2025-08-06 07:32
Guangzhou lashed by 2nd-heaviest rainfall this century Rains across southern Guangdong boost disease risks At least 16 of its rivers near dangerous levels Landslide hit 'Taobao Village', trapping 14 BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Rescue crews raced on Wednesday to clear debris and flooded roads as southern China braced for more extreme rainfall and spreading infection after some of the worst downpours this century, brought by a peak in East Asian monsoon rains. Forecasters warned of more thunderstorms after the century's second-heaviest August rains pounded Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, forcing its Baiyun airport, one of the world's busiest, to cancel 363 flights and delay 311. Sign up here. The day before, the skies above Hong Kong and the high-tech cities of China's Pearl River Delta turned livid and dumped the heaviest August rainfall since 1884 on the Asian financial hub. Rescue teams in Guangdong scrambled to open drains and pump water away from urban areas, state media said, as the intense rain set off mudslides and felled trees on highways, ripping up roads to expose cabling and other infrastructure. Video images showed roads transformed into brown waterways, threatening to worsen a major outbreak of chikungunya, fuelled by mosquitoes thriving in stagnant flood water, which had been on a downtrend before the latest rains. Guangdong had reported more than 7,000 of the virus infections earlier. China has suffered weeks of atmospheric chaos since July, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the East Asian monsoon stalling over its north and south. Weather experts link the shifting pattern to climate change, testing officials as flash floods displace thousands and threaten billions of dollars in economic losses. On Tuesday, Beijing allocated more than 1 billion yuan ($139 million) in disaster relief for Guangdong and the northern province of Hebei, as well as the capital, Beijing, and the northern region of Inner Mongolia, state news agency Xinhua said, including subsidies for damage to grain-growing areas. "The rains will drive up prices for fresh fruits and vegetables," said Dan Wang, a China expert at Eurasia Group. While some farmers might be able to exploit the situation to their benefit, agricultural losses would hit incomes as a whole, she added. Cold chain storage providers could benefit, she said, while higher prices could sustain consumer prices, after the latest data showed the first rise in five months. Even e-commerce may not be immune, as a landslide north of Guangzhou early on Wednesday hit 'Taobao Village', a community where many households run shops on China's Alibaba platform, trapping 14 people, with half the number still missing. Across the province, 16 rivers threaten to breach their banks, with water levels at two sites reaching their highest since 2017 and 2018. But the worst may be yet to come, with two to three typhoons expected to strike in August, emergency management authorities said on Tuesday. DISEASE OUTBREAK The city of Foshan west of Guangzhou has been the epicentre of the province's chikungunya outbreak, while at least a dozen more have reported infections, which typically cause fever and severe joint pain, though deaths are rare. The next few weeks are especially daunting for disease prevention and control, say provincial authorities, after the flood season, worsened by typhoons and heavy rain, boosted mosquito activity. Spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, global infections of the disease number at least 240,000 this year. But the disease and rainfall will have an uneven economic impact on China, thanks to their localised nature, said Chim Lee, a senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "In harder-hit areas like Guangdong, outdoor activity is discouraged, and many brick-and-mortar, consumer-facing businesses are seeing a drop in footfall," he added. "Industrial and commercial operations are also feeling the strain." ($1=7.1834 yuan) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/monsoon-peaks-south-china-unleashing-landslides-disease-2025-08-06/
2025-08-06 07:32
Economy experiencing a temporary slowdown, not sharp decline Turkey targets over $40 billion from international institutions Aiming for single-digit inflation in 2027 Budget revenues may fall short of projections ANKARA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Turkey's disinflation process is continuing in a determined manner that will bring inflation into single digits in two years, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek told Reuters, adding the government would not allow the process to be derailed. Simsek said he expected inflation to remain within the range of the central bank's year-end forecast of 19% to 29%, and that it would fall below 20% next year, and to single digits in 2027. Sign up here. "We maintain our year-end inflation forecast; the necessary conditions for disinflation are largely in place," he said in an interview in his office. "Disinflation is progressing along our projected path. What matters to us is that