2025-08-05 13:19

HARARE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's platinum miners are owed millions of dollars in unpaid exports income under the government's foreign currency retention rules, the mining chamber has said, hurting operations in a sector battling to recover from a price collapse. The southern African country requires all exporters to retain only 70% of their proceeds in foreign currency, with the balance being converted to local currency. Sign up here. The world's third largest producer of platinum group metals after neighbour South Africa and Russia, says it needs the foreign currency to fund vital imports and repay foreign loans. Platinum producers in Zimbabwe, who include Valterra Platinum, Impala Platinum's (IMPJ.J) , opens new tab Zimplats (ZIM.AX) , opens new tab and Mimosa, a joint venture between Impala and Sibanye Stillwater (SSWJ.J) , opens new tab, exported PGM mattes and concentrates worth $690 million in the first half of this year, government data shows. However, the government has not been paying the miners the local currency equivalent of their export earnings since January, an official at the mining chamber told Reuters. Deputy finance minister Kuda Mnangagwa confirmed that the government had fallen behind on paying the miners. "There were issues of cash flow constraints, particularly in the first quarter of the year when our revenue collections are at their lowest," Mnangagwa told Reuters on Tuesday. He added that the government was talking to platinum miners to ensure "that these delays don't burden their operations". Platinum group metals, used to make catalytic converters that curb vehicle emissions, are Zimbabwe's second most valuable mineral export, behind gold. Zimbabwe exported gold worth $1.8 billion during the first half of 2025, up from $870 million during the same period last year, thanks to record high bullion prices. Gold producers have also complained about Zimbabwe's foreign currency retention rule, which they say eats into their income when part of their export proceeds are converted into an overvalued local currency. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zimbabwe-platinum-miners-owed-millions-unpaid-export-earnings-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 13:00

Trade turmoil and biofuel policy uncertainty impact ADM profits ADM braces for impact from U.S. tariffs and trade retaliation Ag Services & Oilseeds profit drops 7%, grain business down 75% ADM's 2025 earnings forecast lowered to $4.00 per share Aug 5 (Reuters) - Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM.N) , opens new tab posted its lowest second-quarter profit in five years on Tuesday as U.S. trade upheaval and uncertainty around biofuel policies slowed sales and crimped trading and crop processing margins. The company warned that full-year 2025 earnings would drop to the lowest since 2020 after a weak first half and amid ongoing challenges in global trade. Sign up here. U.S.-based ADM is bracing for an impact from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on most imports, as well as any trade retaliation which often targets agricultural products. ADM and agribusiness peers including Bunge(BG.N) , opens new tab and Cargill have seen profits erode in recent quarters due to ample global crop supplies and thinning margins. The U.S. president's tariff threats and shifting deadlines for duties have fueled further chaos for global grains merchants like ADM. U.S. biofuel policy uncertainty dented demand for green energy feedstocks like corn and soybean oil, although ADM said proposed increases for biofuel blending in the U.S. should be supportive from the fourth quarter and beyond. ADM said it expected adjusted annual earnings at about $4.00 share in 2025, compared with previous guidance of between $4.00 and $4.75 per share and the weakest in five years. Profit from Ag Services & Oilseeds, the company's largest segment, slumped 7% to $113 million in the reported quarter driven by lower margins. The division houses the company's global crop trading, transportation and storage, and oilseed processing operations. Profit in its grain origination and crushing business, which sources grains from growers and processes them for food, animal feed and other uses, fell 75% to $33 million. Chicago-based ADM reported adjusted net earnings of $452 million, or 93 cents per share, for the quarter ended June 30, down from $508 million, or $1.03 per share, a year ago. Analysts, on average, expected earnings per share of 83 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/adm-q2-profit-falls-5-year-low-amid-trade-turmoil-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:59

Ruling party, opposition unite to condemn Trump threat Foreign ministry accuses US, EU of double standard over Russian trade Market, Indian rupee fall as trade rift deepens NEW DELHI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - India's ruling party and main opposition condemned on Tuesday a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, in a show of political unity as a trade rift deepens with Washington. Trump had already in July announced 25% tariffs on Indian imports, and U.S. officials have cited a range of geopolitical issues standing in the way of a U.S.-India trade accord. Sign up here. Manish Tewari, a member of parliament and leader of the opposition Congress, said Trump's "disparaging remarks hurt the dignity and self-respect of Indians". "The time has come to call out this constant bullying and hectoring," he added. BJP Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda quoted Henry Kissinger - the most powerful U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era - in a post on X: "To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal." India's Foreign Ministry said the country was being unfairly singled out over its purchases of Russian oil, and highlighted continued trade between Moscow and both the United States and the European Union, despite the war in Ukraine. "It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia," it said in a statement issued late on Monday. "It is unjustified to single out India," the ministry said. It said the EU conducted 67.5 billion euros ($78.02 billion) in trade with Russia in 2024, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reaching 16.5 million metric tons. The United States, the statement said, continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for use in its nuclear power industry, palladium, fertilisers and chemicals. It did not give a source for the export information. The U.S. embassy and the EU's delegation in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the United States and EU have sharply scaled back their trade ties with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2021, Russia was the EU's fifth-largest trading partner, with goods exchange worth 258 billion euros, according to the EU executive European Commission. SUDDEN RIFT India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources. It has faced pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. New Delhi has resisted, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and economic needs. India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is likely to travel to Russia this week on a scheduled visit, two government sources said. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is expected to visit in the coming weeks. The sudden rift between India and the U.S. has been deepening since July 31, when Trump announced the 25% tariff on goods being shipped to the U.S. and for the first time threatened unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil. Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end the war with Ukraine. The trade tensions have caused concern about the potential impact on India's economy. The equity benchmark BSE Sensex .BSESN closed down 0.38%, while the rupee dropped 0.17% versus the dollar. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-hits-back-trumps-threat-over-russian-oil-purchases-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:55

BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China has recently allocated more than one billion yuan ($139.1 million) to capital Beijing and several other areas to support recovery of agricultural production hit by floods and drought, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday. Funds were allocated to Beijing, the northern Chinese province of Hebei and the Inner Mongolia region, as well as Guangdong province in the south, to replant crops, drain farmland and repair flood-stricken infrastructure. Sign up here. Other areas, including Shandong, Hubei and Henan provinces in eastern and central China also received subsidies to support their drought-stricken agricultural industry, according to CCTV. The North China Plain, a vast area that encompasses provinces such as Henan, Hebei and Shandong, has been hit by persistently high temperatures and unseasonally low precipitation since July. The area of crops affected by water shortfalls has been greater than a year earlier and rainfall is expected to remain low in August, with drought conditions potentially worsening in some areas, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs warned on Monday. Further south, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, rice-growing regions have been swamped by record rainfall. Henan province, a wheat-producing area known as China's granary, said on Monday that it received 131.5 million yuan in funding from the central government to help support its farming sector. That was double the amount that the central Chinese province mobilised on its own in mid-July and in early August to safeguard the autumn grain harvest, which accounts for about three quarters of the country's annual grain output. That brings total funds allocated to support the repair of wells, maintenance of irrigation equipment and construction of water projects to 260 million yuan since then, the Henan finance department said on its website on Tuesday. China's autumn grain production faces significant risks and challenges from overlapping floods and droughts, the ministry said. The ministry has issued 34 measures to minimise yield losses in severely affected areas, stabilise production in mildly affected areas and increase output in unaffected areas, Monday's statement said. ($1 = 7.1870 Chinese yuan renminbi) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/china-allocates-funds-support-agriculture-recovery-flood-drought-hit-areas-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:53

Aug 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $10 million to Elk Creek Resources to help develop a scandium supply chain, it said on Tuesday, as Washington looks to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals. The funding for the NioCorp Developments (NB.O) , opens new tab unit, under the Defense Production Act, will support engineering, drilling and feasibility studies at the Elk Creek project in Nebraska. Sign up here. Shares of NioCorp were up 4.8% in premarket trade. The U.S. has not mined scandium since 1969. Most of the global supply comes from China, Russia and Ukraine. The project is part of broader efforts to reduce U.S. reliance on China and other foreign suppliers of critical minerals, in line with a 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump to boost domestic production. In early July, MP Materials (MP.N) , opens new tab unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the U.S. government to boost output of rare earth magnets and help loosen China's grip on the materials used to build weapons, electric vehicles and many electronics. Scandium is prized for making lightweight, high-strength alloys used in aircraft, hypersonic weapons and energy platforms. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-awards-niocorp-unit-10-million-build-scandium-supply-chain-nebraska-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:51

Brent and US crude fall for fourth consecutive session OPEC+ output hike, demand worries add to oversupply outlook Trump again threatens India with high tariffs over Russian oil purchases LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Oil slipped over 1% on Tuesday as rising OPEC+ supply and worries of weaker global demand countered concern about U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to India over its Russian oil purchases. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, a move that will end its most recent output cut earlier than planned. Sign up here. Brent crude futures were down 82 cents, or 1.2%, to $67.94 a barrel at 1245 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 88 cents, or 1.3%, to $65.41. Both contracts fell by more than 1% on Monday to settle at their lowest in a week. Trump on Tuesday again threatened higher tariffs on Indian goods over the country's Russian oil purchases over the next 24 hours. Trump also said declining energy prices could pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine. New Delhi called his attack "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening a trade rift between the two countries. Oil's move since Trump's threat indicates that traders are sceptical of a supply disruption happening, said John Evans of oil broker PVM in a report. He questioned whether Trump would risk higher oil prices. "I'd call it a stable market for oil," said Giovanni Staunovo, analyst at UBS. "Assume this likely continues until we figure out what the U.S. president announces in respect to Russia later this week and how those buyers would react." India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million bpd from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources. Trump's threats come amid renewed concerns about oil demand and some analysts expect faltering economic growth in the second half of the year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-slips-opec-output-hikes-counter-russia-disruption-concerns-2025-08-05/