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South Africa's currency and stock prices fall as lower commodity costs weigh
Investors focused on precious metals prices, which have fallen after U.S. president Trump's latest threats. Trump announced on Tuesday that he would impose 50% tariffs on imports of copper, in an effort to increase U.S. production. Copper is a critical metal for electric vehicles, military equipment, power grids, and many consumer products. At 1218 GMT the rand was trading at 17.8250 per dollar, down 0.2% from Tuesday's closing price. South Africa, a major producer and exporter of precious metals, and minerals, is closely watching developments in Washington, as will investors in other currencies linked to commodities. The prices of gold, platinum and palladium outside the U.S. dropped sharply on Wednesday. Roy Topol is the portfolio manager of Cratos Asset Management. He said that although South Africa produces relatively less copper, it has a minimal direct exposure. A potential U.S. tariff on copper would have a greater impact on emerging economies exporting commodities. Last week, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Top-40 Index fell by 0.2% due in part to a fall in mining shares. Topol attributes the decline in shares of Anglo American and Glencore to their exposure to copper. Shares in gold mining companies Harmony Gold and Gold Fields fell 1%. The rand's already high risk profile is further exacerbated by the country's efforts to reach a deal with the United States in time for the extended deadline of 1 August, after which the country will face a 30% tariff on exports to the United States. Trump reiterated his threat on Tuesday to impose 10% tariffs on South Africa and the BRICS bloc. The yield on the benchmark government bond for 2035 in South Africa was unchanged at 9.9%, although it had increased by half a basis-point. (Reporting and editing by Tomasz Janovski and Alex Richardson; Sfundo parakozov)
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Emirates Global Aluminium claims Guinea terminated the deal in error
Emirates Global Aluminium announced on Wednesday that Guinean authorities had terminated a contract with its subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation after a dispute lasting a year over the construction of alumina refinery. Guinea's military regime GAC has suspended its bauxite West Africa's militarized states are increasingly focusing on exports and mining as part of their increasing aggressive They are also pushing to get more out of their natural resources. The junta that took power in 2021 is the second largest producer of bauxite ore, which is used to make aluminum. The miners demanded to be paid Present plans to build refineries to generate capital for country. EGA, which is owned equally by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala, and Dubai sovereign fund Investment Corporation of Dubai said that they plan to seek remedies through international courts. In a statement, Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said that "these actions have made it impossible to continue GAC's operation and develop an alumina refining facility." GAC said it will proceed with the necessary redundancy process, which initially will affect more than 2,00 employees and contractors. Kalban said, "We've maintained GAC employees in difficult circumstances as long as we could." The government of Guinea did not respond immediately to a comment request. Despite Guinea's regulations, bauxite exports jumped The robust Chinese demand will drive a 36% increase to 99,8 million metric tonnes in the first half 2025. (Reporting and writing by Hadeel al Sayegh, Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Editing by Bate Felis and Mark Porter).
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UK signs $10 billion clean energy investment agreement with Japan's Sumitomo Corp
The British government announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Japan's Sumitomo Corp to fund clean energy infrastructure, such as offshore wind projects and hydrogen, over the next ten years. Poppy Gustafsson, the Investment Minister announced the deal on a visit to Japan. She described Japan as a major trading partner. Gustafsson stated that Sumitomo had historically been a major investor in UK energy project and the new deal would "really increase the bar of ambition" for areas such as power grids or investments in wind farms. In an interview conducted before the trip, she said: "Everything we're doing... You quickly run into supply chain constraints. And they've been great partners in helping to unlock those constraints." There are real examples of how this capital is being used to support and build real projects. The Labour government is prioritising private sector support to help fund planned energy investments. Prime Minister Keir starmer wants to achieve net zero and boost Britain's anaemic economic growth. The announcement by Donald Trump of tariffs has complicated the situation. Britain has reached a deal with the United States to eliminate certain tariffs. Japan to face new tariffs Gustafsson stated that the international trading environment is now "front-of-mind" when making investment decisions. She said that Britain should be a "central hub for discussions" in an environment that is fragmented.
