2025-04-20 06:19

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China's coal imports from Russia rose 6% in March from the same month last year to 7.33 million metric tons, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday, despite logistical constraints and Western sanctions. Coal imports from China's largest supplier Indonesia declined 9% to 17.96 million tons, after Indonesia started using its government-set benchmark coal price as the floor price for transactions from March 1. Sign up here. China's overall coal imports fell 6% in March, dragged down by high port inventories and weak domestic demand that have pushed spot prices to four-year lows. Below are the details of imports from key suppliers with volume in metric tons: https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/chinas-coal-imports-russia-rise-6-march-indonesia-slides-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 04:27

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China's soybean imports from the United States rose 12% in March from the same period last year, as shipments secured in late 2024 by buyers concerned about the potential for a trade spat between the U.S. and China arrived in port. However, Brazil is expected to dominate the market in the coming months as its harvest season begins. Sign up here. China brought in 2.44 million metric tons of the oilseed from the U.S. in March, according to the General Administration of Customs, or just under three-quarters of total imports. "March arrivals reflect crushers' precautionary purchases in Q4 last year amid concerns over renewed trade tensions should Trump return to office," said analyst Rosa Wang at Shanghai-based agro-consultancy JCI. Imports from Brazil dropped 69% in March to 0.95 million tons, or 27% of total soybean imports for the month. Slower shipments were partly attributed to harvest delays in the Latin American country. Total soybean arrivals in March tumbled to their lowest for the month since 2008. For the January-March quarter, China's soybean shipments from the U.S. rose 62% from a year earlier to 11.6 million tons. Shipments from Brazil were 4.5 million tons, down 55% from a year earlier. This brings Brazil's market share in the first quarter to 26%, compared to the 68% for the United States, according to Reuters calculations. Analysts forecast China's soybean imports could reach a record 31.3 million tons in April-June, driven by the arrival of freshly harvested beans from Brazil's bumper crop. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/chinas-soybean-imports-us-jump-march-brazil-set-dominate-market-2025-04-20/

2025-04-20 02:27

Japan, US finance chiefs to handle FX talks, Ishiba says Talks on Japan's huge US Treasury holdings based on 'trust' Japan must ensure its car safety rules are not seen as unfair Ishiba sees room for bigger Japan energy investment in US TOKYO, April 20 (Reuters) - Japan will emphasise "fairness" in any discussions with the U.S. on exchange rates, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday, as bilateral trade talks grab global attention in President Donald Trump's tariff offensive. Ishiba, in a talk show on public broadcaster NHK, indicated Tokyo could buy more U.S. energy and suggested flexibility on U.S. accusations of non-tariff barriers to the Japanese automobile market. Sign up here. Trump - who unexpectedly joined the first round of U.S.-Japan talks on Wednesday and touted "big progress" - has indicated he wants the negotiations to include his accusations that Tokyo intentionally weakens its currency to give its exporters an unfair advantage. Ishiba said specific discussions on currency policy will be made between Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. "We'll have to deal with this issue from the standpoint of fairness," Ishiba said, when asked how Japan would respond if the U.S. asked for cooperation in boosting the yen. He did not elaborate. Japan, which denies manipulating the yen, has over the years typically fought to keep a strong yen from hurting its export-reliant economy, but it last intervened in the foreign-exchange market last year to boost its currency. Kato plans to visit Washington this week for a meeting of the Group of 20 finance chiefs on the sidelines of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund. He is widely expected to meet Bessent for bilateral trade talks. COULD LIFT U.S. ENERGY IMPORTS Some analysts say Japan could use its huge U.S. Treasury holdings - the largest in the world at over $1 trillion - as trade leverage, but Kato this month ruled out using them as a bargaining tool. "This is something that's based on trust between the two sides, global economic stability, as well the two countries' economic stability," Ishiba said when asked whether Japan would refer to its U.S. debt holdings during the talks. Trump has hit Japan with 24% tariffs on its exports to the U.S. although, like most of Trump's levies, they have been paused until early July. A 10% universal rate remains in place, as does a 25% duty on cars, a mainstay of Japan's export-reliant economy. Nikkei Asia reported on Sunday that Japan is considering relaxing auto safety rules for imports as part of its tariff negotiations with the U.S. Washington has long complained that Japanese safety rules are a non-tariff barrier, while Japan and many experts say Detroit automakers do not make cars suited to Japan's roads and drivers. Asked about such accusations, Ishiba said there were differences in U.S. and Japanese traffic and safety rules that must be taken into account. "But we also need to ensure we're not told our (safety) rules are unfair." He signalled a readiness to pledge bigger Japanese investment in the U.S., particularly in the area of energy. "As for liquefied natural gas, Australia is the biggest exporter to Japan. I believe the U.S. is in fourth place. It's possible we could have this increase. The question is whether the U.S. can deliver (energy) stably," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-seeks-fairness-currency-talks-with-us-prime-minister-ishiba-says-2025-04-20/

