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Egypt's Suez Canal considers reducing transit fees in order to attract traffic
Osama Rabi, the chief of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority, has said that the authority will consider offering transit fee discounts between 12% and 15% to help restore the traffic on the strategically important waterway, which is reeling after the Houthis' attacks on Red Sea shipping. Rabie, in a telephone interview with the privately-owned Sada al-Balad TV channel, said that discounts would be available within a few days of ratification from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. He said this after the revenue from the Canal continued to plummet due to attacks by Yemeni Houthis on shipping, who claim they are trying shut off cargo headed for Israel to support Palestinians in Gaza but are also driving ships away from canal. The central bank reported earlier this month that revenue from the Suez Canal - a major source of foreign currency in Egypt - plummeted from $2.40bn to $880.9mn during the fourth quarter, down from $2.40bn a year ago. This was due to Houthi attacks. Rabie met last week with representatives of shipping agencies, who asked for temporary incentives to offset the increased insurance costs for ships operating in the Red Sea. They deemed it a zone high-risk. The meeting was held following a ceasefire mediated by Oman between the United States of America and the Houthis. Under the agreement, the U.S. agreed not to bomb the Houthis group in Yemen as long as the group agreed not to attack U.S. vessels. Israel is not included in the agreement with Iran-backed group.
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The Panama Canal Authority reports that the number of vessels transiting the canal has increased to 34 per day.
According to a bulletin issued by the authority of the canal, the number of ships that transited the Panama Canal increased to 34 on average per day, for a total 1,021 transits, up from 33.7 on average per day in March. According to data, transits in the first four month of 2025 remained below 36 ships per day allowed, despite the decline in fees charged by the canal for passage slots. A severe drought that occurred between 2023 and 2024, forcing the waterway to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to implement restrictions, led to higher transit fees, and long queues of ships waiting to enter. Last year, the restrictions were lifted. In recent months, the U.S., Panama and other countries have discussed the issue of fees and priority passage for U.S. flagged vessels after U.S. president Donald Trump criticised the high fees charged by the second largest interoceanic canal in the world and threatened to take over the waterway. The authority of the canal is also planning projects that will expand the capacity for trans-shipment, storage, and other waterway activities. These include a pipeline to transport liquefied gas from vessels at one end to other tankers at the opposite end. The authority is expected to begin accepting bids this year.
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Brazil's Lula seeks trade ties with Beijing, as China and Trump spar.
Brazilian officials hailed President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping as a way to attract investment and boost Brazilian products to a country that is frustrated by the volatile tariff policies of U.S. president Donald Trump. Lula praised the upcoming Chinese investment of more than $4.5 Billion in Brazilian industries ranging from renewable energy and automaking to pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Lula said to business leaders in Beijing, "If my government is in charge, our relationship with China would be irreparable." Officials said that his visit would also result in major investments for railways and farm export infrastructure. Brasilia wants to increase exports of grain and other products currently supplied by the U.S., to China. These goods have become more expensive due to a damaging trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. "Brazil wants to expand its friendship and trade ties with China in order to generate great reciprocal accomplishments, particularly in the recent period of trade instability brought about by the United States," Brazilian agriculture minister Carlos Favaro said at the business forum held in Beijing. The U.S. reached an agreement with China on Monday. The remaining trade barriers, combined with the distrust between Beijing and Brasilia have led to bets that a more reliable relationship can be formed. Lula's visit to China, which lasted four days, included his third bilateral meeting since he took office as Brazilian president in 2023. Other leaders have visited Beijing, including Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Colombian Gustavo Petro for meetings between Chinese officials and CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. The Lula-Xi summit on Tuesday comes after the strengthening of diplomatic relations between the two countries during a November meeting in Brazil where the leaders signed over 40 agreements in a variety of sectors including