2024-05-18 00:24

CAIRO, May 18 (Reuters) - Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saturday hit a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast with an anti-ship missile but the crew was able to restore power and maintain course, the U.S. military said. There were no casualties reported by the ship, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said New Tab, opens new tab in a statement posted on the X social media platform. The strike was the latest in months of attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by the Houthis, who seized control of most of Yemen's major population centers in a civil war, in opposition to Israel's war in Gaza. The Houthis launched a single anti-ship missile at the M/T Wind, a Panamanian-flagged and Greek-owned oil tanker, at around 1 a.m. local time, causing flooding that knocked out its propulsion and steering, CENTCOM said. A vessel of a U.S.-led maritime coalition immediately responded, but the crew was able to restore power and steering, no assistance was required and the ship "resumed its course under its own power," it said. "This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," CENTCOM said. British security firm Ambrey said the attack occurred about 10 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's Red Sea port city of Mokha, and that the missile caused a fire in the steering gear compartment. The vessel had loaded oil at the Sheskharis terminal in Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and was bound for China, Ambrey said in an advisory note. Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said earlier on Saturday that a vessel in the Red Sea was struck by an unknown object and sustained slight damage. "The vessel and crew are safe and continuing to its next port of call," UKMTO said in an advisory note on the incident 98 nautical miles south of Yemen's Hodeidah port. Months of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa. The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/ukmto-reports-incident-76nm-northwest-yemens-hodeidah-2024-05-18/

2024-05-17 23:51

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The U.S sees it as a “very open question” whether Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro can win re-election if he holds a free vote in July, and Washington is trying to ensure the ballot is credible in the face of significant obstacles, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The Biden administration is engaging with Venezuelan “stakeholders” as well regional and European partners in a bid to keep the electoral process on track but expects additional difficulties as the July 28 vote approaches, the official said on conditional of anonymity. Maduro is vying against Edmundo Gonzalez, veteran ex-diplomat who was named main opposition candidate after primary winner Maria Corina Machado had a ban on holding office upheld by the Supreme Court, a move condemned by the U.S. at the time. Machado has since given Gonzalez her backing. The U.S reimposed oil sanctions on OPEC-member Venezuela last month, accusing Maduro of not fully complying with deals reached with the opposition to ensure free and fair elections. Still, Washington says Maduro has met some of his commitments, including setting an election date and allowing an opposition candidate to run. “We are closely monitoring whether there is any backtracking,” the senior administration official told reporters. With a recent poll showing any candidate backed by Machado having more than double Maduro's support, opposition members have warned the ruling Socialist party could take action to bar Gonzalez from appearing on the ballot. Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was rejected by Western governments as a sham, has presided over a sharp economic decline. "The prospect for a free and fair election or even a minimally credible election remains one that we are very interested in seeking to advance, but we recognize also there are significant obstacles,” the official said. “Whether or not Maduro could win an election in Venezuela is at best a very open question. Certainly there is a significant amount of polling that that is not the case." The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked whether there could be a change in U.S. policy toward Venezuela after July 28, the official said the response would depend heavily on how the election is conducted. The U.S. Treasury Department said it would consider specific licenses on a case-by-case basis for companies to operate in Venezuela after it withdrew a broad license last month that had eased sanctions. The prospects for individual licenses is seen by experts as a way for the U.S. to temper any impact on global oil supplies, and the official said it also may have a “moderating impact” on how Maduro’s government acts ahead of the election. The official also reiterated the U.S. call for Venezuela to grant safe passage out of the country for a group of opposition activists sheltering at the Argentine embassy in Caracas. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-works-ensure-venezuela-election-credible-faces-obstacles-official-says-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 23:24

PARIS, May 17 (Reuters) - Shipping group CMA CGM benefited in the first quarter from a rebound in demand for consumer goods and higher freight rates linked to Red Sea disruption, but expects an influx of new ships to weigh on the market later in the year, it said on Friday. France-based CMA CGM, the world's third-largest container line, reported first-quarter net profit of $785 million, recovering from a $90 million loss in the final quarter of 2023. That was down from a net profit of $2.01 billion in the first quarter of 2023, when CMA CGM was emerging from a post-pandemic shipping boom that generated record earnings and a flurry of acquisitions in port terminals, logistics and the media. The core profit margin at the group's main shipping business jumped to 24.8% in the first quarter from 9.5% in the previous quarter. This was supported by buoyant demand, notably due to restocking by firms in the United States, and rising shipping prices as vessel rerouting away from the Red Sea absorbed excess fleet capacity. Brisk demand is expected to continue but most of an expected 9-10% expansion in global fleet capacity in 2024 will occur during the rest of the year, Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez told reporters on a call. "As a result, the impact of the Red Sea situation on freight rates, however long the conflict lasts, should progressively be absorbed and the shipping market return to the overcapacity seen at the end of 2023," he said. CMA CGM's rivals like Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) New Tab, opens new tab and Hapag-Lloyd (HLAG.DE) New Tab, opens new tab have similarly cited favourable early-year trends and overcapacity risks. Attacks on vessels by Yemen-based Houthi militants have led shipping firms to avoid the Red Sea that connects with the Suez Canal and use a longer route around southern Africa. CMA CGM was continuing to send some vessels via the Red Sea with naval escorts but most of its ships were still taking the longer route, Fernandez said, adding that CMA CGM was generally managing to deliver on time. Results for CMA CGM's logistics division included its newly acquired Bollore Logistics for the month of March. The division posted quarterly sales of $3.89 billion and a core margin of 9.3%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/shipping-group-cma-cgm-gets-q1-boost-sees-overcapacity-looming-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 23:12