2025-04-19 21:49

LAGOS, April 19 (Reuters) - The death toll in attacks by suspected cattle herders on communities in central Nigeria's Benue State has risen to 56, Governor Hyacinth Alia said on Saturday, underscoring a resurgence of such deadly clashes in Africa's most populous nation. Local media quoted the governor as citing the figure while visiting the villages in Logo and Ukum Local Government Areas (LGAs) that were attacked. Police had earlier put the figure at 17. Sign up here. Years of clashes have disrupted food supplies from north-central Nigeria, a major agricultural area. "Early hours of today, we understood that more bodies were being picked up in Logo LGA resulting in 27 corpses," Governor Alia told journalists during the visit, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. More bodies were picked up in some areas in Ukum, bringing the total to 29, he added, noting that more are expected. "So far we are talking about 56 lives lost in just one night. This is quite devastating." On Tuesday, suspected herders killed 11 people in the Otukpo area of Benue. In the neighbouring Plateau State, gunmen killed more than 50 people on Monday night. Since 2019, the clashes have claimed more than 500 lives in the region and forced 2.2 million to leave their homes, according to research firm SBM Intelligence. A separate group of suspected herdsmen shot and killed five farmers around Gbagir in Benue's Ukum Local Government Area early on Friday, police said. The attackers opened fire as police were moving in to confront them, police spokesperson Sewuese Anene said in a statement. While officers were engaging the attackers at Ukum, another 12 people were killed in an attack in the Logo local council area, about 70 km (43.5 miles) away, police said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/death-toll-nigeria-attacks-by-herders-rises-56-2025-04-19/

2025-04-19 10:59

CAIRO, April 19 (Reuters) - Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said. Sign up here. Iran and the U.S. started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran's atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump's threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails. Ahead of Saturday's talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was "ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the U.S.A." Moscow has played a role in Iran's nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The sultan's meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail. The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added. https://www.reuters.com/world/omans-sultan-meet-putin-moscow-after-iran-us-talks-2025-04-19/

2025-04-19 08:32

April 19 (Reuters) - Russian state development bank VEB will invest more than 1.1 trillion roubles ($13.40 billion) to develop a copper mine in Chukotka in the far east of the country, the government said on Saturday. The development of the Baimskaya copper deposit, first discovered in 1972, is expected to create some 6,000 jobs and generate more than three trillion roubles in tax revenue, a government press release said. Sign up here. Chukotka is a mountainous region and the easternmost federal subject of Russia. About half of it is located above the Arctic Circle. Once operable, the deposit will boost Russia's copper production by 25% and its gold production by 4%. "We continue to build not just a mining and processing plant, but a powerful and technologically-advanced industrial complex that will strengthen Russia's position in the global market and become a new point of growth in the Arctic," said Georgy Fotin, general director of the Baimskaya Management Company LLC. President Vladimir Putin has named the Arctic as one of Russia's key areas of economic interest, and has ramped up commerce via the Northern Sea Route as Moscow shifts trade towards Asia and away from Europe due to Western sanctions. Development of the Baimskaya deposit will see annual cargo traffic along the NSR increase by two million metric tons, the government said on Saturday. ($1 = 82.1000 roubles) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russias-veb-invest-134-bln-copper-mine-countrys-far-east-2025-04-19/