2025-08-21 03:27
JAKARTA, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia ran a current account deficit of $3 billion in the second quarter, equal to 0.8% of its gross domestic product, after a deficit of 0.1% of GDP in the previous quarter, the central bank said on Thursday. The deficit widened from $200 million in the first quarter, and was driven by rising dividend and coupon payments by companies, aligning with the quarterly cycle, the central bank said in a statement. Sign up here. BI maintained its outlook for a full-year current account deficit of between 0.5% and 1.3% of GDP in 2025. The balance of payments for the second quarter saw a deficit of $6.7 billion, compared with a deficit of about $800 million in the previous quarter, BI added. The deficit was due to foreign capital outflows in the form of domestic bonds, the central bank added. Indonesia's current account position is closely monitored by investors and policymakers because it is seen a as source of economic vulnerability that makes the country susceptible to capital outflows and weakens the rupiah currency. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-q2-current-account-deficit-widens-08-gdp-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 00:22
Aug 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group (FCG.NZ) , opens new tab on Thursday increased its milk price forecast for the 2024/2025 season, banking on stable global dairy prices and solid sales book. The company increased the midpoint of its annual forecast for farmgate milk price - the price it pays to farmers for milk - to NZ$10.15 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS) from prior expectations of NZ$10.00 per kgMS. Sign up here. Fonterra also narrowed the milk price forecast range for the 2025/2026 season to NZ$9.00 to NZ$11.00 per kgMS from an earlier view of NZ$8.00 to NZ$11.00 per kgMS. "Global dairy trade prices continue to be strong, supporting the NZ$10.00 per kgMS forecast midpoint for the current season," CEO Miles Hurrell said. (This story has been refiled to fix the spelling of 'dairy' in the headline) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nzs-fonterra-raises-annual-milk-price-forecast-stable-dairy-prices-2025-08-20/
2025-08-20 23:22
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Australia's Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AX) , opens new tab said on Thursday its profit declined by more than half in fiscal 2025, hurt by lower realized prices and higher costs of sales. The country's largest independent coal miner reported a 57% drop in underlying net profit after tax to A$319 million ($205.18 million) for the year ended June 30, down from A$740 million a year earlier. Sign up here. However, the results beat the Visible Alpha estimate of A$261.1 million. Cost of sales, or the expenses to cover operations such as mining and processing, increased more than 80%, while realised coal prices slipped to A$215 per tonne from A$228 per tonne last year. Meanwhile, Whitehaven said it has decided to cut back on capital spending for its Narrabri Stage 3 extension project in New South Wales, reducing the allocation to between A$260 million and A$300 million, down from A$800 million to A$850 million. ($1 = 1.5547 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/whitehaven-coals-annual-profit-halves-lower-prices-higher-costs-2025-08-20/
2025-08-20 23:21
Aug 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group (FCG.NZ) , opens new tab on Thursday increased its milk price forecast for the 2024/2025 season, banking on stable global dairy prices and solid sales book. The company increased the midpoint of its annual forecast for farmgate milk price - the price it pays to farmers for milk - to NZ$10.15 per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS) from prior expectations of NZ$10.00 per kgMS. Sign up here. Fonterra also narrowed the milk price forecast range for the 2025/2026 season to NZ$9.00 to NZ$11.00 per kgMS from an earlier view of NZ$8.00 to NZ$11.00 per kgMS. "Global dairy trade prices continue to be strong, supporting the NZ$10.00 per kgMS forecast midpoint for the current season," CEO Miles Hurrell said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nzs-fonterra-raises-annual-milk-price-forecast-stable-diary-prices-2025-08-20/
2025-08-20 22:34
VALPARAISO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Chilean copper miner Codelco (COBRE.UL) will lower its 2025 production guidance after an accident at its flagship El Teniente mine knocked 33,000 metric tons off the facility's output, executives said on Wednesday. El Teniente is now forecast to produce 316,000 tons this year, CEO Ruben Alvarado told a congressional hearing about the accident. Sign up here. The decline represents a $340-million loss tied to the lost output, Alvarado said, slightly higher than the $300 million Codelco forecast last week based on estimated losses of 20,000 to 30,000 tons. The accident on July 31 killed six people near a new section of El Teniente's vast network of underground tunnels, Andesita, and forced Codelco to halt mining operations for several days. Chairman Maximo Pacheco told Reuters the company would evaluate when it might be able to reopen Andesita only after an internal investigation concludes. He added updated total copper production guidance will be announced in the coming days when the company releases its financial results for the first half of the year. The company was due to post results on August 1 but postponed them due to the accident. Pacheco added the company will maintain its long-term goal of producing 1.7 million tons of copper per year by 2030. Codelco in March said it aimed for production between 1.37 million and 1.4 million metric tons for 2025, slightly above output from the year before. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-codelco-lower-2025-copper-target-after-el-teniente-accident-2025-08-20/
2025-08-20 21:14
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Developers are on track to add 33 gigawatts of solar power in the U.S. this year, accounting for about half of the total new electricity generating capacity planned for the country in 2025, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. If the plans are realized, large-scale solar power additions in the U.S. would reach a record high, said the EIA, which based its analysis on a survey of developers. New battery storage, which stores electricity from solar farms and other energy sources, may also hit a yearly record in 2025. Sign up here. Wind and natural gas power plants accounted for the rest of the capacity additions, the EIA said. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Solar energy does not produce global warming emissions. That makes it central to plans by U.S. states to decarbonize, while also meeting record-high electricity demand brought on by Big Tech and other expanding industries. Many of the federal government financial incentives that propelled the development of solar power over the last several years, however, will disappear under the administration of President Donald Trump, adding uncertainty to future development of the technology. TEXAS SOLAR STANDOUT Texas, which last year surpassed California as the state with the most large-scale solar capacity, accounted for more than a quarter of the solar power developed so far in 2025. For the rest of the year, the Lone Star State plans for another 9.7 gigawatts of new solar capacity, or nearly half of all of U.S. solar planned for development over the time period. Texas' sunny weather, availability of large amounts of land and quickly-increasing power demand have drawn solar energy development. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/solar-may-account-half-new-us-electricity-added-this-year-eia-says-2025-08-20/