FRANKFURT, May 18 (Reuters) - Germany's most powerful union has threatened to withhold support for a partial sale of Thyssenkrupp's (TKAG.DE) New Tab, opens new tab steel unit unless the group provides guarantees for investments, sites and jobs, a leading labour representative told weekly Welt am Sonntag. "Those are red lines for us," said Knut Giesler, who leads IG Metall's branch in North Rhine-Westphalia, where Thyssenkrupp is based. If there were no assurances in writing by a supervisory board meeting scheduled for May 23, Giesler could not imagine that labour leaders, which hold half of the committee's seats, would vote in favour of a planned sale of 20% of Thyssenkrupp's steel unit to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, he said. In case of a stalemate labour representatives can still be outvoted by Supervisory Board Chairman Siegfried Russwurm, whose vote counts double in such a case, but Giesler warned that this could worsen an already tense relationship with management. "Mr Russwurm and the supervisory board should think carefully about whether they really want to override the strongest co-determined area in the company with a double vote," Giesler said. "If they want to deal with us in this way, we will make sure there is a fitting response from the workforce," he said. "The Group has to decide whether it wants months of unrest in the workforce and at the sites." Labour representatives have harshly criticised the style of Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel Lopez, accusing him of not involving workers in negotiations and failing to honour long-standing traditions that give much influence to unions at the group. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ig-metall-threatens-thyssenkrupp-over-planned-sale-steel-unit-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 22:07

ABIDJAN, May 17 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) has suspended around 40 cooperatives they suspect were illegally hoarding cocoa beans in order to sell them at a higher price to exporters struggling to fulfil their contracts, two sources at the regulator said on Friday. Exporters, who have been short of supply due to cocoa disease and adverse weather, are looking for ways to buy beans to honour their contractual obligations and some suppliers were taking advantage of the situation, the sources said. Suspended cooperatives and independent buyers have stockpiled more than 60,000 metric tons of cocoa since the start of the mid-crop in early April, the sources from the CCC told Reuters. While it is not illegal to stockpile beans it is illegal to stockpile to charge higher prices. The suspension, ordered last week to block trading by some cooperatives and this week for others, is intended to prevent overpayment by smaller exporters who are trying to compete with multinational cocoa buyers. While the farmgate price was set at 1,500 CFA francs ($2.50) per kg for the period between April to September, some cooperatives and other buyers were requesting multinationals pay between 1,600 and 1,800 CFA francs at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro. "We were forced to react vigorously and suspend around 40 cooperatives and buyers to put an end to this practice, which is destabilizing the domestic marketing system and putting some exporters in difficulty," said one of the CCC sources. Both requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media. Exporters welcomed the regulator's decision and said if beans were not being stockpiled, weekly arrivals would be much higher than what they have been recording since the start of the mid-crop. Cocoa arrivals at the ports in the world's top producer of the main ingredient in chocolate, are down 29.3% compared with the same period last year. "Two of my suppliers are part of the suspended cooperatives. They offered me cocoa at 1700 CFA francs per kg last Thursday and this Monday. I didn't accept," a manager of an export company based in Abidjan, told Reuters. He also requested anonymity. "This has to stop. There isn't enough cocoa this year, so we must avoid complicating the already complicated situation,” said another San Pedro-based cocoa exporter. The two sources at the CCC said that the regulator was carrying out an inventory of stocks. "Cooperatives and buyers with delivery contracts will have to deliver quickly, otherwise we will direct them to other exporters ourselves," one of the sources at the cocoa regulator said. ($1 = 600.0000 CFA francs) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coasts-cocoa-regulator-suspends-cooperatives-hoarding-beans-sources-say-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 22:05

BAMAKO, May 17 (Reuters) - Mali has signed an agreement with China's Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) New Tab, opens new tab to operate the Goulamina lithium mine and increase its share in the project in accordance with a new mining code, the West African country's economy ministry said in a statement. The mining code, adopted last year, allows the military-led government to increase its ownership of mining projects and recoup what it says is a major shortfall in production revenue. Mali's share in the Goulamina project will increase to 35% from 20%, according to the economy ministry's statement dated May 16 and seen by Reuters on Friday. "With this win-win agreement, which defends the vital interests of the Malian people, the State of Mali enters into a new partnership with the Chinese group Ganfeng Lithium Co for the development and operation of the Goulamina lithium project," the statement said. Ganfeng Lithium will set up a spodumene plant which will start production by the end of the year, it added. Mali's Economy Minister, Alousseni Sanou, said earlier this week that the deal could bring Mali between 110 billion and 115 billion CFA francs ($191.51 million) per year. Ganfeng Lithium bought Australia's Leo Lithium's (LLL.AX) New Tab, opens new tab 40% stake in the Goulamina mine for $342.7 million earlier this month. Leo Lithium said at the time that the risks associated with operating in Mali and the impact of new mining code meant selling the stake was in the best interests of its shareholders. ($1 = 600.5000 CFA francs) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mali-signs-agreement-with-chinas-ganfeng-operate-goulamina-lithium-mine-2024-05-17/