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Central China’s Henan Province plans to cut its coal consumption by 5 percent in 2019 in a bid to improve its energy mix. The provincial government aims to further cut local coal consumption by 10 million tonnes this year, the provincial energy saving and pollution reduction office said Wednesday. It plans to cut the coal consumption for industries other than coal-fired power plants by 15 million tonnes and limit the increase in coal consumption at power plants to within 5 million tonnes. The provincial government ordered strict approval restrictions on ...

U.S. wheat futures were set to finish the week down more than 2 percent despite inching up on Friday, pressured by tepid interest in North American supplies from some major importers. Grain markets were also keeping a close eye on talks to end trade conflict between the United States and Washington. FUNDAMENTALS * The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were down more than 2 percent for the week, set to extend three-week losses to 6 percent. * The most active soybean futures were up nearly ...

The United States will be able to quickly recover lost markets for U.S. farm products to China once Washington and Beijing clinch a trade deal, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. He said that China has pledged to purchase “significant” quantities of U.S. agricultural products, but that “those proposals are all contingent upon a grand deal” that must include Chinese assurances on intellectual property issues. “I think if we could get those types of assurances regarding China taking intellectual property theft seriously, then we could see a renewed and expanded ...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has roiled agricultural markets and given the world’s top grain merchants the one thing they have long claimed was essential to turn a trading profit: volatility. And yet, Archer Daniels Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co, the so-called ABCDs of grain, have not performed as well as expected – and, in some cases, failed to deliver the profit windfall promised by company executives, investors and analysts said. If anyone should have been a winner in the Trump administration’s ...

The U.K. will leave the European Union on March 29 and so far there’s no agreement to replace the rules and regulations that govern vital trade between Britain and the rest of the world. If a no-deal happens, here’s what it could mean for the country’s energy industry. Will the Lights Go Out? Almost certainly not. The amount of power the U.K. imports from continental Europe fluctuates but was 6.6 percent of total supply in the third quarter of 2018, according to government data. After Brexit, British electricity systems will ...

Global stocks inched up on Friday, with most major benchmarks on course to close out the week higher amid continuing hopes for a trade deal between the U.S. and China. The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in morning trading, with the index’s basic resources sector increasing a further 1.5% at the end of a week of stronger-than-expected corporate earnings and emerging-market optimism. That move was mitigated by a 0.9% slip for the index’s food and beverage sector, after shares in U.S. counterpart Kraft Heinz plunged 20% after hours on ...

The euro dipped on Friday after a survey showed German business morale fell for the sixth month in a row, while the Australian dollar rebounded after China denied it had banned imports of the country’s coal. Weak data since January has undermined support for the euro, which edged lower but remained in positive territory against the dollar at $1.1351. It hit a two-week high of $1.1371 on Wednesday, helped by hopes for an easing of the U.S.-China trade conflict. Analysts assessing the euro’s prospects are focused on whether a slowdown ...

President Donald Trump should take a look in the mirror. China isn’t the currency manipulator. The U.S. is asking Beijing to keep the value of the yuan stable as part of trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, Saleha Mohsin and Katherine Greifeld of Bloomberg News reported. Washington fears that China could weaken its currency to counteract the effect of higher American tariffs on imports from the nation. That perception is unfair. Despite the trade conflict, the People’s Bank of China has effectively pegged the yuan to the dollar, ...

The market has been rising since it hit “rock bottom” in December and there’s enough momentum in the United States economy alone to carry the cycle as global growth slows, top J.P. Morgan strategist Marko Kolanovic told CNBC on Wednesday. Kolanovic, whose calls have moved the stock market in the past, credited shifting policy in the Federal Reserve, progressing trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and declining volatility for investors’ willingness to put more money to work. Investors are more comfortable taking on more risk when the market is ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the fundamentals of the Indian economy were sound and it is on the way to becoming a $5 trillion economy soon. Addressing the India-Korea Business Symposium in Seoul, he said India was now a more open economy and had attracted $250 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last four years. He said no other large economy in the world had grown at 7 per cent year after year. India, he said, had jumped to 77th spot on the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing’ business ...

Britain’s Brexit ministry said after talks in Brussels on Thursday that the focus of negotiations was now on getting new guarantees on the temporary nature of the Irish backstop. In a statement after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox met EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the ministry gave a clear indication that Prime Minister Theresa May was no longer pushing to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, even if that remained the government’s preferred option. “The simplest way to get legally binding changes on the backstop is to reopen the ...

Premier Li Keqiang has warned of the “new potential risks” that China’s record level of new loans in January could bring to the financial system. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, confirmed that new yuan loans surged to 3.23 trillion yuan (US$476.97 billion) last month, almost triple the 1.08 trillion yuan (US$160.8 billion) of loans in December and beating the 3.06 trillion yuan from the same period last year. Total social financing, the more broadly defined measure of credit in the economy that includes loans, bonds and ...

Iron ore deliveries leaving 35 major Chinese ports averaged 2.62 million mt per day in the week ended February 22, up 197,000 mt from the previous week,

Daily rates on main tanker routes as compiled by shipbroker Charles R. Weber.

Futures contracts settling against S&P Global Platts’ FOB Singapore 0.5% Marine Fuel assessments were seen bid and offered for the first time on the Intercontinental Exchange during the Asian trading session early Wednesday, following Tuesday’s launch of ICE’s futures contracts for Marine 0.5% Fuel oil contracts. One lot, equivalent to 1,000 mt, of the August 2020 spread contract between Marine 0.5% FOB Singapore (Platts) and the 380 CST FOB Singapore was seen bid at $160/mt on ICE. Offers for the same spread contract was seen for Q3 2019, Q4 2019 ...