2024-10-01 07:50

BEIJING, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and his U.S. counterpart will hold a call in the near future on trade and economic ties, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. They will exchange views on bilateral economic and trade relations and key issues of mutual concern, including restrictions on electric vehicles (EVs), Xinhua reported. During a two-day working group meeting in Beijing last month with a U.S. delegation, Chinese officials expressed "grave" concerns about additional U.S. tariffs, investment restrictions, and Russia-related sanctions. A new round of U.S. tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese goods including EVs, EV batteries and solar panels took effect in late September, with lithium-ion batteries bearing the brunt of the levies by value. The U.S. imports nearly zero Chinese EVs. The tariffs were imposed after a review by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative of levies that had been previously introduced by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018. The Biden administration said the tariffs were aimed at bolstering protections for strategic domestic industries from China's state-driven excess production capacity. Beijing has vowed retaliation. China has long accused the United States of containing its economic development and suppressing its technological advancement out of what it says is sheer paranoia. But Beijing has remained open to talks and negotiations, especially given the prospect of Trump returning to the White House. Trump has said he would consider imposing more tariffs of 60% or more on Chinese goods should he be elected as president again in November. "In state-to-state relations, the No.1 and overarching question is: are we rivals, or partners?" said Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the United States, at a reception on Monday, the eve of China's National Day. "China's success does not have to mean a failure of the United States," Xie added. China's relations with the European Union have also come under renewed strain as Brussels accuses Beijing of flooding the European market with EVs that it says are backed by unfair Chinese industrial policies and subsidies. The EU is slated to cast a vote on introducing definitive levies on China-made EVs this month. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china-us-hold-talks-economic-trade-issues-xinhua-reports-2024-10-01/

2024-10-01 07:46

ABUJA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp's (XOM.N) , opens new tab deal to sell its Nigerian onshore assets to Seplat Energy will be approved in days after getting clearance from the regulator, President Bola Tinubu said on Tuesday. The $1.28 billion deal has been closely watched since it was first announced in 2022 with analysts saying it would also signal to investors that similar deals, such as Shell's asset sale to Renaissance in January, are likely to get approval. Tinubu, in a televised broadcast to mark Nigeria's 64 years of independence, said his government was committed to make it easy for investors to come and go while upholding the country's regulatory processes. "As such, the ExxonMobil Seplat divestment will receive ministerial approval in a matter of days, having been concluded by the regulator," Tinubu said. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has not yet announced approving the deal. Nigeria is struggling to raise output of oil, its biggest export earner, mainly due to theft of crude and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta, forcing companies like Exxon and Shell to look to deepwater projects for expansion. The presidency announced last week that Exxon had proposed a $10 billion investment in offshore oil operations in a new investment push in Nigeria. Tinubu said his government would continue with reforms to woo investors, adding that Nigeria had attracted foreign direct investments worth more than $30 billion since he came to office last year. But his reforms, which include easing forex controls and devaluing the currency and cutting subsidies on fuel and electricity, have worsened a cost of living crisis and angered citizens. Tinubu promised fiscal reforms, including reducing taxes on businesses, to make Nigeria more attractive to investors. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/exxon-seplat-128-billion-deal-approval-imminent-nigeria-president-says-2024-10-01/

2024-10-01 07:30

SINGAPORE, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan oil refiners are bracing for heavy rain and winds ahead of super Typhoon Krathon's anticipated landfall, with the storm likely to delay some fuel shipments and prolong maintenances, while key ports are shut, industry sources said. Krathon has strengthened into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to cross the densely populated west coast to hit the major port city of Kaohsiung early on Wednesday afternoon. State-owned Taiwanese refiners CPC Corp (MOEATA.UL) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) (6505.TW) , opens new tab closed their respective ports in Kaohsiung and Mailiao as of Tuesday as a precautionary measure, industry sources told Reuters. Refineries on the island operated as normal on Tuesday, though cargo deliveries and any ongoing maintenance completion are expected to be delayed by a few days due to the typhoon, said sources. "Our RDS (residue desulphurisation) unit is currently under a scheduled shutdown and is expected to restart in early November, though the typhoon is likely to lengthen the turnaround time by a few days," said FPCC spokesperson KY Lin. "Our RFCC (residual fluid catalytic cracking) unit has been under unplanned maintenance since Sept. 23, originally expected to take about 22 days for it to restart," Lin added. Meanwhile, refinery operations at CPC remained unaffected so far, though its Kaohsiung port operations were halted as of Monday afternoon, market sources said. CPC operates a 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Taoyuan in northern Taiwan and a 450,000-bpd refinery at Talin in southwest Taiwan. Its spokesperson could not be immediately reached for a comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/taiwan-refiners-brace-super-typhoon-krathon-ports-shut-ahead-landfall-2024-10-01/

