2025-05-08 07:24
MOSCOW, May 8 (Reuters) - Russia and China are at an "active stage" of talks on a proposed new gas pipeline, the Power of Siberia-2, carrying Russian gas via Mongolia to China, but are unlikely to sign a contract in the next couple of days, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said, according to Russia state news agency TASS. Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Moscow this week for celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Sign up here. "The companies are working on the contract. They are in the active stage of negotiations, so I think it is unlikely - there are one or two days left - that they will manage to do this before May 9," he said, referring to Thursday's war anniversary. Russia has been seeking agreement with Beijing for years on building the Power of Siberia-2 to carry 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from the Yamal region in northern Russia to China via Mongolia. So far, however, the parties have not been able to agree on the terms of gas deliveries. China's ambassador to Russia said last month that the route for the pipeline had yet to be defined. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/russian-chinese-firms-active-talks-power-siberia-2-gas-pipeline-tass-reports-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 07:19
Jump this year in Russian oil product flows into Karimun Fuel oil loading hit fresh highs in March out of Karimun Russian flows at Karimun surge after terminal sold last year SINGAPORE, May 8 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Karimun terminal has ramped up imports of Russian oil products to become a key transshipment hub where traders store cargoes whose countries of origin are rebranded before re-export, according to eight industry sources and ship-tracking data. Russian oil exports have shifted to Asia from Europe in the aftermath of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine as Western sanctions aimed at limiting Moscow's oil revenue make direct imports from Russia difficult for many buyers. Sign up here. A system of traders, shippers and transshipment points, including the floating hub along the Malacca and Singapore Straits and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, have helped keep Russian oil and products flowing, despite the sanctions. Since October, the terminal, located in a free trade zone on an island about 37 km (23 miles) southwest of Singapore, has received Russian oil products every month, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, with exports to destinations in Malaysia, Singapore and China. Before that, the data shows, Russian oil product arrivals at Karimun were only sporadic. More than 500,000 metric tons (3.2 million barrels) of fuel oil loaded from Russia's Ust Luga oil terminal has arrived at Karimun so far this year, nearly five times the volume in the corresponding 2024 period, Kpler data showed. Some 217,000 tons (1.6 million barrels) of Russian diesel have arrived at Karimun this year, versus none last year, while this year's imports of more than 50,000 tons (450,000 barrels) of Russian naphtha are up slightly from a year earlier. Karimun exported a record 590,000 tons of oil products in March, Kpler data showed, helping keep Asia well-supplied with refined products, particularly high-sulphur fuel oil, which traded into discounts to Singapore quotes, sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is a sensitive one. Indonesia's energy ministry said it did not have information on activities in Karimun because it is a free trade zone and thus beyond its authority. Officials at Indonesia's coordinating ministry of economics, which is part of the special economic zone and the free trade zone board, did not respond to requests for comment. Dubai-based Novus Middle East DMCC, which bought the 720,000 cubic metre PT Oil Terminal Karimun in the second quarter last year from Germany's Oiltanking, did not respond to a request for comment. PT Oil Terminal Karimun also did not respond to a request for comment. SANCTIONED TANKERS Russia's share of oil imports at the Karimun terminal jumped to more than 60% from October and were as high as 100% in April, Kpler data showed, up from between zero and 26% a month in the first half of 2024. At least three cargoes arrived at Karimun in March and April on tankers sanctioned by the European Union or Britain, Kpler data showed. Some of these cargoes are blended before getting re-exported, three of the sources said. The cargoes are traded through intermediaries, often obscure trading firms that frequently change their names, before heading to their final destinations, the eight sources said. Tan Albayrak, an international trade lawyer focusing on economic sanctions and export controls at Reed Smith LLP, said that while a storage facility could be exposed to sanctions by receiving cargoes from a sanctioned vessel, blending or refining the products themselves would provide a new country of origin. "If the received oil product was genuinely transformed into another oil product, then it will be considered Indonesian origin such that the Russia sanctions will no longer attach to product," Albayrak said. "At that point, there would not be an exposure to players down the chain, such as traders or buyers," he added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indonesias-karimun-terminal-becomes-key-russian-oil-hub-sources-say-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 07:12
Expects geopolitical uncertainties to impact Q2 results US customers favouring locally produced steel-CFO Demand in Europe remains subdued Shares down 4.5% May 8 (Reuters) - Stainless steel maker Outokumpu (OUT1V.HE) , opens new tab expects global uncertainties related to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs to lead to a worsening market environment and impact its operations in the second quarter. Shares of the Finnish group, which operates on both sides of the Atlantic, were down 4.5% at 1144 GMT on Thursday. Sign up here. European steelmakers, already struggling with weak demand, high costs and competition from cheaper Chinese imports, now face the additional challenge of recently increased tariffs on their exports to the United States. "Geopolitics and other significant uncertainties related to tariffs, might impact the global economy and consequently, Outokumpu's operating environment, deliveries, metal prices, and foreign exchange rates," the company said in a press release. The "wait and see" mode prevails in its key European market despite an uptick in order intake at the beginning of the year, Outokumpu said. "In Europe particularly ... we are at the moment still booking in June here," finance chief Marc-Simon Schaar told Reuters. In the United States, where Outokumpu is the second largest stainless steel producer, the uncertain economic outlook with low consumer confidence and higher inflation expectations was weighing on demand. But Schaar said Outokumpu had seen an uptick in the U.S. order book at the end of the first quarter and the start of the second, as customers favoured locally produced steel. Earlier in the quarter, import levels were still high as clients stocked up to get ahead of Trump's tariffs. Outokumpu's stainless steel deliveries rose 11.4% quarter-on-quarter, despite being impacted by a strike in Finland. They are expected to be at least level or grow by up to 10% in the second quarter. Schaar said the company was seeing higher volumes after the one-week strike, but not a real recovery in the market. The industrial action had, as expected, a negative impact of about 15 million euros ($16.9 million) on the group's adjusted operating earnings before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which rose to 49 million euros in the quarter, in line with market estimates. The company sees second-quarter adjusted EBITDA "at a similar or higher level" than the prior three months. ($1 = 0.8855 euros) https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/finlands-outokumpu-posts-1st-quarter-profit-line-with-expectations-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 07:10
