2025-01-19 09:38

PARIS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - French champagne shipments fell by nearly 10% last year as economic and political uncertainties hit consumers' appetite for the sparkling wine in key markets such as France and the United States, the producers association said. Producers had called in July for a cut in the number of grapes harvested this year after sales fell more than 15% in the first half of 2024. Full year shipments were down 9.2% from 2023 at 271.4 million bottles, the Comite Champagne (Champagne Committee) said. "Champagne is a real barometer of the state of mind of consumers," Maxime Toubart, president of the Syndicat General des Vignerons and co-president of the committee, said in a statement late on Saturday. "It is not time to celebrate given inflation, conflicts across the world, economic uncertainties and political wait-and-see in some of the largest Champagne markets, such as France and the United States." The French market made up 118.2 million bottles, down 7.2% compared to 2023, which the association put down to prevailing economic and political "gloom" in the country. President Emmanuel Macron appointed Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister in a year in December, but his administration remains weak, and still faces an uphill battle to pass the 2025 budget that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Michel Barnier. Champagne exports also fell, with just 153.2 million bottles shipped, down 10.8% compared to 2023. "It is in less favourable periods that we must prepare for the future, maintain our environmental (standards) trajectory, conquer new markets and new consumers," said David Chatillon, co-president of the Champagne Committee. The committee said in July that the 2024 harvest in the Champagne region had suffered from poor weather since the start of the year, including frosts and wet weather which increased mildew fungus attacks in its vineyards. As opposed to other wine production, most champagne bottles are a mix between several vintages, using stocks from previous years. These stocks are replenished during good years and can compensate for poor harvests. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/champagne-shipments-hit-by-gloomy-consumer-mood-2024-producers-say-2025-01-19/

2025-01-19 09:21

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - India is set to allow exports of 1 million metric tons of sugar during the current season, government and industry sources said, to help mills export surplus stocks from the world's second biggest producer of the sweetener and help prop up local prices. The permission to let mills sell 1 million tons of sugar on the world market could put further downward pressure on global sugar prices , . The government is expected to soon issue an official order allowing exports of 1 million tons of sugar, said the sources who did not wish to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. The decision to allow exports, which had been speculated for the past few weeks, comes as a surprise to a section of traders, as this year's production is expected to fall below consumption for the first time in eight years. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 80% of the country's total sugar production, with lower cane yields in these states prompting trade houses to reduce their output estimates for the current 2024-25 season. The production could fall to around 27 million tons from last year's 32 million tons and below annual consumption of more than 29 million tons, according to leading trade houses. India, whose sugar export markets include Indonesia, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates, was the world's No. 2 exporter during the five years to 2022-23, with volumes averaging 6.8 million tons annually. India did not allow exports in the 2023-24 marketing year. The Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association, a producers' body, said the permission to export 1 million tons of sugar would help sugar mills reeling from low local prices. Sugar prices in India are hovering around their lowest level in 1-1/2 years. "Next year's production is likely to be quite strong, so allowing limited exports of 1 million tons is good news for the sugar industry," said Deepak Ballani, director general of the Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-set-allow-1-million-tons-sugar-exports-this-year-2025-01-19/

2025-01-19 06:17

SYDNEY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Western Australia's ports of Dampier, Ashburton, Varanus Island, and Cape Preston West were shut, the ports' operator said on Sunday, as tropical cyclone Sean developed off the state's vast Pilbara iron ore region. Pilbara Ports said on its website that it closed the ports at 8 p.m. local time on Saturday on concerns about weather off the coast of the Pilbara, an iron-ore rich area twice the size of the United Kingdom. "The system is expected to continue to intensify during Monday and is forecast to intensify into a category 3 cyclone," the port operator said. The nation's weather forecaster categorises a category 3 cyclone as one of mid-severity. The weather forecaster on Sunday issued a tropical cyclone alert for the Pilbara coast, warning of wind gusts to 120 kmh (75 mph) in the region from Sean, currently a category one cyclone. "From Monday onwards, the cyclone is forecast to turn towards the southwest, while remaining over open waters. By this time, the cyclone is forecast to begin moving away from the coast," it said. The closures come after Pilbara Ports on Saturday shut the region's iron ore hub of Port Hedland on cyclone concerns, ordering "all port inner anchorages" to leave by 6 p.m. local time. Port Hedland, located about 1,301 km (808 miles) north of state capital Perth, is the world's biggest export point for iron ore and is used by miners including BHP Group BHP.AX Fortescue FMG.AX and billionaire Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting. Pilbara Ports did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Port Hedland remained closed on Sunday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/tropical-cyclone-prompts-closure-ports-western-australias-pilbara-region-2025-01-19/

