2025-06-05 23:57
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel (5401.T) , opens new tab and the Trump administration on Thursday asked a U.S. appeals court to extend a pause in their litigation for eight days, to give them more time to reach a deal allowing the Japanese firm to buy U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab for $14.9 billion. The court is likely to approve an extension of the pause, first granted on April 7 when U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a second national security review of the tie-up. That pause was set to expire on June 5. Sign up here. "A continued abeyance is warranted given ... the ongoing efforts to reach a resolution that would fully resolve petitioners’ claims," the companies and the government said in their filing. The request for a short pause signals the companies and the government believe they are closing in on a deal, welcome news for investors who have anxiously followed the deal's bumpy path since it was announced in December 2023. Both former President Joe Biden and Trump asserted last year that U.S. Steel should remain U.S.-owned, as they sought to woo voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Pennsylvania, where the company is headquartered. Biden blocked the deal in January on national security grounds, prompting lawsuits by the companies, which argued the national security review they received was biased. The Biden White House disputed the charge. The steel companies saw a new opportunity in the Trump administration, which began on January 20 and sought a pause in the litigation to open a fresh 45-day national security review into the proposed merger in April. But Trump's public comments, ranging from welcoming a simple "investment" in U.S. Steel by the Japanese firm to floating a minority stake for Nippon Steel, created confusion. Trump on Friday lauded an "agreement" between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel at a political rally but stopped short of approving the companies' diplomatically sensitive merger. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/nippon-steel-us-seek-8-day-pause-litigation-resolve-deal-concerns-2025-06-05/
2025-06-05 23:38
June 5 (Reuters) - British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office has determined that work on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline project has been substantially started, the provincial government said on Thursday. The decision means a 2014 environmental assessment certificate for the project will remain in effect indefinitely, unless suspended or cancelled under the Environmental Assessment Act, the B.C. government said in a press release. Sign up here. The 900-kilometre PRGT project will run from Hudson's Hope in northeastern B.C. to Lelu Island near Prince Rupert on Canada's Pacific Coast. It was acquired from TC Energy (TRP.TO) , opens new tab by the Nisga'a First Nation and the Western LNG in March 2024 to supply natural gas to the proposed 12 million tonneS per annum Ksi Lisims liquefied natural facility. The 2014 environmental assessment certificate required that the project show substantial progress by November 25, 2024. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office launched a review process late last year to examine whether work had started, considering site inspections, documentation from PRGT and input from local First Nations. The government statement said compliance and enforcement officers will continue to monitor the PRGT project throughout construction and operation to ensure it meets all environmental requirements. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/canadian-regulator-says-prince-rupert-gas-transmission-pipeline-project-has-2025-06-05/
2025-06-05 23:24
NAPERVILLE, Illinois, June 5 (Reuters) - If anything can wreck the party for U.S. corn exporters, it’s Brazil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has sky-high goals for U.S. corn exports in both the current and upcoming marketing years, but the overall potential may be confined by Brazil’s current harvest success. Sign up here. As of May 29, U.S. corn exporters had sold 99% of USDA’s full-year export outlook for 2024-25, which ends August 31. That is the fullest coverage by this point in a decade, and the figure would generally indicate that the current export target is too low. But by how much? U.S. corn has recently been able to maintain competitive pricing versus Brazil, and 2024-25 U.S. export sales over the last several weeks have been safely above average. However, Brazil just began harvesting its heavily exported second corn crop, and some production estimates have risen notably over the last week or so. Ever since Brazil’s second corn output – and exports – exploded in 2011-12, U.S. exporters’ ability to make corn sales in the final quarter of the marketing year has been somewhat limited whenever Brazil’s crop is strong. Conab’s May estimates showed Brazil’s 2024-25 second-corn harvest up 11% from last year. Similar past years might imply that the next three months could feature an additional couple million metric tons of U.S. corn sales for 2024-25. USDA pegs 2024-25 U.S. exports at 66 million tons, second to the 69.8 million shipped in 2020-21 when China was a major player. The platform for 2024-25’s success started building in the prior year, which boasted a record U.S. corn harvest. But the urge to compare this year with last year should come with extra caveats. Not only was corn cheap and plentiful a year ago, but Brazil’s second crop shrank 12% on the year, facilitating above-average sales at the tail end of the 2023-24 U.S. season. Some analysts have surmised