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EU lawmakers reject attempts to limit the influence of far-right politicians in climate talks
The European Parliament rejected on Wednesday a proposal for fast-tracking talks on the EU’s new climate goal, undermining a bid by liberals, socialists and greens to limit the influence climate sceptic legislators have on this goal. The far-right Patriots of Europe, which rejects EU policy to curb climate changes, took over the role of leading negotiators on Tuesday for the 2040 target. They were seeking to steer discussions on this goal, to which they said they strongly opposed. On Wednesday, lawmakers rejected a proposal to speed up the negotiation process. This would have bypassed the stages in which the Patriots had the most influence and restricted their ability to determine the timing of negotiations. Total 379 legislators rejected the plan for accelerating the talks. 300 lawmakers voted in favor and eight abstained. With this vote, the Patriots are now in the driving seat for the Parliament as it negotiates with EU members the final climate target 2040. Patriots will draft an initial negotiation proposal for the Parliament. Patriots spokesperson stated that the group will not prioritize meeting the September deadline by which countries must submit their new climate targets at the United Nations. "What is important is to reach a deal which delivers real benefits to our citizens." The spokesperson stated that Patriots had never negotiated like traders on a market. The Patriots is the third largest group of legislators in the EU Parliament. It includes the far-right parties of France’s Marine Le Pen, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. EU officials said that the Patriots won the top negotiating position in a meeting held behind closed doors on Tuesday, by outbidding parliament's largest group, the centre right European People's Party. Green legislators expressed concern that the goal would be diluted or delayed. Michael Bloss, a German EU legislator, said that there is a danger the EU's climate goal will be forgotten. The EPP, the party of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, did not support the attempt to speed up the talks. Jeroen Lénaers, a Dutch EPP EU legislator, said that the group didn't deem the fast track procedure necessary and that it wanted to "improve", without providing any further details, the target set by the Commission to reduce emissions 90% by 2040. Some EPP legislators have stated that a target of 90% is too ambitious. This year, governments from Italy to Poland have been reluctant to adopt ambitious goals for reducing emissions. They cited concerns about the costs of industries.
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China is hit by extreme weather conditions including heat, landslides, and floods
On Wednesday, torrential rains were sweeping across large areas of China as Tropical Storm Danas dunked coastal tech hubs. Monsoonal rains in the interior unleashed flash floods and deadly landslides over an 1,400 km (870 mile) arc. A subtropical system of high pressure has been saturating the north-east coast and the central provinces in the $19 trillion US economy since last week. This is straining power grids, and parching crops. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the world's second largest economy, and meteorologists attribute it to climate change. The impact of extreme weather threatens to wipe out billions in commercial activity and deaths each year as old flood defences are overwhelmed. Infrastructure gaps, such as the lack of air conditioning, are also exposed. Chinese weather authorities warned residents to stay inside as Storm Danas, which had been downgraded from a Typhoon following the death of two people in Taiwan, began dumping water that it had collected over the South China Sea (or Taiwan Strait) on the coast provinces Zhejiang or Fujian. China's State Broadcasting said that Danas could bring up to 300 millimetres of rain (30 centimetres in some areas), closing schools and putting officials on high alert along the rivers feeding important ports in Fuzhou and Xiamen. On Flood Alert The Danas residual vortex, and the large amount of water that it carries, could still cause havoc in south China, where rapid urbanisation sealed vast tracts of land under impermeable cement. This risk was realized 1,500 km away, in