2025-04-15 13:33
ABUJA, April 15 (Reuters) - Nigeria's headline consumer inflation (NGCPIY=ECI) , opens new tab edged up to 24.23% year-on-year in March from 23.18% in February, its statistics agency said on Tuesday. A report by the National Bureau of Statistics showed price rises for food and non-alcoholic beverages were the biggest contributor to annual inflation. Sign up here. Inflation in Africa's most populous country soared to repeated 28-year peaks last year, spurred by President Bola Tinubu's moves to curb costly subsidies and devalue the naira currency after he came to power in 2023. A rebasing exercise by the statistics bureau, in which the items in its reference basket were reweighted and the comparison period was updated from 2009 to 2024, saw the annual inflation rate fall from 34.80% in December to 24.48% in January. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-annual-inflation-picks-up-2423-march-2025-04-15/
2025-04-15 12:31
DAKAR, April 15 (Reuters) - Malian authorities have shut the Canadian miner Barrick Gold's office in the capital Bamako over the alleged non-payment of taxes, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, in the latest escalation of a protracted dispute over mining revenues. Barrick Gold did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously denied any wrongdoing. Sign up here. The Toronto-based miner and Mali have been in a dispute since 2023 over the implementation of the West African country's new mining code that gives Mali's government a greater share in the gold mine. Staff in Bamako cannot access the office premises, one of the sources said, adding that the closure did not affect Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in western Mali, where operations have been suspended since mid-January. The two sides have been negotiating to resolve the dispute and Reuters reported on February 19 that Barrick had signed an agreement to end it that awaits approval from the Malian government. One of the sources who spoke about the shutdown of the head office and two other sources said a resolution to the dispute was expected as soon as next week. The sources all asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. Operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto complex were suspended after the government in January seized around three metric tons of gold stock from it, accusing the company of not fulfilling its tax obligations. That tax dispute is separate from the one cited for this week's office closure, one of the sources said. Mali's government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021, had been blocking the company's gold exports since early November. Nearly 40 Malian staff from the Loulo-Gounkoto complex are being at least temporarily transferred to Barrick's Kibali mine in Democratic Republic of Congo, a fifth source said. That person said the transfers are part of a first wave, but that 100 Malian staff in total have been identified for relocation, a sign operations are unlikely to restart soon. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mali-has-shut-barrick-golds-office-bamako-over-alleged-non-payment-taxes-sources-2025-04-15/
2025-04-15 12:28
TORONTO, April 15 (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts declined 3.3% in March compared with the previous month, data from the national housing agency showed on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 214,155 units from a revised 221,405 units in February, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation said. Economists had expected starts to rise to 242,500. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-housing-starts-post-surprise-decline-march-2025-04-15/
2025-04-15 12:04
BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - China's biggest pig breeder Muyuan Foods (002714.SZ) , opens new tab said it is pursuing a second listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, an exchange filing showed on Tuesday. The company, already listed on China's Shenzhen bourse, said the Hong Kong listing is aimed at deepening the company's globalisation strategy, adding that the plan is pending regulatory approval. Sign up here. China, the world's biggest pork consumer, has been battling a pork glut as production surged post-swine fever, but demand has slowed amid a slowing economy, pushing prices down and straining pig farmers’ margins. Muyuan Foods, one of the world’s biggest pig breeders and pork producers, returned to a net profit of 17.9 billion yuan in 2024 from a net loss of 4.3 billion yuan in 2023. It is expected to release its first quarter earnings in late April. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-top-pig-breeder-muyuan-foods-seeks-hong-kong-listing-2025-04-15/
2025-04-15 12:00
LAUNCESTON, Australia, April 15 (Reuters) - China's imports of major commodities were weak in the first quarter, but the challenge is working out whether the soft outcomes are mainly the result of temporary factors or signs of deeper economic malaise. The big four commodity imports, namely crude oil, iron ore, coal and copper, all saw declines in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Sign up here. The simple explanation is that the soft imports are because the world's second-largest economy is still struggling to build economic growth momentum, a task made harder by the escalating trade war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump. But this ignores several factors unique to each of the commodities. Take crude oil for example. Imports were 135.25 million metric tons in the first quarter, equivalent to 10.97 million barrels per day (bpd) and down 1.5% from the same period a year earlier, according to customs data released on Monday. At first blush that looks like a weak outcome, and certainly crude imports were struggling in January and February. But arrivals roared back in March, rising to 12.1 million bpd, the highest since August 2023 and up 4.8% from March last year. The question is whether the surge in March imports was because of an improvement in underlying fuel demand, or was it driven by more temporary factors. The latter is the more likely, as Chinese refiners bought up cargoes of Iranian and Russian