2025-06-26 17:37
China books first Argentine soymeal cargo since 2019 Move signals China's push to diversify due to trade war with US Traders call it a 'test case', more deals may follow Argentina chamber meets China delegation, discusses soymeal China currently imports mostly soy beans, very little meal BEIJING/SINGAPORE/BUENOS AIRES, June 26 (Reuters) - Chinese firms have booked the first soymeal cargo from Argentina since Beijing approved Argentine imports in 2019, as China's animal feed industry looks to broaden its supply options to mitigate potential disruptions from the U.S.-China trade war. Several Chinese feed makers have jointly signed the deal to purchase 30,000 metric tons of Argentine soymeal for July shipment, four trade sources told Reuters on Thursday. Sign up here. "This is just a test case," said one Singapore-based trader at an international trading company, which sells soybeans to China. "If it goes through China's inspection and quarantine, we expect more deals." The cargo, purchased at $360 per ton on a CNF (cost and freight) basis, is expected to arrive in southern Guangdong province in September, the sources said. China is the world's biggest consumer of the protein-rich animal feed raw material but produces most of it by crushing soybeans mainly imported from Brazil and the United States. Argentina is the world's top exporter of soy oil and meal. Chinese buyers have been scooping up Brazilian soybeans and shunning U.S. exports due to high tariffs imposed during the ongoing trade war between Beijing and Washington. Argentina's oilseed crushing and export chamber told Reuters on Wednesday it had met with a travelling Chinese delegation, including the director of China's National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration Liu Huanxin to discuss soymeal exports. "We spoke at length about the feasibility of exporting soybean meal, and he seemed open to it if commercial conditions allow," said Gustavo Idigoras, head of the CIARA-CEC chamber. The Singapore-based trader told Reuters that the Chinese feed makers' purchase from Argentina was part of an effort to safeguard supplies in the event the trade war has a lasting impact on imports of U.S. soybeans. Lower prices for Argentine meal compared with the locally produced product were also encouraging the move, traders said. China opened its market to Argentine soymeal in 2019 after years of resistance that was motivated by a desire to protect its domestic crushing industry. Market participants at the time said the decision was prompted by the U.S.-China trade war during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration. Despite the approval, no purchases of bulk cargoes of Argentine soymeal had been recorded until now, according to Chinese customs data. Argentina's Idigoras hinted that there may still be some steps to finalise any soymeal deal formally and that the China market remained a "complex" and tough to crack, given Beijing's preference to crush its own beans. "There are many inquiries from Chinese firms over Argentine meal, but for now we have no confirmed transactions," he said. "Argentina exported 30 million tons of soymeal last year, so has very significant supply capacity for China's needs." China imported just 30,000 tons of soymeal for the entire year in 2024, mainly from Denmark, customs data showed. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinese-feed-makers-sign-first-bulk-deal-argentine-soymeal-since-2019-sources-2025-06-26/
2025-06-26 17:22
Judge says both sides cannot escape permanent injunction SEC proposed reducing fine over XRP token sales Ripple has not decided next legal move NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday rejected an unusual joint motion by Ripple Labs and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to endorse the cryptocurrency company's reduced $50 million fine to settle a civil lawsuit over the sale of unregistered securities. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan chastised both sides for claiming that their settlement in March should excuse Ripple from honoring her permanent injunction against violating the law. Sign up here. Ripple's chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty posted on X that the company has not decided its next legal steps. An SEC spokesman had no immediate comment. The case concerned sales of the XRP token, and has been one of the SEC's highest-profile cryptocurrency cases. In July 2023, Torres ruled that while XRP sold by Ripple on public exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security, $728 million of XRP sales to institutional investors should have complied with securities laws. Ripple and the SEC appealed, but agreed to settle if Torres set aside her injunction and approved lowering the $125 million fine she imposed last August. The SEC has been easing oversight of cryptocurrencies, and the judge agreed it can change course on enforcement cases. Torres said, however, that both sides had "not come close" to showing that exceptional circumstances