Yibin in the southwest Sichuan Province, where more than 6,000 people had to be evacuated after 14 hours rain. CCTV, the state broadcaster, showed firefighters rescuing residents from rising water in lower floors of apartment blocks. CCTV reported that heavy rains in Zhaotong (about a 3-hour drive away from Yibin) forced the evacuation of more than 7,000 residents. Five people went missing. In one county, 227.8mm of rain fell in 24 hours. This is the highest amount recorded since 1958. Over 300 people were forced to relocate after a flash flooding near the foothills the Himalayas, in China's Tibet. The flood was caused by the Gyirong river bursting its bank. Authorities in Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, activated emergency flood protocol after districts in the city received more than 100 mm of rain overnight. HEATWAVES On Wednesday, the subtropical system, which straddles the monsoonal cloud bands in China's interior with the Danas rain bands, continued to hover over central China, the eastern seaboard from Shanghai to Beijing, and brought near-record temperatures to the megacities of Shanghai Wuhan and Changsha. After reports of heatstroke deaths in the last week, people were advised to stay hydrated and avoid going out during the hottest part of the day. China does not keep an official record of deaths due to heat, but domestic media sometimes report on fatalities by citing local authorities. The country experienced a 79 day heatwave in 2022 from mid-June until late August - the worst since 1961. In 2023, a study published in The Lancet reported that over 50,000 deaths were caused by heat that year. (Reporting and editing by Saad sayeed and Bernadettebaum; Reporting and Editing by Joe Cash & Ethan Wang)
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The final rush to move metal across the border will be sparked by Trump's copper tariffs
In the next few weeks, copper shipments to the United States will likely increase in an effort to meet President Donald Trump's 50% tariff on imported metal that is higher than expected. Trump announced the tariffs on copper on a Tuesday. U.S. Comex futures rose more than 12%, reaching a new record high. U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the tariff would be implemented by the end or beginning of August. The deadline puts an end to a playbook that has been in use for months. Traders have taken metal from warehouses all over the world to ship it to the U.S., hoping to profit on a premium of around $2600 per metric tonne early on Wednesday. Analysts and traders say that with only three weeks to go, only those cargoes on the water already or from Latin America are likely to arrive in time. "Shipments on their way to the U.S. are likely to try and get there even if they haven't yet, so the ex-U.S. market shouldn't be faced with excess cargoes right away." It will be harder to ship extra cargoes within a three week window, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report. According to a Chinese copper dealer who spoke under condition of anonymity, Chilean producers that have Chinese contracts will likely increase their practice of sending Comex-eligible stocks to the U.S. instead of sending other brands to China. Analysts and traders said that the final rush may mean continued tightness in the U.S., during the sprint to the deadline for tariffs. After the deadline, the U.S. gravitational pull will lessen, allowing supplies elsewhere. Analysts at J.P. Morgan say that the U.S. imported enough copper to last a full year in the past six-month period. They predict that imports will continue to fall even after tariffs are implemented as users use up their stockpiles. Prices of copper on the London Metal Exchange as well as the Shanghai Futures Exchange Just over 1% of the population has declined In the hours following Trump's announcement. Citi predicts that copper prices outside of the U.S. are likely to drop to $8,800 a ton in the next three-months. Benchmark copper prices on the LME were trading at $9.603 per metric ton as of 0941 GMT. The tightness on the global copper markets, where demand continues outstrips supply, will likely limit any possible decline. According to Zhao Yongcheng of benchmark mineral intelligence, "Copper prices are under pressure on the SHFE, but will likely rebound once U.S. Copper Tariffs are finalised, as fundamentals are tight in the near-term."
