2024-06-18 11:11

NEW DELHI, June 18 (Reuters) - Peak demand for power in India's hot, arid northern plains hit a record on Monday, the government said as it continues to implement measures to meet high energy consumption, although the weeks' long heatwave is forecast to abate soon. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted above-normal temperatures for June in the northwest and central parts of the country, making it one of the longest heatwave spells. Government data shows that there were nearly 25,000 cases of suspected heat stroke and 56 people lost their lives in the sweltering heat across the country from March-May. India's power ministry said demand for power at the peak time on Monday reached 89 gigawatt (GW), the highest ever for the northern region, adding that the strong demand, which has prevailed since May 17, was "challenging". The temperature in the national capital Delhi was about 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) late Monday afternoon but the IMD said it felt like 49.2 C. In Delhi, which is facing a water shortage, the highest daily temperatures have stayed above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) since May 12 and are forecast to fall below that mark only on June 26. The ministry said it was able to supply power to the northern parts by importing 25-30% from neighbouring regions and urging all utilities to minimize forced outages of equipment. This summer has seen a record peak 250GW demand for power throughout the country, with the ministry implementing various measures as the need for air conditioners and other cooling appliances rises. The IMD expects some respite from the heat from Thursday although the monsoon has delivered a fifth less rain than normal so far this season. Sweltering heat and policy measures have fuelled a surge in the use of gas-fired power, with power generation doubling in April and May to 8.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) compared with the same period last year, according to data from Grid India. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-sees-record-peak-demand-power-north-heatwave-persists-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 11:09

SAO PAULO, June 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol (GOLL4.SA) New Tab, opens new tab and fuel distributor Vibra (VBBR3.SA) New Tab, opens new tab have completed the first "book-and-claim" deal to offset carbon emissions through sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Latin America, executives from both companies told Reuters. The "book-and-claim" system allows airlines to offset emissions by purchasing credits originating from the use of SAF by other carriers, and is seen as a way to help them reduce their carbon footprints while SAF is not yet widely available. The aviation industry has the goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and although SAF is expected to account for 64% of these efforts, it currently makes up only 0.2% of global jet fuel use. Gol and Vibra's deal resulted from a pilot project to analyze how "book-and-claim" would work in Brazil, where carriers are still not required to use SAF or reduce emissions - something expected to happen only from 2027 onwards. The transaction was a small one in which Vibra supplied traditional jet fuel to Gol, whose emissions of 50 metric tons of CO2 were then offset by the use of cooking oil-based SAF provided by SkyNRG to the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The aircraft supplied with that SAF did not make use of the originating carbon credits, which were in turn sold to Gol. "The idea was to understand how the whole process works," Gol's Operations Control Center director Eduardo Calderon said, noting that the equivalent of emissions from 10 flights between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were offset. Aviation, a carbon-intensive industry, accounts for around 2.5% of global carbon emissions. Critics of carbon offset markets, including Greenpeace, say they allow emitters to continue to release greenhouse gases. Calderon said the firms would now present the results to authorities so they could discuss ways to eventually implement a "more solid book-and-claim project" in Brazil. "Right now, we do not plan on doing it again in the near future," Calderon said. But "undoubtedly," he added, the method will be important for carriers to offset emissions when they are required to. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/brazils-gol-vibra-complete-first-saf-book-and-claim-latin-america-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 11:08

