2025-02-17 19:19

LIMA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The leader of an indigenous community in Peru asked for the government to declare a state of emergency on Monday and accused illegal miners of using children as "human shields" in the Amazon. He will ask the Peruvian government to declare a state of emergency in the area to allow the eviction of illegal miners. "They are using children between 5 and 10 years old as human shields when there is any action against illegal miners," Teófilo Kukush, president of the Wampís community located in Amazonian regions on the border with Ecuador, told local radio station RPP. Kukush said that the miners are "incentivizing" some local residents with payments and when authorities try to conduct armed raids, miners place children in front of the dredges they use to extract the gold from the river. Government officials were not immediately available to comment on the complaint. There have been several clashes and attacks on established mines that have left at least thirty people dead in the past two years. Last July, an indigenous land rights activist was found dead and indigenous leaders said dozens of community heads have been murdered due to conflicts with miners, loggers and drug traffickers. According to the local financial regulator, the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Private Pensions, between January and October of last year, customs reported $1.096 billion in operations linked to illegal mining. Peru produced 108 million grams of fine gold in 2024, 6.9% more than the previous year, with almost half supplied by small-scale miners, according to official data. The government has 85,000 registered artisanal miners, most of them from poor and remote areas, but only 20% of these miners have formal permits according to government data. The rest operate with suspended permits in areas belonging to formal companies, or illegally. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/indigenous-leader-peru-says-illegal-miners-use-children-human-shields-amazon-2025-02-17/

2025-02-17 18:19

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank monetary policy director Nilton David said on Monday that the base scenario for policymakers is to proceed with an upcoming 100 basis-point interest rate hike, as the bank had previously indicated. In his first public speech in the role, David stated that the level of confidence in the monetary tightening "must be slightly higher" amid beyond-normal uncertainties marked by tail risks seen in the international geopolitical scenario. Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce event, the director said the central bank aims to minimize risks to meet its 3% inflation target. Consumer prices in Latin America's largest economy rose 4.56% in the 12 months to January, with policymakers projecting an acceleration to 5.2% this year, David noted. "We raised rates by 100 basis points, and our base case is to continue at this pace due to forward guidance and also the need for a higher-than-usual safety margin amid uncertainty," he said. In December, policymakers accelerated monetary tightening with a 100 basis-point rate hike and signaled two more increases of the same size in response to robust activity and a sharp depreciation of the country's currency. The central bank followed the guidance in January, pushing interest rates to 13.25% and penciling in another 100 basis-point increase for March, but leaving further steps open. Since then, economic data has supported a slowdown in activity, while the Brazilian real has strengthened some 8% against the U.S. dollar year-to-date, easing rate hike bets reflected in the yield curve , which in January had pointed to rates surpassing 16% later in 2025. A central bank weekly survey with economists now projects rates peaking at 15.25% in June before edging down to 15% by year-end. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-central-bank-director-reiterates-upcoming-100-basis-point-hike-2025-02-17/

2025-02-17 17:55

Feb 17 (Reuters) - The death toll from flooding in Kentucky rose to 11 on Monday with the potential to increase further as the state was due to get pummeled by a snowstorm that could jeopardize relief efforts, Governor Andy Beshear said. Search teams conducted more than 1,000 rescue missions in the wake of flash flooding that affected nearly all of Kentucky and several surrounding states on Saturday. Hundreds of people were displaced, more than 14,000 homes and businesses remained without power and another 17,000 had no water, Beshear said. The Kentucky National Guard was deployed with assistance from aviation crews from Indiana and Tennessee. Federal urban search and rescue teams from Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee also responded. Some parts of the state received more than 8 inches (200 mm) of rain while forecasts project up to 6 inches (150 mm) of snow on the way. "We are still in the search and rescue phase of this emergency. We still have multiple different missions that are underway. There are still people that are in harm's way," Beshear told a news conference. The governor said three additional deaths increased the toll to 11. Of the 11, nine were the result of flood waters and two from road accidents. He also warned the effects of the storm were far from over. "Power could be out for some considerable amount of time," Beshear said. "There's cold weather coming." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/kentucky-flooding-death-toll-rises-11-snowstorm-arrives-2025-02-17/