outweighing the public interest and administration of justice justified the settlement. "The parties do not have the authority to agree not to be bound by a court's final judgment that a party violated an Act of Congress in such a manner that a permanent injunction and a civil penalty were necessary to prevent that party from violating the law again," she wrote. "Accordingly, if jurisdiction were restored to this court, the court would deny the parties' request to vacate the injunction and reduce the civil penalty," she added. Torres said the SEC and Ripple remain free to withdraw their appeals, or appeal her injunction. XRP is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, trailing bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether, the market service CoinMarketCap said on Thursday. Since Donald Trump began his second term as U.S. president, the SEC has ended civil lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase (COIN.O) , opens new tab and Kraken. The case is SEC v Ripple Labs Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-10832. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/sec-ripple-wants-settle-crypto-lawsuit-us-judge-rebuffs-them-2025-06-26/
2025-06-26 17:03
June 26 (Reuters) - Crypto exchange Kraken on Thursday launched a peer-to-peer payments app that enables users to send and receive funds - in both cryptocurrency and fiat currency - across more than a hundred countries. The move is a bid to expand Kraken's offerings beyond its digital asset trading business, and puts the firm in competition with PayPal, Venmo and Block's CashApp. Sign up here. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Crypto exchanges such as Kraken are increasingly signaling an interest in expanding outside of the digital asset trading that initially became popular with retail investors. Kraken said last month that it is launching tokens of U.S. equities, called xStocks, in select markets outside the United States. CONTEXT Krak users will have a dedicated spend account and will be able to instantly send and request payments across 300 different assets, including crypto and local currencies, the company said in a press release. Crypto transfers will be made using blockchain technology, while Kraken will make cash transfers internally without using external banking infrastructure. KEY QUOTE "We're able to move money across borders right off the bat, because that's what we do from a trading perspective in our venues, and we've actually already spent over 10 years building out that system for money transmitter licenses... in all the jurisdictions," said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, in an interview with Reuters. "You have to do that as an exchange anyways, and so what we realized is that our customers just wanted to do more with their money." WHAT'S NEXT Kraken plans to launch a series of products through Krak in the future, including physical and virtual cards as well as pay-in-advance services like loans, the company said. https://www.reuters.com/business/crypto-exchange-kraken-debuts-peer-to-peer-payments-app-krak-2025-06-26/
2025-06-26 16:02
"Early innings" in shift toward U.S. outflows Investors willing to embrace dollar depreciation story PIMCO "very constructive" on emerging markets as asset class June 26 (Reuters) - Emerging markets are enjoying a "Goldilocks" moment, heavyweight bond fund PIMCO told Reuters, as U.S. President Donald Trump's erratic policy moves push the dollar down and send investors away from U.S. assets. "This is the most prominent capital rotation we have seen for the best part of two decades ... and we still think we are in the early innings of this," said Pramol Dhawan, PIMCO's head of EM portfolio management, outlining the $2 trillion asset manager's second-half view on emerging markets, where the firm holds some $70 billion in assets. Sign up here. "We are very constructive on the asset class, we think it is a Goldilocks-type backdrop for EM assets," he said, pointing partly to investor overexposure to the U.S. and a weakened dollar. PIMCO is the latest asset manager to warm to emerging market assets with EM local currency debt enjoying record inflows in recent weeks. The rotation is driven by import tariffs, rising concerns over U.S. debt levels and some loss of confidence in the government there, Dhawan said. Parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America are the preferred destinations. The dollar index (.DXY) , opens new tab is down 10% year-to-date while emerging currencies (.MIEM00000CUS) , opens new tab have gained nearly 7%. "Flows have been very strong for the first time in a number of years," Dhawan said. Flows to local currency assets outstripping money headed for emerging market hard currency ones was "a sign of investors' willingness to embrace the dollar depreciation story and think more internationally around a search for yield." Emerging stocks (.MSCIEF) , opens new tab are outperforming the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab so far this year by 10 percentage points, while local currency bonds have returned more than 11% this year in dollar terms. (.JPMGBIEM) , opens new tab U.S.