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Oil and stocks gain as traders ignore Trump's tariff news
The European stock market rose on Wednesday, as traders appeared unconcerned about the announcement by U.S. president Donald Trump that he will impose a tariff of 50% on imported copper. He also announced he would introduce levies up to 200% on pharmaceuticals. Trump's remarks on Tuesday caused the price of Copper to reach record highs, and Wall Street to close down. The equity markets quickly shrugged the news off. Asian stocks were mixed over night and the MSCI World Equity Index rose 0.1% at 0956 GMT. The London FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.8%. Wall Street futures showed that the gains would continue, with S&P and Nasdaq both up 0.1%. The U.S. Dollar Index was unchanged at 97.567, and the euro dropped 0.1% to $1.1714. The dollar reached its highest level against the yen in over two weeks, with Japan, which depends on exports, being the most far away from a deal between Washington and Washington among the major U.S. trade partners. U.S. Copper Futures have risen by over 10%, reaching a new record, after Trump threatened to increase duties on this metal, which is essential for electric vehicles, military equipment, the power grid, and many consumer products. The traders are waiting for further developments in Trump’s trade war, following his announcement on Monday to 14 countries that they would face sharply increased tariffs after the new deadline of August 1st. Trump said that he "probably" would tell the European Union in two days the rate at which it can expect to receive its exports from the United States. The EU has struggled to obtain immediate tariff relief and an agreement from the U.S. not to introduce any new measures. This is according to the head of the European Parliament’s Trade Committee, who has been negotiating for the bloc. On Wednesday Investors are worried that tariffs could increase inflation and slow down economic growth. They will be watching the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting, which will be released on Wednesday. Amelie Derambure is a senior multi-assets portfolio manager at Amundi. She said: "We are in the dark about tariffs because it's difficult to know their impact on the end-inflation or the margins of U.S. corporations, or on corporates in general." The uncertainty is enormous. Derambure stated that although equity markets expect tariffs to manageable, and are supported by the underlying expectation of growth. The impact of tariffs can be seen through the rising yields of fixed income. The yields on U.S. Treasury bonds rose Tuesday and the auction for three-year Treasury notes saw a weak demand. Treasury will be selling $39 billion of 10-year bonds on Wednesday, and $22 billion of 30-year bonds on Friday. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell back to 4.4072% early Wednesday morning, down from its peak of 4.435% that was reached Tuesday, which marked its highest level in over three weeks. The benchmark German 10-year yield was 2.637%. Gold is in its third consecutive day of declines. It was down 0.3% for the day, at $3,290 an ounce. Brent crude futures rose by 0.4% to $70.42.
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India's iron pellet makers want to curb Iranian imports through Oman
Sources and an analyst have said that India's iron pellet makers have asked the government to curtail a surge of imports via Oman. They claim the products are from Iran, despite U.S. sanction, and warned the cheaper supplies may hurt the local industry. Lalit Ladkat of the London-based CRU Group told us that India is the third largest iron ore producer in terms of metric tonnage. However, imports between 2021-2024 were negligible, Lalit Ladkat said. Ladkat stated that the majority of these pellets were of Iranian origin, and they were shipped via Oman in order to avoid sanctions. Ladkat stated that the surge in imports was driven by higher prices for pellets at home and the availability cheaper, high quality Iranian pellets. One of the sources who was involved in this matter declined to identify themselves as the discussions were not made public. The ministry didn't respond to an email asking for comments. The Pellet Manufacturers' Association of India (PMAI), in a letter to the Ministry, said that even though the pellet imports had been shown to come from Oman, "there were doubts about the country of origin/manufacture as it was understood that this country did not produce pellets." PMAI reported that due to the increasing imports, domestic pellet producers are only operating at 69% capacity. Manish Kharbanda told PMAIm that the country of Oman's origin is questionable. In 2019, Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran that targeted the Islamic Republic's industrial metals export revenue. Steelmaking uses both iron ore and pellets of iron ore. India's steel demand is driven by a robust steel production that is underpinned by the growth of infrastructure, construction and the automobile sector. India's steel consumption in April and May of 2025/26 was 25.1 million tons, an increase of 7.1% compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, crude steel production increased by 9.5%, reaching 26.9 millions metric tons. (Reporting and editing by Mayank Bhardwaj, Kim Coghill and Mayank Bhardwaj; Additional reporting from Sarah El Safty and Manoj Kumar at New Delhi; and Manvi Pan in Bengaluru.)
