2024-05-13 12:45
PARIS, May 13 (Reuters) - The French government on Monday promoted a private sector plan to develop a nickel and cobalt refinery near Bordeaux to reinforce the country's supply chain for electric vehicle batteries and reduce its reliance on China. The 300 million euro ($323.49 million) project from Swiss-based KL1, presented as part of President Emmanuel Macron's annual "Choose France" investment event on Monday, aims to process 20,000 metric tons of nickel and 1,500 tons of cobalt per year from 2028 in a port zone on France's Atlantic coast. The project, called Electro Mobility Materials Europe (EMME), aims to cover 20-30% of France's nickel and cobalt needs for electric vehicles by 2030. France and other European countries have been investing in gigafactories to produce batteries and developing mines for minerals like lithium. But capacity to process metals into high-purity materials suitable for batteries continues to be dominated by Chinese companies. "This will allow us to fill a gap in the value chain," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said of the project during a weekend call with reporters. The project, which is going through public consultation and administrative approval stages, could benefit from a green industry tax credit worth around 20% of the investment cost, the finance ministry added. France has a large nickel mining industry in its South Pacific territory of New Caledonia and KL1 is headed by Antonin Beurrier, a former CEO of New Caledonian nickel producer Prony Resources. However, a finance ministry spokesperson said it had not been decided yet where the nickel and cobalt would be sourced from for the planned refinery. The French government has been negotiating a rescue package for the loss-making New Caledonian nickel sector, including a commitment to supply Europe's battery supply chain, though talks have stalled amid political tensions between pro-independence and loyalist parties. ($1 = 0.9274 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/france-backs-nickel-refinery-project-bolster-battery-supply-chain-2024-05-13/
2024-05-13 12:38
BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) - The European Commission will close its investigation into Chinese bidders in a public tender for a solar park in Romania after the companies withdrew from the process, European Industry Commission Thierry Breton said on Monday. The Commission launched two investigations on April 3 into whether the Chinese participants benefited excessively from subsidies in bidding for a contract worth about 610 million euros ($658 million). The first investigated consortium was composed of Romania's ENEVO Group and a subsidiary of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co (601012.SS) New Tab, opens new tab. The second involves subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned Shanghai Electric Group Co. (601727.SS) New Tab, opens new tab. Breton said that the Commission took note of the withdrawal of LONGi Solar and Shanghai Electric from bidding and would therefore close its investigation. "We are massively investing in the installation of solar panels to decrease our carbon emissions and energy bills – but this should not come at the expense of our energy security, our industrial competitiveness and European jobs," Breton said. Under the EU foreign subsidies regulation, which has applied since July 2023, companies are obliged to notify the European Commission, which then has to assess whether subsidies allow companies to submit overly advantageous offers. The Commission also dropped its first investigation into Chinese trainmaker CRRC's involvement in a Bulgarian tender after it withdrew. ($1 = 0.9273 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/eu-drop-probe-into-chinese-bidders-romanian-solar-park-2024-05-13/
2024-05-13 12:36
BENGALURU, May 13 (Reuters) - India's Jindal Steel & Power (JNSP.NS) New Tab, opens new tab reported on Monday a fourth-quarter profit that doubled from a year earlier as input costs declined. Consolidated profit after tax for the steelmaker increased to 9.33 billion rupees (around $112 million) in the three months to March 31, from 4.66 billion rupees a year ago. Its net revenue fell 1.4% to 135.21 billion rupees on lower steel prices, making this tycoon Naveen Jindal-led steelmaker's smallest revenue fall in five quarters. The company's input costs eased nearly 15% to 52.65 billion rupees in the period. Jindal Steel's commissioned coal mines continued to help offset high costs of iron ore and coking coal, key raw materials for steelmakers, analysts said. Its shares settled 1% higher ahead of results, compared with a 1.3% gain in the Nifty metal index (.NIFTYMET) New Tab, opens new tab. JSW Steel (JSTL.NS) New Tab, opens new tab, Jindal Steel's bigger rival and a part of the same group, will report quarterly earnings later this week. ($1 = 83.4700 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-jindal-steel-posts-q4-profit-jump-costs-ease-2024-05-13/
2024-05-13 12:34
NEW DELHI, May 13 (Reuters) - Wheat stocks in India's government warehouses on May 1 were down 10.3% year on year to their lowest since 2008 after two years of low crops prompted the sale of record volumes to boost domestic supplies and lower local prices. At the start of the month wheat reserves in state stores totalled 26 million metric tons, down from 29 million metric tons in May 2023, according to the state-run Food Corporation of India. May wheat inventories are higher than April stocks of 7.5 million metric tons after new season purchases by the Food Corporation of India bumped up reserves. Higher temperatures clipped output in 2022 and 2023. Despite the tight supply, New Delhi has resisted calls to encourage imports by cutting or removing the current 40% tax on imports or by buying directly from leading suppliers such as Russia. Instead, it has dipped into state reserves to sell to bulk consumers, such as flour millers and biscuit makers, to try to curb domestic prices that have been above the state-fixed minimum buying price since the past crop was harvested. The Food Corporation of India began selling wheat to private players in June 2023 and has so far sold a little more than 10 million tons, a record from state reserves. India grows only one wheat crop a year, with planting in October and November and harvesting from March. The new season purchases start in April, augmenting state stocks from May. Although this year's May stocks are lower than last year, inventories are higher than the government buffer and strategic reserve target that requires wheat stocks to be held at or above 7.46 million tons for the quarter beginning April 1. India failed to achieve its wheat purchase target in 2022 and 2023, followed by a slow start to this year's purchases. New Delhi banned wheat exports in 2022 despite a rise in export demand as the Russia-Ukraine conflict led to a global shortfall. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indian-wheat-stocks-16-year-low-after-record-state-sale-2024-05-13/