-based investors did not have sufficient exposure to and were trying to figure out if this rally has durability, Dhawan said. "EM is in a good position where the underlying fundamentals are pretty healthy and robust," he said, adding that he did not expect capital flows to stop. Net capital inflows from non-residents to emerging markets are estimated at $887 billion in 2025, up from $852 billion in 2024, and forecast to hit $935 billion next year, according to the Institute of International Finance. Investor interest was also more broad based, Dhawan said, adding that the institutional investor base had become more established in emerging markets. Dhawan dismissed the risk of a policy reversal under Trump that could trigger a spike in the dollar. "These capital flows are genies that can't be put back in the bottle because they are irrespective of what the U.S. does now, there's been some loss of confidence in the administration." https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/bond-giant-pimco-sees-emerging-markets-goldilocks-moment-2025-06-26/
2025-06-26 12:58
June 26 (Reuters) - India's power ministry has proposed a new rule that would require electricity distribution companies to take quicker action after signing deals to buy power from clean energy projects. Under the draft rule dated June 25, distribution companies must ask for official approval from the appropriate regulatory commission within 30 days of signing the deal with an intermediary, such as a renewable energy implementing agency. Sign up here. This is a significant step as the industry has flagged delays from power distribution companies, which has slowed down the start of solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects. India is working towards its target of installing 500 gigawatts of clean energy capacity by 2030, nearly triple its current capacity. The sector is grappling with several obstacles, including weak demand for tenders, land acquisition challenges, delays in power purchase agreements and project cancellations. If the approval from a regulatory commission takes too long — more than 60 days after applying or 120 days after signing the deal — the company building the project will get extra time to complete the project without being penalized, the power ministry said in its proposal. The ministry has asked for feedback on the proposal from stakeholders by July 9. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/india-wants-power-distribution-companies-act-faster-clean-energy-deals-2025-06-26/
2025-06-26 12:47
CAPE TOWN, June 26 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone will wait for the results of a recently-launched offshore 3D seismic survey, its first in over a decade, ahead of potentially opening its next oil and gas licensing round later this year, a senior government official said on Thursday. In partnership with the government's petroleum directorate, consultancy GeoPartners started the six-week seismic survey last month as part of efforts to de-risk exploration in Sierra Leone's offshore basin. Sign up here. "The reprocessing of that data is happening now with our multi-client partners, TGS, and we are hoping to get something to push to the market in October," Foday Mansaray, director general at the Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate said of a potential licensing launch date. He said the West African country, where the then Anadarko Petroleum and Russia's Lukoil previously discovered oil but not in commercial quantities, could potentially offer up to 60 offshore blocks in its sixth oil and gas auction round. The previous round concluded in 2023. However, the new blocks are unlikely to include ultra-deep areas that are ordinarily open for direct negotiations, he said. Sierra Leone has an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent recoverable offshore, Mansaray said, including the large Vega prospect identified by Anadarko previously, which has some 3 billion barrels of oil recoverable. Situated along the Atlantic seaboard and between regional oil-producing countries, such as Ivory Coast to the south and Senegal to the north, Sierra Leone is keen to boost its credentials as an emerging exploration frontier. Over the past 18 months, Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab, Petrobras (PETR4.SA) , opens new tab, Hess (HES.N) , opens new tab and Murphy Oil (MUR.N) , opens new tab have purchased some of its licensed data, Mansaray said. Using Namibia and Guyana as examples of how exploration has boomed in those countries following years of inactivity, he said Sierra Leone could be on the verge of a breakthrough. "I firmly believe that Sierra Leone is on the cusp of something big and we are going to be one of the next big and successful stories." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/sierra-leone-aims-be-west-africas-newest-oil-gas-exploration-frontier-2025-06-26/