China, India boost seaborne thermal coal imports as power demand surges: Russell
China and India lifted imports of seaborne thermal coal to threemonth highs in March as the world's 2 most significant buyers capitalized of lower worldwide costs of the fuel to fulfill strong domestic power need.
China, the world's biggest coal producer and importer, saw arrivals of seaborne thermal coal of 29.7 million metric tons in March, according to information put together by product analysts Kpler.
This was up from 23.03 million loads in February and was higher than the 28.62 million in March 2023.
For the very first quarter, China's seaborne imports of the grade of coal utilized primarily to create electricity were 80.64 million lots, up 17.2% from the 68.82 million taped in the same period in 2023.
The strength in China's imports is being driven by a. mix of strong development in power demand and by seaborne. costs being competitive with domestic coal.
Official information showed China's power intake was 11%. greater in January and February this year compared to the very same. months in 2023, and power generation increased 6.9% in 2023,. exceeding the 5.2% development rate for the economy as a whole.
China's electrical power need is being enhanced by a range of. factors, including increasing electrification of the automobile. fleet, higher need from air conditioners and appliances, and. increased electrification of industrial processes, such as some. types of smelting.
A drop in hydropower output amidst dry spell has likewise boosted. nonrenewable fuel source generation, mainly coal-fired, further. lifting need for the fuel.
China's domestic coal costs have likewise stayed fairly. high with thermal coal at Qinhuangdao << SH-QHA-TRMCOAL > ending at. 825> yuan ($ 114) a lot on Monday.
While this is down from a current peak of 940 yuan on Feb. 27, the prices of seaborne grades popular in China haveLikewise been declining.
Australian coal with an energy content of 5,500 kilocalories. per kilogram (kcal/kg), as assessed by. product cost reporting firm Argus, slipped to $87.37 a lot. in the week to March 28, down from the current high of $96.66 in. the seven days to March 1.
Indonesian coal with an energy content of 4,200 kcal/kg. ended last week at $55.70 a lot, down from the. recent high of $58.17 from the week to March 8.
Even allowing for freight costs, Chinese import tasks and. differences in energy material, imported seaborne grades are. presently a little less expensive than domestic supplies, especially. for utilities in China's southeast.
The competitiveness of seaborne grades can be seen in. China's imports, with arrivals of 20.24 million tons of. Indonesian thermal coal in March, up from 16.96 million in. February.
Imports of Australian thermal coal hit a three-month high of. 5.08 million loads in March, up from 3.45 million in February.
INDIA STRENGTH
It's a similar story for India, where robust growth in power. demand is fuelling coal imports, which reached 15.21 million. loads in March, up from 14.09 million in February and 13.41. million in March 2023, according to Kpler.
First quarter thermal coal imports were 42.79 million heaps,. up 23.8% from the 34.57 million in the exact same period a year. earlier.
Coal need is likely to stay elevated in India as the. South Asian nation braces for more heatwave days than normal. between April and June.
In the 2nd quarter, numerous parts of the country could. record 10 to 20 heatwave days compared to the regular four to. 8 days, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director-general of the India. Meteorological Department, informed a virtual news conference on. Monday.
India's top provider of seaborne thermal coal is Indonesia. with March arrivals of 10.23 million heaps being the greatest in. 4 months.
Australia isn't a significant provider of thermal coal to India,. with most of the coal trade between the two nations being. metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel.
However, it deserves keeping in mind that U.S. materials to India have. been increasing, with March imports at a three-month high of. 1.10 million heaps and an estimated 1.62 million expected to. arrive in April, which would be a record high.
At the exact same time, India's imports of Russian thermal coal. have been slipping, with March arrivals of 730,000 loads being. the most affordable considering that November.
A combination of Western sanctions on shipping and concerns. over the security of transiting the Red Sea has enhanced the landed. cost of Russian coal in India.
The viewpoints expressed here are those of the author, a columnist. .
(source: Reuters)