infrastructure, energy, and agribusiness. On Monday, the Chinese Envision Group invested $1 billion in Brazil's production of renewable aviation fuel made from sugarcane. According to ApexBrasil, the government agency for trade and investments, Meituan has announced an investment in the amount of 5 billion Reais to enter Brazil with its Keeta App. CGN Power has also revealed plans to invest 3 billion reais in a hub for wind, solar and storage of energy. Great Wall Motor plans to invest $6 billion in Brazilian auto factories. Longsys, a Chinese semiconductor company, announced an investment in Brazil of 650,000,000 reais. Longsys is China's biggest memory chipmaker based on revenue. Two years ago it acquired Zilia, a Brazilian subsidiary, which may help avoid U.S. export controls and tariffs targeting China-made semiconductors. Lula met with Norinco's CEO on Monday. RAIL PROJECTS Brazil's Transport Minister Renan filho said Chinese investors are interested in several rail project in Brazil. This includes proposals to connect farm and mining areas with ports like Barcarena and Acu, as well as the new Chinese operated port in Chancay in Peru. He said: "We will sign any project that has the potential to increase China's exports, including agriculture but also mining and other industries." The Minister acknowledged that plans were presented to Chinese investors several times over the past few years. However, he said that the relationship between the two countries is now mature enough to allow projects to proceed. He said that the two countries had reached a more firm agreement about their relationship last year, after years of Chinese diplomats trying in vain to recruit Brazil into the Belt and Road Initiative (China's global infrastructure project). In November last year, they agreed to "synergize" China's plans with Brazil's development programs. China is Brazil's largest export market. It has also been one of Latin America's most important foreign investors, although it has become more cautious over the past few years. According to the Brazil-China Business Council's survey, Chinese investment in Brazil in 2023 totaled 1.73 billion dollars, which is a 33% rise from the previous year but still the second-lowest since 2007. Tulio Caiello, director of research at the council, stated that transportation, and in particular rail, had an enormous potential to attract Chinese investment, even though these projects have been stalled by bureaucratic and financial obstacles. He said that he could see that China was very interested in the project, and that both countries were better prepared now to overcome any obstacles. "There's a lot more information about Brazil available in China now than before."
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Ocean shipping firm welcomes China-US tariff reprieve
Hapag-Lloyd, a German container shipping company, welcomed the agreement reached between the United States of America and China on Monday to temporarily reduce reciprocal tariffs. The firm said it expects to benefit from an increase in bookings made by Chinese customers for the United States. Both sides announced on Monday that the United States would reduce the extra tariffs they imposed in April on Chinese imports to 30%, from 145%. Chinese duties on U.S. imported goods will also fall to 10%, from 125%. The trade between the two world's largest economies plunged in the middle of the standoff. Container shipping companies such as MSC and Cosco were forced to cancel specific voyages or suspend their regular routes. Some companies considered using smaller vessels. The reprieve may have sparked a rush in shipments to America, for which some Chinese factories had been preparing, and sent spot prices higher. The company stated in an email that it expected bookings to rise from China into the U.S., which would help them... enter peak season. Ocean shipping peak season is usually the period between August and October, when U.S. retail stores stock up for the winter holidays, which are dominated by Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween. Hapag-Lloyd sailed during the recession, but with plans to reduce the size of ships. This could give the carrier an edge over competitors who have slashed sailings if customers rush goods in during the 90-day respite. Hapag-Lloyd stated that they had originally planned to use smaller vessels for transports between China and the U.S. Coasts, but this may change if demand is high. Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc announced on Thursday that the Danish company had transferred 20% of its capacity from the China-US route to other routes in just two weeks. Clerc stated that Maersk would be able to switch this back as soon as the customers request it. Peter Sand, a chief analyst with pricing platform Xeneta, stated that the average transit time for Transpacific trade was 22 days. Customers will therefore take advantage of the 90-day window to send as many goods into the United States as possible. This will increase freight rates. Reporting by Rachel More and Lisa Baertlein, both in Berlin; Additional reporting by Jacob GronholtPedersen. Editing by Matthias Williams and Bill Berkrot.
