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Subhranshu Sahu
India's rice harvest is a record crop, resulting in a surplus of ethanol.
India has allocated record volumes of rice for ethanol production, as it battles with unprecedented inventories. These are expected to grow further when the new crop arrives. This is a turnaround from the earlier shortages which led to export restrictions.
The conversion of more rice into ethanol helps reduce the rice stock in the world’s largest producer and exporter. It also keeps India’s ambitious ethanol blend programme on track, despite the drop in sugar cane supplies.
India lifted the last of two years' worth of export restrictions in March. The poor rains had curtailed rice production. The abundant monsoon rainfall this year is expected to produce a bumper harvest.
A senior government official, who declined to be identified because he wasn't authorised to talk to the media, said: "Our number one priority is to make sure that we have enough food."
The official explained, "We have a lot more rice than is needed for this purpose and we decided to use some for ethanol production."
Food Corporation of India, a state-run company, has allotted a record amount of rice to ethanol. This is equivalent to almost 9% of the global rice shipment in 2024/25's marketing year that ends in June. The previous year, FCI rice was used to make ethanol in less than 3,000 tonnes.
FCI purchases nearly half of India’s rice crop. It currently has reserves of 59.5 million metric tonnes, including unmilled rice, on June 1. This is far more than the government’s target of 13.5 millions tons for July.
Rice for ethanol is a great alternative to corn, which was spiking last year and forcing India to import record amounts of corn.
Grain-based distilleries can use damaged grains, corn, or rice as their feedstock. They switch between them based on the price.
India, which is the world's third largest oil importer, and the biggest consumer of petroleum products, wants to blend 20% ethanol in gasoline by 2025/26. It almost reached that target last month, with 19.8% ethanol thanks to abundant rice.
In 2023, sugarcane supply, which had accounted for 80 percent of ethanol feedstock up until then, plummeted due to drought, forcing the largest consumer of sweetener in the world to drastically reduce sugar diversion for ethanol.
In India, the gasoline last year contained 14.6% ethanol.
PROBLEM of PLENTY
Arushi JAIN, joint secretary of the Grain Ethanol Manufacturers Association, stated that even more rice would be used to produce ethanol if government lowers the price of rice or increases the price for buying ethanol.
According to Akshay Modi of Modi Naturals, an ethanol producer, the FCI sells rice for 22,500 Indian Rupees ($262.19) a ton while oil marketing companies purchase rice-based bioethanol at 58.5 rupees a litre. This doesn't leave enough margin to increase rice-based bioethanol production.
FCI stocks may rise as India will likely harvest a bumper crop in October, according to B.V. Krishna Rao of the Rice Exporters Association.
Rao said that India could only increase its exports so far, since it already accounts more than 40% for global rice shipments. India has aggressively exported rice since removing export restrictions. Shipments are likely to increase by nearly 25%, reaching a record of 22.5 million tonnes in 2025, reducing the exports from rivals such as Thailand and Vietnam.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, India harvested 146.1 million tonnes of rice in this crop year that ended in June. This was a record harvest, and far exceeded local demand, which was 120.7 millions tons.
Himanshu Agrawal is the executive director of rice exporter Satyam Balajee. He said that rising stockpiles would force India to allocate more rice for ethanol next marketing year.
Agrawal said, "The government is going to find it difficult to sell all the rice that they purchased from farmers." $1 = 85.8140 Indian Rupees
(source: Reuters)