that tariff fears caused U.S. corn customers to stock up early on purchases, which cannot be confirmed or denied but could be another possible short-term limitation on U.S. corn sales. BUMPER EXPORTS, BACK-TO-BACK? USDA’s aspirations for U.S. corn exports in 2025-26 are even bigger than in 2024-25, but the feasibility is unclear given that the big 2024-25 Brazilian crop will be hogging global business through the next several months. As of May 29, U.S. exporters had sold just over 3 million tons of corn for export in 2025-26, slightly more than in the last two years but nothing special. Like old-crop sales, new-crop U.S. corn sales are also limited just prior to the start of the marketing year whenever Brazil’s second-corn output is solidly up on the year. This can be extended to the other corn exporters, too. Combined 2024-25 corn output in Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine is set to rise 2% on the year, which could keep a lid on 2025-26 U.S. corn sales over the next three months. Apart from Brazil, U.S. exporters’ potential success in 2025-26 depends on what happens at home. Although things are not perfect, the 2025-26 U.S. corn crop is off to a promising start with mostly benign weather expected for the first half of June. Over the last two decades, U.S. corn exports have almost never disappointed from initial expectations whenever production meets or exceeds the initial expectations. This offers a chance for U.S. exporters to retain control of their destiny despite ample Brazilian offerings if they can get cooperation from one very finicky source: Mother Nature. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bumper-brazilian-corn-crop-could-spoil-us-exporters-fun-braun-2025-06-05/
2025-06-05 23:14
Sao Paulo, June 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's Brava Energia (BRAV3.SA) , opens new tab signed a $65 million deal to sell a 50% stake in midstream natural gas infrastructure assets in the state of Rio Grande do Norte to PetroReconcavo (RECV3.SA) , opens new tab, the companies said in separate filings. The assets include two natural gas processing units, the Livramento/Guamare pipeline, and equipment used to store liquefied natural gas. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-brava-energia-signs-65-million-deal-with-petroreconcavo-natural-gas-2025-06-05/
2025-06-05 23:06
LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Britain's first industrial strategy for eight years will be undermined unless the government also announces measures to reduce sky-high energy costs faced by companies, lawmakers and business leaders said on Friday. Ministers have been working on the strategy, which will be presented along with a multi-year spending review due on Wednesday and highlight key sectors of priority to drive the Labour government's growth ambitions. Sign up here. "High electricity prices in the UK are deterring investment and hurting the ability of UK industries to compete internationally and decarbonise," the lawmakers on parliament's business and trade committee said in a report. "We recommend that the industrial strategy must include measures that level the playing field with our international competitors on industrial energy prices." On Monday, industry body Make UK said Britain needed to cut industrial energy bills that are the highest among major advanced economies if its aspirations for a healthy manufacturing sector are to succeed. It has proposed cancelling climate levies on industrial energy costs and said the committee's report was further evidence of the hard realities facing British industry. "Government has one moon shot to give companies the certainty and stability they need with a robust Industrial Strategy," said Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, adding failure to deliver on high expectations would be "wholly unacceptable". In a speech late on Thursday, Confederation of British Industry CEO Rain Newton-Smith also called on the government to remove "policy costs" from electricity bills. She said that while a divisive political debate between cheaper energy or pursuing net zero was a "false choice", energy-intensive businesses were finding it harder to stay in the UK and needed support to decarbonise. "We cannot deliver economic security without action on energy," she said. "Without it, any industrial strategy, any serious plan for economic security will fall flat on its face." A spokesperson for the business ministry said the industrial strategy would create "the best possible conditions for the private sector to thrive" in order to boost growth, adding it had consulted extensively with hundreds of businesses. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/britain-urged-lower-energy-costs-ahead-industrial-strategy-2025-06-05/
2025-06-05 22:48
June 5 (Reuters) - Argentine analysts cut their inflation forecast for the end of the year to 28.6%, the central bank's monthly market expectations survey showed on Thursday. The revised estimate is 3.2 percentage points lower than last month's forecast. Analysts also ticked up their 2025 economic growth outlook by 0.1 percentage point to 5.2%. Sign up here. The improved inflation outlook follows a landmark $1 billion, peso-linked bond sale last week, Argentina's first major issuance in seven years, which attracted demand 1.7 times the offering size. Annual inflation has fallen from over 270% a year ago to around 50% today, helping rebuild confidence among investors and the International Monetary Fund, which recently approved a $20 billion loan package. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-inflation-seen-slowing-286-by-year-end-2025-06-05/
