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Stating that the government has no role to play in determining the cost of imported coal and the resultant power tariff, the Power Ministry has informed the Parliament that the issue is for the genco (generation company) and the regulators to look at. Pointing out that the price of imported coal is not comparable with the price of domestic coal due to a difference in calorific value, the ministry said that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) have already fixed guidelines which don’t allow ...

The state of winter crops in Russia is better on average than last year, with only 4% in poor and thinned condition, a meteorological official said on Wednesday. Roman Vilfand, head of science at state weather forecaster Hydrometcentre, told an online briefing that this indicator had averaged 8% for the last five years. For 2023, the agriculture ministry expects Russia to bring in its second largest harvest, behind the 2022 record of almost 158 million tons. As of Nov. 30, Russia had harvested more than 151 million tons of grain, ...

Chicago wheat futures held steady on Thursday after a third large Chinese purchase of U.S. wheat in three days pushed prices to a four-month high in the previous session. Soybeans rose slightly and corn inched lower after both fell on Wednesday as forecasts for rain in major exporter Brazil eased concerns about hot and dry conditions damaging crops. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was down 0.1% at $6.33 a bushel by 0411 GMT after reaching $6.49-1/2 on Wednesday, its highest since Aug. 9. ...

Oil prices reclaimed some ground on Thursday after tumbling to a six-month low the previous day but investors remained concerned about sluggish demand in the United States and China. futures were up 76 cents, or 1%, to $75.06 a barrel at 0924 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures was up 67 cents, also 1%, to $70.05 a barrel. “With the largest global importer of oil (China) shuttering its thirst for crude, pressure remains on prices as the largest producer, the United States, continues with headline output,” PVM Oil analyst ...

Production of associated-dissolved natural gas, or associated natural gas, which is natural gas produced from predominantly oil wells, has nearly tripled since 2018 in the three top-producing tight oil plays in the Permian region. Associated natural gas from the Wolfcamp, Spraberry, and Bone Spring plays averaged a combined 13.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in the first seven months of 2023, up from an average of 4.7 Bcf/d in 2018, according to data from Enverus DrillingInfo. Associated natural gas production has grown due to increases in both crude oil ...

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week with production falling for the first time since July, whilegasoline and distillate inventories rose as refiners ramped up output, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 1 to 445 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.4 million-barrel drop. The crude stock figure was adjusted down 2.7 million barrels, the biggest week-on-week drop in unaccounted barrels on record. Net U.S. crude imports rose ...

Following a relatively bearish start to the US winter heating season, market analysts now expect that colder weather in late November likely prompted the first major drawdown from natural gas storage stocks. In its upcoming Dec. 7 inventory report, the US Energy Information Administration is expected to announce a 105-Bcf withdrawal from US gas storage in the week prior, according to the latest survey of market analysts from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Responses to this week’s survey were reported in a wide range from about 80 Bcf to as much ...

Middle Eastern benchmarks rose on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia trimmed its January official selling prices (OSPs) at smaller scales than market expectation, which may encourage other producers to follow the tune to set higher prices. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut the official selling price (OSP) for January-loading Arab Light to Asia by 50 cents a barrel from December to $3.50 a barrel over Oman/Dubai quotes, the first reduction in seven months, reacting to weakening premiums in the physical market amidst supply overhang concerns. But the price reduction is smaller ...

Japan’s long-suppressed yen surged and global bond and stock markets flinched on Thursday, as Tokyo’s monetary policymakers gave their clearest hints yet that the exit from ultra-low interest rates was approaching. The yen rose 1.5% against the dollar, its biggest one-day jump since January, and looked set to extend its post-COVID record of finishing years strongly. [FRX/] The Nikkei’s sharpest drop since late October had ensured Asian stocks finished lower while the FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40 and S&P 500 futures were all around 0.3% weaker in early European trading. ...

The euro grazed a three-week low on Thursday, driven by mounting expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) may cut rates as early as March, while the prospect of a shift in Japanese policy gave the yen its biggest one-day boost since January. The euro is heading for its biggest weekly fall since May, fuelled by a dramatic repricing of interest rate expectations for 2024, although caution around Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls has kept trading volatility subdued. Falling inflation, a slowdown in major economies such as Germany and softness in ...

High energy prices triggered by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine prompted governments to reduce excise taxes during 2022, leading to lower tax levels in many countries, according to new OECD analysis. Revenue Statistics 2023 shows that the average tax-to-GDP ratio in the OECD fell by 0.15 percentage points (p.p.) in 2022, to 34.0%. This was only the third such decline since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09: the level fell by 0.6 p.p. in 2017 and by 0.1 p.p. in 2019. Revenues from excise taxes fell as a share ...

China’s exports rose 0.5% in November from a year earlier, while imports decreased 0.6%, customs data showed on Thursday. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 1.1% decline in exports and a 3.0% increase in imports. Contrasting manufacturing activity data for November kept alive calls for further policy support measures to shore up growth, but prompted analysts to question whether predominantly negative sentiment-based surveys were keeping up with recent hard data and early signs of improvement in global trade flows. Source: Reuters

Italy has officially informed China that it is quitting theBelt and Road Initiative (BRI), dismissing fears the move might sour relations and damage the Italian economy, government sources said on Wednesday. Italy in 2019 became the first and so far only major Western nation to join the trade and investment programme , ignoring warnings from the United States that it might let China take control of sensitive technologies and vital infrastructure. However, whenPrime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office last year, she saidshe wanted to withdraw from the deal, which was ...

Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday it expects the European Central Bank to cut interest rates by 150 basis points (bps) next year, 50 bps more than their earlier forecast, as inflation cools and central bank officials adopt a less hawkish tone. The brokerage anticipates consecutive 50 bps cuts in April and June next year, followed by 25 bps cuts each in September and December. Data this week showed euro zone inflation tumbled to 2.4% in November, coming well below expectations for the third consecutive month. The ECB’s leading hawk Isabel ...

It’s a long-running criticism that credit rating agencies are too often too slow to spot a crisis. So their detractors will be unsurprised that Moody’s is only now issuing China with a downgrade warning despite how long the country’s property woes and indebted local governments have vexed investors. Nor will it shock them that the handy summary of the problems contains little new information. The American firm’s otherwise tardy-looking action is well-timed in one key respect: it landed just ahead of a slew of important planning sessions where Beijing will ...