crude, most likely in an attempt to buy as much as they could before new U.S. sanctions on those two countries oil exports came into effect. China's imports from Iran were estimated by commodity analysts Kpler at 1.37 million bpd in March, up from 746,000 bpd in February and the most since October. Seaborne imports from Russia were estimated by Kpler at 1.25 million bpd, up from 760,000 bpd in February and the most since November last year. Pipeline imports from Russia add just under 1 million bpd to China's total arrivals from its neighbour. The overall picture for crude is largely one of weakness, with the strength in March likely a one-off driven by anticipated and actual measures by the United States. WEATHER HITS Iron ore imports dropped to 93.97 million tons in March, down from February's 94.21 million and also 6.7% below the level from March of last year. For the first quarter, arrivals of the key steel raw material were 285.31 million tons, down 7.8% from the same period in 2024. But a significant part of the weakness in iron ore was because of weather-related disruptions in Australia, which supplies about two-thirds of China's total imports. Australian exports of iron ore to China dropped to 50.5 million tons in February, the weakest in five years. Many February-loading cargoes would have arrived in March in China, and March-loading cargoes recovered to 67.61 million tons, which implies April imports may be stronger. Imports of all grades of coal were 114.85 million tons in the first quarter, down 0.9% from the same period a year earlier. Similar to iron ore, there were weather-related disruptions to shipments from Australia, which is China's second-largest supplier after Indonesia. Australia's exports to China in February dropped to 3.74 million tons, a two-year low and even though they recovered somewhat to 6.17 million in March, this was still below the 6.7 million tons a month they averaged in 2024. Weaker Chinese domestic prices also encouraged utilities to switch to local supplies, a trend that is likely to persist and therefore put downward pressure on import volumes. Copper imports were also soft in the first quarter, with arrivals of unwrought copper slipping 5.2% to 1.3 million tons. But there is also a temporary factor at work in copper, with shipments to the United States rising as traders sought to take advantage of higher U.S. prices ahead of the expected imposition of a tariff on imports of the key industrial metal. With the United States drawing cargoes, Chinese buyers preferred to trim their imports and await cheaper prices once the situation on Trump's potential tariffs becomes clearer. The overall picture that emerges from China's first quarter commodity imports is that the trend is soft, and where there were signs of strength, as in crude oil arrivals in March, it was down to temporary factors. The outlook also remains cloudy, given Trump's now 145% tariff on U.S. imports from China, which if maintained will make it harder for Beijing to engineer economic growth close to its target of around 5% for 2025. The views expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chinas-q1-key-commodity-imports-were-soft-outlook-mixed-russell-2025-04-15/
2025-04-15 11:56
India law sets quota for jute bags for sugar packaging Industry challenges the law, flagging risks Indian government says protecting jute industry is key NEW DELHI, April 15 (Reuters) - In India, the world's largest consumer of sugar, the federal government and producers have locked horns in court over a contentious issue: jute bags. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been tightening enforcement of a 1987 law, which obliges sugar mills to pack 20% of their supplies in jute bags or face fines for non-compliance, in a bid to support the traditional fibre industry. Sign up here. The law now faces a legal challenge from Indian sugar mills, which say using jute bags each year costs them an additional $76 million compared to recyclable plastic ones. They also argue the fibre bags also increase the risk of sugar contamination, previously unreported court documents show. The Indian government says contamination concerns are unfounded as jute bags are more robust and pest resistant than recyclable plastic packaging, its court filing shows. It also told the High Court in Karnataka that the law was a "welfare legislation" important to safeguard the traditional industry which supports 4 million agricultural families. The lawsuits mark the latest tussle between big companies and Modi's government. Global and Indian electronic companies, including Daikin (6367.T) , opens new tab and Samsung (005930.KS) , opens new tab, are separately fighting Modi over moves to regulate how much they must pay for e-waste recycling. The filings related to the lawsuit which started in August are not public and were reviewed by Reuters this week. The Karnataka High Court is set to start hearing final arguments in the case on Wednesday, with a ruling expected in coming weeks. In December, one letter shows, the government warned sugar mills non-compliance with jute packaging rules will "be viewed seriously and strict action will be taken". The sugar industry group and India's government did not respond to Reuters queries. Sugar producers said in the court filings that jute bag rules were also a spoiler for business, with many buyers reluctant to take such bags. The South Indian Sugar Mills Association said that its bulk consumers "like Pepsi, Coke, Britannia, ITC, Nestle ... do not accept sugar in jute bags due to quality, contamination, hygiene and food safety risks." With an estimated 28 million tons of consumption, India is the world's biggest sugar consumer ahead of China. Modi, a longstanding supporter of traditional and rural sectors, has been vocal about protecting the jute industry. In 2023, he said such "reservation norms" for jute packaging contributed towards "revitalising" the sector and helped farmers. (This story has been corrected to remove the reference to court, to clarify that Samsung is not suing the government, in paragraph 5) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/indias-government-sugar-industry-face-off-over-jute-bags-2025-04-15/