this improvement is lasting and stable," he added. Official data on Monday showed consumer price inflation slowed to 33.5% in July, having peaked at 75% in May last year. Last month, the central bank cut its policy rate by 300 basis points to 43%, resuming an easing cycle that was disrupted by political turmoil earlier this year, as markets calmed and disinflation continued. Simsek said coordination of monetary, fiscal, income and supply-side policies would help Turkey achieve its goals. "Monetary policy provides strong support to disinflation through the channels of demand, the exchange rate, and expectations, while increased coordination with fiscal policy reinforces this effort," he said. SPENDING DISCIPLINE Simsek said that while oil prices, foreign trade tariffs, and unprocessed food posed limited upside risks to inflation, the government was prepared to "prevent any obstacle to disinflation by taking the necessary steps to counter potential shocks." Simsek said economic growth this year could be "slightly below" the medium-term programme target of 4%, in what he said was a "temporary slowdown" rather than a sharp economic downturn. In the first quarter, Turkey's economy grew 2%. The current account deficit will be below the programme targets, Simsek said, adding that budget revenues would fall short of projections due to slower growth and inflation accounting, but the government would remain disciplined on spending. Simsek said external financing secured under favourable conditions from international financial institutions for development-focused projects reached a total of $17.4 billion in 2023 and 2024, and some $7 billion had been secured so far this year. "We have established our medium-term cooperation framework with the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). With the contributions of other institutions, we aim to secure over $40 billion in external financing in the next three years," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-simsek-says-determined-maintain-lasting-disinflation-process-2025-08-06/
2025-08-06 07:23
Oil prices rebound amid supply disruption concerns API crude draw data supporting prices, analysts say LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded from the previous session's five-week low on Wednesday, as traders focused on U.S. President Donald Trump threatening India with higher tariffs over its Russian crude purchases, and a larger-than-expected U.S. crude draw. Brent crude futures gained $1.11, or 1.6%, to $68.75 a barrel by 1119 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.12, or 1.7%, at $66.28 a barrel. Sign up here. Both oil contracts fell by more than $1 on Tuesday to settle at their lowest in five weeks, marking a fourth session of losses. "Prices bounced up on the potential higher tariffs on India but the market is waiting for some sort of a formal implementation as well as which elements in the market are to be affected," said Rystad analyst Janiv Shah. Trump renewed threats to impose higher import tariffs on Indian goods over the country's buying of Russian energy. India, along with China, is a major buyer of Russian oil. "Expectations appear that India may reduce its buying of Russian crude, but I can't see them doing so entirely as they have been making supernormal profits on buying cheap Russian crude," said Ashley Kelty, an analyst at Panmure Liberum. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Wednesday on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace or face new sanctions. Rystad's Shah said that although the meeting could lead to some concessions, a planned supply increase from the OPEC+ group would offset a potential decline in Russian oil supply. The market was also finding support from a fall in U.S. crude inventories last week, analysts said, as sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures said on Tuesday that stockpiles had fallen by 4.2 million barrels. That compares with a Reuters poll estimate of a 600,000 barrels draw for the week to August 1. "For all that has been thrown the oil market's way geopolitically, Brent futures have struggled to even hold the floor at $70 a barrel for any convincing length of time," said independent analyst Gaurav Sharma. Brent is down 9.4% so far this year, which Sharma said was due to the market remaining well supplied at a time of uncertain demand. That, along with a cloudy macro-economic outlook, made the case for any lasting bullishness in crude unlikely, he added. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rebounds-trump-threats-russian-crude-buyers-2025-08-06/
2025-08-06 07:18