BENGALURU, June 18 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will cut its deposit rate twice more this year, in September and December, according to a significant majority of economists polled by Reuters who said the risks were skewed towards fewer rate cuts than expected. That outlook was broadly unchanged from a survey conducted before the ECB delivered its widely telegraphed 25 basis point rate cut on June 6. Improving business activity, strong wage data and still-sticky price pressures have increased uncertainties around the rationale for more cuts. In an interview with Reuters on Monday, ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane said there was no "acute urgency" to lower interest rates if the economy continues to expand. Still, a strong near-80% majority in the June 12-18 Reuters poll, 64 of 81, expected the ECB to cut twice more this year, in September and December, taking the deposit rate to 3.25%. That was up from nearly two-thirds in May and just about half in an April survey. While 11 expected just one more reduction this year, six predicted three additional cuts. ECB President Christine Lagarde repeated at the June press conference that the bank will "continue" to depend on economic data to guide policy decisions, despite the ECB having done everything but formally pre-announce the June cut well in advance. "Strictly speaking, the ECB's approach is not data-dependent in the sense that only the incoming data matter... We continue to expect further ECB rate cuts in September and December," said Greg Fuzesi, euro area economist at JPMorgan. "Given the pick-up in GDP growth, there was room to wait for more data to clarify key aspects of the forecast. It is unclear if the same argument will be used again to justify another cut in September, i.e., that rates would still be restrictive even after a second cut." Financial markets, which until recently were priced for one more cut this year, have started pricing in two reductions just in the past few days, in part related to turmoil in French bond markets following President Emmanuel Macron's decision to call snap parliamentary elections starting later this month. Inflation, which rose to 2.6% last month from 2.4% in April, will not reach the ECB's 2% target until Q2 2025, according to poll medians, a bit more optimistic than the latest ECB projections showing inflation above 2% until at least 2026. Also, fewer rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve, currently expected to deliver at most two or possibly just one reduction this year, could lead the euro , down nearly 3% for the year against the U.S. dollar, to weaken further. That could lead to unwanted imported inflation. A near-90% majority of economists, 36 of 41, said risks were more skewed towards fewer ECB rate cuts this year than more. "We have two cuts (this year), but it could turn out to be only one... If there's a strong reason for the Fed not to cut rates, then maybe that also can have a bearing on the policy space the ECB has," said Elwin de Groot, head of macro strategy at Rabobank. Meanwhile, the euro zone economy, which grew 0.3% last quarter, will average 0.7% expansion this year and 1.4% next year, broadly unchanged from the last poll. (For other stories from the Reuters global economic poll:) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ecb-cut-rates-sept-dec-risks-skewed-towards-fewer-cuts-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 11:04

NIAMEY, June 18 (Reuters) - An armed group opposed to Niger's ruling junta disabled a section of the country's PetroChina-funded (601857.SS) New Tab, opens new tab crude oil pipeline in an attack on Sunday night, it said in a statement. The pipeline has a capacity of 90,000 barrel per day (bpd) and extends for nearly 2,000 km (1,243-mile) linking Niger's Agadem oilfield to Benin's coast. Exports are meant to be loaded under a $400 million deal with oil giant China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). The Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) said its attack on the pipeline was aimed at pushing Niger's Chinese partners to cancel the export deal. The FPL formed after the West African country's July 2023 coup. "Failing this, all oil assets will be paralysed in the next few actions," the FPL said, without providing further detail. Niger's government, PetroChina, CNPC, and pipeline operator West Africa Oil Pipeline (WEPCO) did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The claimed attack deepens a crisis surrounding the pipeline, whose flows Niger said last Thursday it had shut off due to a border dispute with Benin. That came a day after unidentified assailants attacked soldiers guarding the pipeline in southeastern Dosso region. Six soldiers were killed, security sources told Reuters. No one has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which was the first on security forces protecting the pipeline. Jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State operate in the area. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/niger-group-claims-attack-china-backed-pipeline-threatens-more-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 11:00