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 8 (Reuters) - China's central bank has approved foreign exchange purchases by some commercial banks to pay for gold imports under recently increased quotas, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. The People's Bank of China's (PBOC) gold import quotas for the country's big banks determine how much bullion enters the world's leading consumer of the precious metal. It has in the past tweaked these quotas to help calibrate demand for dollars. Sign up here. The sources said the PBOC raised such quotas for gold imports last month and has now also allowed the banks to buy the dollars to fund these gold imports. The move comes on the heels of a raft of stimulus measures announced by Chinese authorities on Wednesday, including interest rate cuts and a major liquidity injection, as Beijing steps up efforts to soften the economic damage caused by the trade war with the United States. It could help lenders meet a significantly increased appetite for gold while slowing the pace of yuan appreciation, one of the sources said. The new quotas come at a time when gold has rallied sharply against the backdrop of market volatility induced by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. That has also driven the yuan and other Asian currencies higher as investors unwind carry trades or move money out of U.S. assets and back into Asia. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk about the matter. The PBOC did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The increase in gold imports could prevent a sudden rally in the yuan, which would be a double whammy for exporters already under pressure from the intensifying trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. Damage from high tariffs on Chinese goods under U.S. President Donald Trump has started to filter through to economic activities, as seen from slumping new export orders in April. Gold, traditionally seen as a refuge from political and economic uncertainty, scaled an all-time high of $3,500 per ounce last month, boosted by tariff war fears and strong investment demand in China and elsewhere. Despite high gold prices, China's central bank also increased gold reserves for the sixth straight month in April, official data showed on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/china-loosens-gold-import-quotas-with-eye-arresting-yuan-rally-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 07:07
May 8 (Reuters) - Spanish steelmaker Acerinox (ACX.MC) , opens new tab said on Thursday it expects to benefit from "deglobalisation" and increased trade barriers, though tariff-related uncertainties hurt the company's first-quarter results. Acerinox has a unique position in the industry, Chief Corporate Officer Miguel Ferrandis said on a conference call, as producing in three different continents gives it a strategic advantage to take advantage of "regionalisation issues". Sign up here. The company's net profit in the first quarter fell 81% compared with the same period in 2024 to 10 million euros ($11.28 million) in a steel market downturn exacerbated by the trade war. Shares were down 1.3% at 1028 GMT, partly recovering from a 5% decline earlier in the day. The steel industry has been at the centre of global trade wars ever since U.S. President Donald Trump first introduced steel tariffs during his first term. Trump's successor Joe Biden lifted them on European Union metals in 2021, but the second Trump administration reinstated 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium, giving U.S. steel mills an edge over European ones. U.S. tariffs on steel are positive for Acerinox, Chief Executive Bernardo Velazquez told Reuters, as the company now produces more in the U.S. than in Europe, and he sees greater guarantees and stability for the steel industry there in the future. "The U.S. gives us stability, it allows us to think more about the future, that is why we are growing there," Velazquez said. He also estimated that energy costs were around half cheaper than those of its Spanish mills. Velazquez called for further safeguards for European steel makers to stop production that previously supplied North America from flooding the European Union and hurting business there. ($1 = 0.8864 euros) https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/acerinoxs-first-quarter-profit-falls-dramatically-weak-steel-demand-2025-05-08/
2025-05-08 06:46
Fed sees rising risks to economy as it leaves rates unchanged US, Britain to announce trade deal on Thursday, New York Times says Pakistan vows retaliation after Indian strike over tourist deaths May 8 (Reuters) - Gold reversed course on Thursday after reports of U.S. President Donald Trump signing a potential trade deal with Britain weighed on sentiment, while investors awaited the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks this weekend. Spot gold was down 0.8% to $3,336.49 an ounce, as of 0618 GMT. The metal had risen more than 1% earlier in the session. Sign up here. U.S. gold futures lost 1.5% to $3,342.40. Trump is expected to announce a trade deal between the U.S. and Britain on Thursday, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. "On trade deal front, any de-escalation of trade war and diminishing uncertain atmosphere would be negative for the yellow metal. If the U.S. announces trade deal with the UK would be positive for the overall global economy," said Jigar Trivedi, senior commodity analyst at Reliance Securities. Trump also suggested China initiated the upcoming senior-level trade talks between the two countries and said he was not willing to cut import tariffs on Chinese goods to get Beijing to the negotiating table. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but said risks of higher inflation and unemployment had risen, as its policymakers grapple with the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs. "In our opinion the Fed may cut rates at September meeting and not before it," Trivedi said. Non-yielding bullion, a safeguard against political and financial turmoils, thrives in a low-interest-rate environment. Elsewhere, India struck Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday over the tourist killings in Kashmir last month. Pakistan vowed to retaliate and said it shot down five Indian aircraft. "If (tension) further escalates, then we might see gold continue to rise and maybe break the previous high that we've seen," said Brian Lan, managing director at GoldSilver Central, Singapore. Bullion hit a record high of $3500.05 on April 22. Spot silver eased 0.1% to $32.43 an ounce, platinum gained 0.2% to $975.75 and palladium fell 0.9% to $963.26. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-rises-fed-flags-economic-uncertainty-sino-us-trade-talks-focus-2025-05-08/