2024-05-13 11:51
May 13 (Reuters) - The Slovak government is considering building another nuclear power unit with capacity of up to 1.2 gigawatts (GW), and could reach a decision at a meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday. The decision would be a basis for concrete steps to prepare the project, he said. Slovakia has long been a supporter of nuclear and hydro energy. Utility Slovenske Elektrarne, which is 33% state-owned, last year completed the 472-megawatt Unit 3 at the Mochovce plant and is now completing another at the same site, a project that has its roots in the communist era. "We have an agreement that Slovakia - the state - has interest in building, under state ownership, one massive nuclear unit with output of up to 1,200 megawatts," Fico told a broadcast news conference. Slovakia, through Slovenske Elektrarne, currently operates two nuclear units with 505 MW capacity each at Jaslovske Bohunice in addition to the Mochovce plant. The country has taken a more pro-Russian stance under Fico than under a previous government, but Economy Minister Denisa Sakova said the supplier of the new unit would be picked in a tender, with Russia's Rosatom not allowed to compete. "From the political point of view we cannot imagine that the technology would come from the Russian Federation," she said. "We expect that top companies active in nuclear energy will be interested," she added, saying French, U.S. or Korean companies could be among interested parties. She said the government aimed to complete the tender in the current election cycle ending in 2027. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/slovakia-considers-building-another-12-gw-nuclear-power-unit-pm-fico-says-2024-05-13/
2024-05-13 11:30
NAPERVILLE, Illinois, May 12 (Reuters) - Speculators furiously pitched short positions in Chicago corn and soybeans last week just after a big short squeeze in wheat, as pests raid Argentina’s corn crop and rains devastate soybeans in southern Brazil. Wet weather also slowed the pace of U.S. planting during what is normally the most active period for field work, but top wheat exporter Russia’s main growing region remains concerningly dry. In the week ended May 7, money managers slashed their net short position in CBOT corn futures and options to 102,513 contracts from 218,040 a week earlier, establishing their least bearish corn view since October. That represented funds’ largest weekly round of net buying in corn since May 2019, and was substantially larger than any weekly buying seen during last summer’s U.S. drought scare. The week’s short covering was the heaviest since June 2019, but money managers added more than 26,000 gross corn longs, the most since June 2023 and their fourth consecutive week adding longs. Most-active CBOT corn futures rose 4.5% during the week ended May 7, but most-active soybeans jumped more than 7% and CBOT soybean meal surged nearly 9%. Funds’ net buying and short covering of soybeans were both record large figures during the week, surpassing the old highs from July 2017. The managed money soybean net short plummeted to 41,453 futures and options contracts from 149,236 a week earlier, marking the least bearish soy stance since January. Almost 28,000 gross longs were added as well, the most for any week since April 2023. Money managers through May 7 staged their biggest rounds of net buying and short covering in CBOT soybean meal futures and options since March 2020, boosting their net long to 87,991 contracts from 43,596 a week earlier. The new meal position is funds’ most bullish since December, and it marked the fifth straight week of significant net buying. That stands in huge contrast to the late November to mid-March trend, when funds were net sellers for 15 of 16 weeks. CBOT soybean oil futures rallied 3.5% through May 7 after hitting contract lows in the prior week, though money managers were modest net buyers, trimming their net short to 65,706 futures and options contracts from 66,882 a week earlier. Fund movement in CBOT wheat futures and options was also relatively muted compared with the sizable short covering of the prior two weeks. Wheat jumped 6.5% in the week ended May 7, though money managers cut about 5,500 contracts off their net short, which fell to a 41-week low of 42,360 contracts. FRESH DIRECTION The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday published its initial 2024-25 global balance sheets, which project next year’s soybean supplies well above expectations but corn and wheat notably below. U.S. corn carryout in 2024-25 is pegged up 4% on the year, less jarring than the 17% jump that was feared just a couple months ago. Stocks-to-use among major global wheat exporters is set for a 17-year low in 2024-25, but soybean giant Brazil is seen expanding output by 10% on the year to a new record. CBOT wheat climbed 4% on Friday to settle at $6.63-1/2 per bushel, the most-active contract’s highest finish since July 31 and well off the year’s low of $5.23-1/2 set on March 11. Most-active corn notched its highest 2024 settle on Friday of $4.69-3/4 per bushel, up nearly 3% on the day. CBOT soymeal last Tuesday hit its highest price of 2024 at $390 per short ton, but futures fell almost 3% between Wednesday and Friday. Soybeans fell more than 2% over those three sessions despite a bump from corn and wheat on Friday. Collectively, CBOT soyoil was unchanged over the last three sessions but got a 4.2% boost on Friday, potentially related to rumors that Washington might impose steep tariffs on Chinese used cooking oil imports, which have displaced U.S. soyoil demand. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/funds-race-out-cbot-corn-soy-shorts-weather-worries-build-2024-05-13/