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US and China agree to reduce tariffs temporarily, assuaging slump fears
On Monday, the U.S. announced that it and China had agreed to temporarily reduce their high tariffs against each other. This sent global stocks and the U.S. Dollar surging. The world's two largest economies were putting a halt to a trade conflict which had fueled fears of global recession. Both sides agreed that the U.S. would reduce the extra tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30 % for the next 90-day period, and Chinese duties on U.S. imported goods will drop to 10%, from 125%. The financial markets welcomed the end of a conflict which had brought two-way trade worth nearly $600 billion to a halt, disrupting supply chain and causing layoffs. Investors were also concerned about stagflation - a combination of high inflation with weak economic growth. Wall Street stocks rose and the dollar grew, while gold prices in safe havens fell. This news helped ease investor concerns about Trump's potential trade war causing global economic collapse. Trump, in an effort to reduce the U.S. deficit on trade, imposed a variety of tariffs around the world, with China being his most aggressive. The financial markets plummeted, which led him to suspend most "reciprocal tariffs" on dozens countries last month. Trump's erratic behavior has weakened his approval rating among U.S. citizens who are worried that tariffs could increase the price of everything from cars to toys. The remaining U.S. duty on Chinese imports is still piled up on top of previous U.S. duties. Before Trump's January inauguration, China had to pay 25% U.S. duties on many Chinese industrial products he had imposed during his first term. Lower rates were applied on consumer goods. The announcement on Monday leaves unchanged these duties, as well as the tariffs of 100 percent on electric vehicles and 50 percent on solar products that were imposed by former Democratic president Joe Biden. According to a source with knowledge of the negotiations, the accord does not include "de minimis exemptions" for low-value ecommerce shipments coming from China and Hong Kong. The Trump administration ended these exemptions on May 2. The deal was more than analysts expected after weeks of aggressive rhetoric about trade. Trump floated last week the idea of lowering the tariffs to an 80% rate, which is still a high figure. This is better than what I expected. Zhiwei Zhang is the chief economist of Pinpoint Asset Management, Hong Kong. She said: "I thought tariffs would have been cut by around 50%." Trump's allies hailed Monday's agreement as a political victory for Trump, who ran in 2024 in support of unfair trade practices to resurrect U.S. production capacity that had been exported overseas. Blue collar workers from "Rust Belt states" like Michigan and Pennsylvania, which have been losing manufacturing jobs for decades, gave him a lot of support. "The President is doing what he promised." It's about fixing the disparities between trading relationships, said Kelly Ann Shaw. She was a senior U.S. government official in Trump's term from 2017-2021 and is now an attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Haauer & Field. She warned that 90 days is not enough time to address the major concerns of the United States regarding non-tariff obstacles such as subsidies on capital and labor. They've got a lot of work to do. "THE EQUIVALENT TO AN EMBARGO" After talks in Geneva with Chinese officials, U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent stated that "neither side" wants to decouple. "And with these high tariffs, it was like an embargo and neither side wanted that." The first time senior U.S. officials and Chinese economists have met face-to-face since Trump's return to power, the meetings marked a significant milestone. He Lifeng, China's Vice Premier, told reporters on Sunday at China's World Trade Organization mission that the talks had been "frank, thorough and constructive". "The meeting was a success and achieved important consensus", He said. China retaliated after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese products to 145% by placing export restrictions on certain rare earth elements. These are vital for U.S. producers of electronic consumer goods and weapons. Beijing increased tariffs on U.S. products to 125%. Andrew Gossage is the CEO of Ultimate Products. The company owns brands for homewares and appliances that are manufactured in China and sold primarily to Europe and the UK. He said Chinese manufacturers would still give priority to European customers, even if U.S. Tariffs dropped to levels before Trump. He said that the U.S. had entered unreliable territory in terms of its attitude towards the Chinese market. "So, they see European and UK markets as being more rational, reliable, and less volatile." After the agreement, shares of European companies that were hit by the trade conflict rallied. Maersk, the shipping company, was Europe's biggest gainer with a rise of more than 12%. Last week, it warned that the U.S.-China dispute had caused container volumes to plummet. Maersk stated in a press release that "we hope this can lay the groundwork for parties to reach a permanent agreement which can create the long term predictability our clients need." Luxury firms' shares rose with LVMH up 7.4%, and Gucci-owner Kering rising 6.7%. Bessent said to U.S. Media that there was still much work to be done and no date or time had been fixed for the next meeting. He told MSNBC that "we have a mechanism in place to meet the Chinese trade delegation over the next 90-day period." We will discuss tariffs, nontariff trade barriers and currencies, as well as their subsidies for labor and capital. He said Chinese officials understood the importance to address the fentanyl crises and appeared for the first to be working on halting the flow of precursor drug into the U.S. Trump imposed the tariffs after declaring an emergency national over the fentanyl that was entering the U.S.