2025-01-19 03:03

BERLIN, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who is tipped to be Germany's next chancellor, has vowed to build 50 gas-fired power plants if his conservatives win the Feb. 23 snap election, the t-online news outlet reported on Sunday. "We need to build 50 gas-fired power plants in Germany as quickly as possible, which will be connected to the grid immediately," Merz, who heads the CDU/CSU conservative bloc, told t-online in an interview. Gas-fired electricity production in Germany jumped by a record 79% in November from the month before as utilities scrambled to offset a second straight month of sharply below-normal output from wind farms. Wind power output was 25% below year-prior levels in October and November due to slow wind speeds, depriving power firms of a key electricity source just as winter set in. Wind farms supplied 27% of German utility electricity in 2023. Merz, the head of Germany's CDU/CSU conservative bloc, is in line to succeed Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose fractious coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats collapsed in November over contradictory plans to revive the nation's ailing economy. He told t-online it had been a "serious strategic mistake" by Scholz's government to "shut down the last three nuclear power plants that guaranteed reliable power generation in the middle of the energy crisis." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/german-opposition-leader-vows-build-50-gas-fired-power-plants-if-elected-2025-01-19/

2025-01-18 21:43

TRIPOLI, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Libya needs between $3 billion and $4 billion to reach an oil production rate of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), the acting oil and gas minister, Khalifa Abdulsadek, told Reuters on Saturday, adding that a new license bidding round is expected to be approved by the cabinet before the end of January. Abdulsadek said the Libyan economy heavily relies on oil, accounting for more than 95% of its economic output. "There is momentum in reconstruction and this can only be achieved by increasing the production," Abdulsadek said. Abdulsadek said the goal is not just to reach 1.6 million bpd but to further increase it to 2 million bpd. According to National Oil Corporation (NOC), the national oil output reached 1,413,372 bpd on Friday. The OPEC-member country was producing 1.6 million bpd before the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Abdulsadek said, on the sidelines of the Libya Energy and Economy Summit held in Tripoli, the bidding round would include three basins and from 15 to 21 blocks. "The bidding will be in all the sedimentary basins in Libya, Sirte Basin, Murzuq Basin, Ghadames Basin. Marine areas, pretty much everywhere," Abdulsadek said. Libya's last bidding round for oil and gas exploration concessions was declared 17 years ago, NOC's former chief Farhat Bengdara said in December. Bengdara added that 70% of Libya’s total land area and over 65% of its territorial waters have yet to be explored. Bengdara resigned on Thursday and he was replaced by NOC Board of Directors member Masoud Sulaiman. Abdulsadek explained that the date to announce the licensing of the bid round would be declared after the approval by the government of national unity meeting "as both the oil ministry and NOC have finished their work." He said that the government would work with its partners to provide the $3-4 billion as "not just to increase the production but to preserve the current production rates." The bidding round has strategic importance, the minister said, adding that "whenever there is production, there is a loss and this loss must be compensated for by exploration. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/libya-needs-3-4-bln-boost-oil-production-bidding-round-expected-soon-oil-2025-01-18/

2025-01-18 20:36

BOGOTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Zijin Mining (601899.SS) , opens new tab has paused production at its Buritica gold mine in Colombia after assailants armed with homemade bombs damaged a key power source, the company said on Saturday. The attack occurred early Friday when the armed group broke into the site, which is the largest gold mine in Colombia, located in a rural area of the Antioquia province where road blocks and attacks by illegal miners are frequent. No injuries were reported. Zijin attributed the incident to illegal miners who it said sought to obtain gold from the mine. "High-powered homemade bombs were thrown at our underground facilities, causing severe destruction of the electrical substation and rendering the backup power source unusable," Zijin Continental Gold, the local unit of China-based Zijin, said in a statement released on Saturday. The attack also disrupted ventilation and drainage systems, Zijin said. Buritica produced 8.3 tons of gold in 2023, according to the company. Previous attacks by illegal miners have also affected operations at the mine. Colombia's Mining Association said the attack was not an isolated incident, and pointed to three other attacks at mines in various parts of Colombia in the last month. "This is evidence of a pattern of systematic violence to control resources and perpetuate illegality," the group said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/zijin-halts-work-colombia-gold-mine-after-homemade-bomb-attack-2025-01-18/