SMITH CENTER, Kansas, June 18 (Reuters) - In a tiny town surrounded by miles of rippling wheat fields, Brady Peterson's restaurant sits nearly empty during what should be a Saturday lunch rush. Normally, Pete's would be filled with farmers ordering fried chicken and cheeseburgers, but as farm income thins, so does Peterson's business. Sluggish sales have slashed his income so much that he can't afford to run his home air conditioner during the baking Kansas summers or pay for a suit to wear to a close friend's funeral. "I ended up wearing a T-shirt I wear to work and a nice pair of jeans," Peterson said. As U.S. farm incomes are forecast to plunge in 2024 due to a sharp reversal in commodity crop prices, less government support and high borrowing and labor costs, farmers' economic pain is spreading from the fields to Main Street. The situation in U.S. prairie states is particularly severe. Farmers here are facing the worst economic situation in over a decade, and small cities are at risk of becoming ghost towns, sources told Reuters. Two years of severe drought followed by national farm economic problems including inflated seed and chemical costs, higher interest rates and lower crop prices have sapped money from the surrounding communities, ten business owners, two chambers of commerce directors, two economists and three farmers in Kansas told Reuters. Business owners noted anywhere from a 20% to 30% decline in revenue compared to the previous year. Nationally, farm income is forecast to fall 25% from last year according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. That would be the largest annual decrease New Tab, opens new tab in dollar terms. "We're a farming community, and the farmers just don't have the money to spend," Megan Jensen, owner of Meg's Grooming and Pet Salon in Concordia, Kansas, said through tears. "Every penny I own is invested in this. If I fail, I'm homeless." U.S. farm income hit a record high in 2022, before a steep drop in commodity crop prices due to large harvests in South America and waning demand from importers and meatpackers upended U.S. farmers' fortunes. Corn, soy and wheat futures are trading around three-year lows. Farm income in Kansas and other prairie states has fallen even more and is forecast to be the lowest since at least 2010 New Tab, opens new tab this year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Kansas is the biggest U.S. wheat-producing state, and economists say the nationwide downturn has particularly hurt regions that produce the grain as demand for U.S. wheat shrinks. FEAST OR FAMINE The mayor of Smith Center, Bryce Wiehl, is a tanned farmer with a scraggly white beard and gruff voice. Over fried chicken at Pete's, he described the foreclosures, the town of 1,500's dwindling population and downward economic spiral. "It's hard to find an industry that doesn't rely on farm product prices. It has a dramatic impact on the community," he said. Rural downtowns in Kansas are dotted with shuttered businesses, and residents noted the streets are emptier than ever. "Things are incredibly volatile here. It's either feast or famine," said Shane Wyatt, owner of a gun shop in rural Norton, Kansas. "I wouldn't quite call it a ghost town, but you can really see the impact of the low prices." While the broader U.S. economy is growing strong, researchers at Creighton University reported in May that the nation's rural Main Street economy New Tab, opens new tab in the Midwest and Great Plains had fallen as farm equipment sales slumped and agricultural land prices dropped for the first time in five years. Russ Erbert, a jeweler in Norton, Kansas, delights in showing young couples how a good diamond will sparkle even under dim light and seeing a newly engaged woman smile when she sees her ring. During an economic downturn in a small farm town, these scenes happen less often. "Some of the young farm kids are waiting until the following year to get married," he said. "They're budget conscious." When customers do trickle into businesses, they often buy less expensive items: pocketknives instead of firearms at a gun shop and modest gems over two-carat diamonds at a jewelry store. At pawn shops, residents are pawning more possessions for quick cash, and fewer return to buy them back. High inflation and interest rates hit farmers particularly hard as they depend on short-term, variable-rate loans to pay for everything from seeds and fertilizer to livestock and machinery with the goal of paying them back after the harvest. Lingering inflation is also pressuring business owners, though they're reluctant to raise prices in a community where even a minute price hike elicits complaints and may steer customers away. "I feel like I have to work three times harder to get the same amount of money," said Tammy Britt, the owner of a soda fountain and gift shop in Concordia. Some said they were suffering health problems from the constant pressure and unrelenting workload. "There's days (sic) where the stress mounts and you want to pull your hair out. Sometimes you got to run to the back of the building and scream a little bit and come back in," restaurant owner Peterson said. "But you've got to be optimistic. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/farmers-financial-pain-spills-kansas-wheat-fields-main-streets-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 10:54

BRASILIA, June 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's tax authority will soon call foreign crypto exchanges not based in the country to explain their operations and how they cooperate with local service providers, government officials told Reuters on Monday. The tax revenue service is expected to publish this week an ordinance summoning these companies for further information. Unlike exchanges formally established in Brazil, they are not obligated to report transactions conducted on their platforms. "It's an area of concern for us to understand first how they operate here, whether there's any illegality or not. We are also concerned about having information on Brazilian wealth subject to taxation here," said Andrea Chaves, deputy secretary of inspection at the federal revenue service. Wagner Lima, risk management coordinator at the revenue service, said the government also aims to understand how these exchanges cooperate with service providers in the country to ensure they provide information as required by the tax revenue service under a 2019 regulation. Among the exchanges not based in Brazil but operating in the country and even having Portuguese-language websites are Binance, Coinbase, OKX, and KuCoin. The call comes amid a surge in crypto assets in Latin America's largest economy. From January to July 2023, Brazilians declared 133.6 billion reais ($24.6 billion) in crypto assets, a 36.6% increase from the same period the previous year, according to the latest data from the revenue service, which is working on a technological update to release new figures. Of this total, 14.5 billion reais were declared using exchanges abroad, a 51.2% growth on the same basis. In this case, providing information to the government depends on taxpayers, whether individuals or legal entities. ($1 = 5.4245 reais) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/brazils-tax-authority-summon-foreign-crypto-exchanges-information-2024-06-18/