NEW DELHI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - India's exports of refined fuel are in the spotlight after last month's European Union sanctions while U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a tariff hike over its oil purchases from Russia. The South Asian nation became the top buyer of Russian seaborne crude after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Private refiners Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) , opens new tab and Nayara are Russia's top Indian oil clients, trade data shows. Sign up here. India's state refiners have stopped Russian oil purchases as the discounts narrowed and Trump warned countries not to by Moscow's oil, industry sources said. From January 21, the EU will stop direct imports of fuels made from Russian oil. Here are details of fuel exports from India's two big private refiners. NAYARA ENERGY Nayara, recently sanctioned by the European Union, exported nearly 3 million tons of refined fuel in the first half of 2025, data from trade sources showed, or 30% of its total output. Swiss-based trader Vitol was the top buyer of refined products from Nayara, including diesel and gasoline, for discharge in the United Arab Emirates and West Africa, the data showed. Other buyers included Aramco Trading, Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab, and BP (BP.L) , opens new tab. Nayara was forced to cut output at its 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery at the western port of Vadinar due to difficulties in securing ships for exports after the sanctions, Reuters reported. The refiner, majority-owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab, sells about 70% of its refined fuels in India through more than 6,600 retail outlets, it said in a Delhi court filing. RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Reliance, operator of the world's largest refining complex at Jamnagar, is a much bigger exporter. Controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, Reliance exported 21.66 million tons of refined products in the first six months of 2025 to buyers such as BP (BP.L) , opens new tab, Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab, Glencore(GLEN.L) , opens new tab, Vitol and Trafigura, the data showed. Europe takes the biggest chunk, or 28%, of Reliance's exports, according to the data analysed by Reuters. The table shows exports by Nayara Energy and Reliance Industries between January and June 2025, according to data obtained from sources. Units are 1,000 tons. Note: Totals may not tally due to rounding-off. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exports-oil-products-by-private-indian-refiners-2025-08-06/
2025-08-06 07:04
MUMBAI, August 6 (Reuters) - India’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $688.9 billion as of August 1, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday. The forex reserves fell $9.3 billion compared to the previous week, which economists said reflects the central bank's defence of the rupee amid tariff-related uncertainties. Sign up here. Detailed data on forex reserves will be released later this week. The rupee slid 1.18% against the dollar in the week through August 1, marking its sharpest weekly decline in nearly three years. It has lost another 0.2% so far this week and would likely have breached its record low if not for the Reserve Bank of India’s intervention to support the currency, according to traders. India faces the imposition of a 25% tariff on its shipments to the U.S. from Friday, and President Donald Trump has warned of "very substantial" additional levies because of New Delhi's oil imports from Russia. The RBI kept its growth forecasts unchanged at its policy review on Wednesday and left rates unchanged. "Given that the Indian rupee is weakening and narrowing of the global interest rate differentials, the scope for rate reduction was slim," said Umesh Kumar Mehta, chief investment officer at SAMCO Mutual Fund. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-fx-reserves-drop-9-billion-about-689-billion-reflecting-tariff-driven-2025-08-06/
2025-08-06 06:59
TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Japanese oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp (1605.T) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it has awarded additional contracts for early-stage design work on its $20 billion Abadi liquefied natural gas project in Indonesia's Masela block. In April, the firm launched a front-end engineering design (FEED) process to assess technical details and costs to build the facilities needed to extract and process natural gas from the Abadi gas field and convert it to LNG at an onshore plant. Sign up here. Following its announcement of some initial awards on Monday, Inpex said that two contractor consortiums - one led by Japan's JGC Holdings (1963.T) , opens new tab and the other by U.S. engineering firm KBR (KBR.N) , opens new tab - have been selected to conduct FEED work for the onshore LNG facility. The two groups will work in parallel under a so-called "dual FEED" framework to foster competition. The consortium that provides the better technical and commercial proposal will be awarded the subsequent Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract, Inpex said. The FEED scope also includes work related to carbon capture and storage (CCS), it said. The move signals progress toward a final investment decision on the project, which is expected to produce at its peak 9.5 million metric tons of LNG a year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/inpex-awards-more-contracts-engineering-design-indonesias-abadi-lng-project-2025-08-06/