2025-02-17 17:04

PORTO VELHO, Brazil, Feb 17 - Brazilian environmental agents seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads of timber in an operation targeting one of the most heavily logged regions of the Amazon rainforest in recent weeks, officials told Reuters. The raids kicked off a year-long project called Operation Maravalha, named after a type of sawdust, in the states of Amazonas, Para and Rondonia. The government expects Maravalha to be the largest operation of its kind in over five years. Environmental protection agency Ibama, which led the operation, closed nearly a dozen sawmills and levied fines totaling 15.5 million reais ($2.7 million) during a two-week raid. The operation's goal is to curb illegal logging in protected areas and Indigenous lands with some of the country's highest deforestation rates, said Jair Schmitt, head of environmental protection at Ibama. Investigators are also auditing timber projects in private lands suspected of defrauding government documentation to hide the real origin of native timber obtained illegally, Schmitt added. After the raids, Ibama plans to suspend some of the timber projects that were illegally used to launder timber taken from protected areas, Schmitt said. "The idea behind this operation is for us to contain the extraction of illegal timber in the Amazon, which is the first step to deforestation," said Schmitt, as he stood near a pile of illegal timber his team seized in a rural part of Rondonia's capital, Porto Velho. After valuable timber is extracted, Schmitt said, the rest of the forest is often razed to make way for cattle pasture. Profits made from the sale of timber are often used to fund the expensive process of converting the lush forest into pastures. While roughly 90% of the timber illegally harvested in Brazil's Amazon rainforest is sold locally, some still reaches the United States and Europe, Schmitt said. Investigators in the raid in Porto Velho found wood from several Amazon species considered valuable in global markets, such as the ipe, which is also endangered. The timber seized by Ibama will be donated to government agencies and projects. Under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who vowed to protect the Amazon during his 2022 campaign, deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest fell to its lowest level in almost a decade last year. Still, conservationists warn that illegal logging and fires are still damaging the forest in ways government deforestation data doesn't fully capture. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-targets-illegal-logging-major-amazon-raids-2025-02-17/

2025-02-17 16:59

ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA) , opens new tab should consider selling fuel directly to large consumers in order to reduce prices at the pump, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday, without giving further details on his suggestion. "The people are being robbed by intermediaries," Lula said as he criticized the 2019 privatization of former state-run BR Distribuidora, now Vibra (VBBR3.SA) , opens new tab, the country's leading fuel distributer. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/petrobras-should-sell-fuel-directly-large-consumers-says-lula-2025-02-17/

2025-02-17 16:57

NAPERVILLE, Illinois, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Last week, speculators were net sellers of Chicago corn and soybeans for the first time in nearly two months. But for now, they appear less willing to give up their bullishness in corn than they do in soybeans. In the week ended February 11, money managers cut their net long position in CBOT corn futures and options to 332,389 contracts from 364,217 in the prior week, which had been their most bullish stance since April 2022. In the same week, they reduced their net long in CBOT soybean futures and options to 28,475 contracts from 57,029 a week earlier, which had been their biggest net long since November 2023. Not only was this move more consequential for soybeans versus corn because of beans’ smaller overall position size, but more than half of the week’s net selling in soybeans was the result of new gross short positions, a sign of bearish sentiment. On the other hand, only a very small number of gross shorts entered the picture in corn, meaning that most fund managers are not yet comfortable placing short bets on the yellow grain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on February 11 made a larger-than-expected cut to its estimate for global soybean stocks, though they are still seen at all-time highs. The agency also reduced its forecast for 2024-25 world corn stocks, which are seen falling from year-ago levels. However, corn consumption is expected to rise on the year, driving world corn stocks-to-use to 29-year lows after excluding China. This divergence between corn and soybean sentiment could be felt in the trade late last week. Most-active CBOT soybean futures on Thursday hit their lowest levels in nearly a month, drifting fractionally lower over the last three sessions. But most-active CBOT corn rose 2.5% between Wednesday and Friday, hitting a 16-month high on Friday of $4.99-3/4 per bushel. Both corn and soybean crop conditions fell in Argentina last week despite recent rains, and forecasts suggest the week ahead will be on the drier side. Planting for Brazil’s second corn crop has been slower than in other recent seasons, potentially raising yield risks for later. However, Brazilian farmers made above-average sowing progress in the last two weeks, and U.S. farmers this spring are likely to boost corn plantings, potentially easing the global supply crunch. WHEAT AND BEYOND Money managers through February 11 reduced bearish bets in CBOT wheat futures and options for a second consecutive week, though their net short is near-record large for the date at 82,809 contracts. That position remains offside in relation to funds’ hugely bullish corn bets, though this gap has eased within the last two weeks. Speculators have never held such bullish corn and bearish wheat bets in data back to 2006. Most-active CBOT wheat between Wednesday and Friday jumped 4%, reaching four-month highs on Friday based on both weather and geopolitical concerns in the Black Sea. Russian grain crop estimates are starting to slip. U.S. markets are closed on Monday for a holiday, but Russian wheat export prices as of Monday were up for a fourth consecutive week as an export quota has begun to reduce shipments. On the corn and soybean side, traders this week will continue to monitor harvest and planting progress in Brazil as well as crop development in Argentina. They will also keep an eye on new-crop U.S. prices in anticipation of the 2025 planting season. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/funds-snap-long-buying-streak-chicago-corn-soybeans-braun-2025-02-17/