2024-10-01 07:28

Temperatures soar in high-altitude locations Alpine glaciers set to lose most of their mass by 2100 Rocks 'taking over' on some glaciers, scientist says ZURICH, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Swiss glaciers melted at an above-average rate in 2024 as a blistering hot summer thawed through abundant snowfall, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Tuesday. Earlier this year, glaciologists had celebrated heavy winter and spring snow dumps in the Alps, hoping this would signal a halt to years of hefty declines or even a reversal of losses. But with average August temperatures a few degrees above freezing even at the 3,571 meter high Jungfraujoch station perched above the Aletsch Glacier, scientists measured record ice losses across the country that month. Overall, GLAMOS said Swiss glaciers lost 2.5% of their volume this year which was above the average of the past decade. "It is worrying to me that despite the perfect year we actually had for glaciers, with the snow-rich winter and the rather cool and rainy spring, it was still not enough," said Matthias Huss, Director of GLAMOS. "If the trend continues that we have seen in this year, this will be a disaster for Swiss glaciers," he added. One of the factors that accelerated the losses this year was dust from the Sahara, the report said. This gives ice sheets a brown or rosy hue which inhibits their ability to reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere. Pictures posted by Huss on social media during data collection trips in recent weeks showed muddy streams snaking through ice sheets so thin that rocks and gravel protruded. "There is really a relation you build up with the site, with the ice, and it hurts a bit to see how the rocks are simply taking over," he told Reuters earlier this month, while measuring ice on the Pers Glacier in eastern Switzerland. More than half of the glaciers in the Alps are in Switzerland where temperatures are rising by around twice the global average due to climate change. Last week, the Swiss government gave approval to revise segments of its border with Italy since the melting of the icy ridges between the two countries has reshaped the watersheds which fix the boundary. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the Alps' glaciers are expected to lose more than 80% of their current mass by 2100. Earlier this year, Europe's top human rights court ruled that Switzerland was not doing enough to arrest the impact of climate change. The Swiss government denies this. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swiss-glacier-melt-exceeds-average-2024-after-hot-summer-2024-10-01/

2024-10-01 07:25

March 6 (Reuters) - State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, or ADNOC, has been pursuing a series of merger and acquisition deals with European companies, with an aim to diversify and develop its chemicals and renewable energy operations. Here are the deals and talks ADNOC is involved in: COVESTRO ADNOC said on Oct. 1 it had agreed to buy German chemicals producer Covestro for 14.7 billion euros ($15.9 billion), one of the biggest foreign takeovers by a Gulf state which is aimed at diluting the country's heavy dependence on oil in the energy transition. OMV (OMVV.VI) , opens new tab ADNOC and OMV will merge their polyolefin businesses to create a chemicals powerhouse with a $60 billion enterprise value, they said on March 4 after nearly two years of negotiations. The merged entity, Borouge Group International, will also acquire Canada's Nova Chemicals Corp from Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala for $13.4 billion, including debt. FERTIGLOBE (FERTIGLB.AD) , opens new tab ADNOC agreed in December 2023 to take over European chemical producer OCI's (OCI.AS) , opens new tab entire stake in ammonia and urea producer Fertiglobe for $3.62 billion, becoming its largest shareholder. ($1 = 0.9259 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/adnocs-deals-with-european-companies-2024-06-24/

2024-10-01 07:05

NTUI, Cameroon, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Rising cocoa prices driven by global production shortfalls have led to increased thefts of the commodity in farms in Cameroon, farmers and authorities say, forcing farmers to turn to machete-armed vigilantes, and amulets to stop thieves. The surge in prices in Cameroon, attributed to adverse weather conditions and plant diseases in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana, has attracted thieves to the cocoa farms, escalating security challenges and farmers fearing for their safety. While farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana sell their beans at a fixed farmgate price regulated by authorities, farmers in Cameroon, where the market is liberalized, get a higher market-related price backed by global prices. Data from Cameroon's cocoa regulator, the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, show that prices have sometimes tripled from 1,500 francs CFA ($2.56) per kg, the floor price at the start of the 2023/24 season. This has made cocoa a lucrative target for thieves, causing concern among farmers in the country's cocoa production basins. Pascal Mani, who farms seven hectares in Endaba village near the town of Ntui in central Cameroon, patrols his farm armed with a machete every day intermittently and before going to bed. "In the night, when I hear an unusual sound, I wake up," Mani said, adding that fear of thieves visiting his farm keeps him and other farmers awake most nights. To tackle the problem, some farm communities have formed vigilante groups armed with whistles, reflective jackets, bows and arrows, machetes and spears to keep watch and send out alerts. Reuters reporter saw some farmers in another community resorting to unorthodox methods to protect their crops, including planting amulets in their farms, with the hope that it would trap thieves or cast a spell on them if they dare steal their cocoa. The rise in thefts has led to violence. Two cocoa farmers were killed and their beans stolen by their farm employees last season, a senior police officer in the town of Ntui told Reuters, requesting to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about the case. In response to the escalating theft, farmers, local authorities, and buyers are implementing measures to secure crops and supply chains including refusing to buy cocoa from unregistered farmers or children. Administrative authorities in some areas have banned the sale of non-dried cocoa, a move Marriette Embolo, who farms 14 hectares in the area, hopes to see extended across the country. Embolo said she surprised a thief once on her farm. The thief had just harvested fresh pods from her trees and stashed them in several bags. "When I asked, he said he wanted to beg for cocoa seedlings. I wondered how we could both be in the same village but he never asked and preferred to go to the farm when I was not there," she said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/cameroon-farmers-turn-vigilantes-amulets-stop-cocoa-theft-2024-10-01/