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Black Sea CPC blend daily oil exports to decline in May according to sources
Two industry sources reported that the Black Sea CPC blend oil exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system (CPC) were reduced to 1.5 million barrels a day (or approximately 6 million metric tonnes) in May. This is down from 1.6 million barrels a day (or around 1.6 million metric tons) in April. The Kazakhstani energy ministry stated on Tuesday that it was committed to the OPEC+ accord and would continue to fulfill all of its obligations to ensure stability in the global energy markets. Calculations showed that CPC Blend oil could see a drop of 6% per day in May compared to the previous month. April is one day less than May. CPC does comment on the monthly crude shipments that pass through its system. The CPC pipeline connects Tengiz in western Kazakhstan, as well as a few other fields, with the CPC terminal at Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka, near Novorossiisk. CPC shareholders include Chevron, ExxonMobil, and the Russian oil major Chevron.
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Algeria offers to purchase soft milling wheat of nominal 50,000 T
European traders reported on Monday that Algeria's state grain agency OAIC had issued an international tender for the purchase of soft milling wheat from origins other than Algeria. Algeria usually buys more than 50,000 tons in their tenders. The deadline to submit price offers for the tender is May 14th. Price offers must remain valid through May 15th. Wheat is shipped in two phases from the main regions of supply, including Europe: July 16-31 and July 1-15. The shipment date is one month earlier if the wheat comes from South America or Australia. Algeria is an important customer of wheat imported from the European Union and France in particular, but Russian exporters as well as those from other Black Sea regions have seen a strong expansion on the Algerian market. Traders claim that a diplomatic split between France and Algeria caused the grains agency's tacit exclusion of French wheat and trading firms from its tenders. The OAIC purchased an estimated 570,000 tonnes of milling wheat in its last reported tender on 16 April. This was largely sourced from the Black Sea Region. (Reporting and editing by Susan Fenton, with Michael Hogan)
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Ford German workers strike amid rising tensions over planned cuts
Ford workers in Cologne and Germany will strike on Wednesday. Their works council chief announced this on Monday. Tensions are rising over the planned job cuts at Ford's European operations. Ford announced in November of last year that it would be cutting around 14% from its European workforce. This was mainly in Germany and Britain. The company blamed the losses on the weak demand for electric cars and the lack of government support to help the transition to new technology. The company refused to comment citing ongoing discussions with unions. Union IG Metall didn't immediately respond to a comment request. Volkswagen, Nissan, and GM, among others, are cutting jobs due to the new competition coming from China, the weak demand and the high costs of electrification. Ford, along with other automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, has pulled its 2025 forecast amid the turmoil caused by Donald Trump's tariff policy. Ford workers in Cologne voted in favor of industrial action last week. Labour representatives insisted at every stage of the talks that management come up with alternative measures to restructure their business. IG Metall protested when Ford agreed in March to inject $4.8billion into its cash-strapped German subsidiary, overriding a 2006 agreement that Ford would cover losses. (Reporting and writing by Ilona wissenbach, Victoria Waldersee. Editing by Rachel More and Ludwig Burger.
In April, the share of Russian aluminum in LME storages increased to 89%.
LME data released on Monday showed that the proportion of aluminium with Russian origin registered in warehouses at the London Metal Exchange increased to 89% from 88%, and the proportion of Indian origin decreased to 10% from 11 %.
To comply with U.S., British and European sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the LME has banned all metals produced in Russia from its warehouse system after April 13, 2024. Metal made before April 13, 2024 can still be traded.
Stocks of aluminium with Russian origin, or those on warrant
The data revealed that the amount of aluminium from India remained constant at 25,050 tonnes. LME warrants are title documents that confer ownership.
The amount of copper produced in China increased to 59.950 tons, up from 45.325 tons. China's copper production increased to 59.725 tons from 45.325 tons.
At the end of December, 60% of LME nickel stocks were made up of Chinese-made nickel. (Reporting and editing by Susan Fenton; Polina Devtt)
(source: Reuters)