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    Xstrata agrees record coal price with Japan

    Xstrata, one of the world’s biggest coal exporters, has come to an agreement from today to sell Australian thermal coal to Hiroshima-based Chucogu Electric Power for one year at $129.80 a tonne it was announced. The new benchmark price contracted per tonne, which is around 30 percent up from the previous year, is an all time high for thermal coal under annual contracts and exceeds the previous 2008 record of $125. The price for thermal coal supply in 2011 is 13 percent higher than the earlier settlement of $115 a tonne between Xstrata and Japanese utilities, and surpasses the current spot value for Australian coal of $123.20. Original negot...
    On April 1, 2011 / By
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    Japan still stationary

    Japan’s manufacturing activity dropped to a two-year low in March and posted its sharpest decline since records began in October 2001, a survey showed today. The disruption of production operation and supply chains caused by the earthquake and tsunami devastation caused the index of purchasing managers to fall to 46.4 from 52.9 in February, according to both JMMA and Market Economics. The survey offered a first insight into quantitative assessments of the damage created by the tsunami and earthquake on March 11, which caused a severe nuclear safety emergency and extensive power deficiency. Cost inflation rose at the quickest rate in two and...
    On March 31, 2011 / By
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    OPEC on target for $1trn revenue

    OPEC, the crude oil producer’s cartel, could this year for the first time ever bank $1trn in export revenue if crude oil prices maintain their 100 bbl, the IEA said. Brent Light Crude traded at 115 bbl on the ICE exchange London while the US traded above $104 yesterday.  Amid the MENA uprisings the company’s cartel has been one of the key beneficiaries of elevated crude oil prices.  Although the total number of barrels exported by Opex in 2011 would be somewhat lower than in 2008 where cartel oil revenues reached $990bn, if the average price stays at the current 100 bbl, OPEC will reach a record $1tr for 2011. Analysts note that large...
    On March 30, 2011 / By
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    Construction returns to profit

    Leading plumbing and construction supplier Wolseley saw its shares climb 3.8 percent and top the key gainers on the FTSE 100 this morning following the release of its results. The company posted half year net profit figures of $213m and said that trading across its networks improved, which will allow it to resume paying a dividend. A 15p a share interim dividend was announced by the company in spite of expressing some caution about the outlook. On the reinstatement of the dividend and the group outlook CEO Ian Meakins said: “The dividend reflects the strength of our balance sheet and our confidence in the future trading prospects of the gro...
    On March 29, 2011 / By
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    Pacific shares under pressure

    For the first time in three days the FTSE Asia Pacific index has fallen 0.4 percent, while the Nikkei stock average fell 0.57 percent or 57.60 to 9578.53. Renewed worry about high levels of radiation at Japan’s nuclear power plant in Fukushima has again put Asia Pacific shares under pressure with radiation levels said to be 100,000 times higher than usual. Workers had to be evacuated late on Sunday from Reactor 2 in Fukushima following the finding that extremely elevated radioactivity levels were identified at the plant. Stocks may have also been affected as an earthquake with a initial magnitude of 6.5 hit Miyagi Prefecture and its vicinit...
    On March 28, 2011 / By
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    Brazil’s housing carnival stokes bubble worries

    Listening to Jose Carlos de Vasconcellos talk about Rio de Janeiro’s property market is like being transported back to the bubble days in the US or Europe. The 60-year-old, who came out of retirement to join Brazil’s swelling ranks of real estate brokers, is convinced that property in the beachside city is a one-way bet despite a near doubling of house prices in just three years. “I’m confident that the market isn’t going to slow down any time soon,” he said, taking a break from his afternoon class at a Rio school for real estate brokers. “I don’t see any investment that’s as good as property.” Burned property investors el...
    On March 28, 2011 / By
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    Oil slides below $115 as Libyan rebels make gains

    Oil has retreated with Brent slipping below $115 after Libyan rebels regained control of key oil towns, and unrest over the weekend was limited to minor crude exporters Syria and Yemen. Western-led military intervention in Libya prompted speculators to raise their bets on higher prices by 6 percent in mid-March, before rebels took back a series of towns including oil terminals over the weekend. A Libyan rebel official said Gulf oil producer Qatar had agreed to market crude oil produced from east Libyan fields no longer in Muammar Gaddafi’s control. “These are positive developments which are negative for oil prices potentially as they have...
    On March 28, 2011 / By
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    UK sees slower growth, above-target inflation

    Britain has cut its economic growth forecast and said inflation would remain above target this year and next in a budget that stuck to ambitious deficit-busting goals. Seeking to support a faltering economy, finance minister George Osborne said corporation tax would be cut by two percentage points to 26 percent from April, rather than by just the one point originally planned. A levy on banks would be increased to pay for it. Osborne cut his growth forecasts to 1.7 percent in 2011, and 2.5 percent in 2012, citing figures from the government’s independent fiscal watchdog. In November, growth was estimated to be 2.1 percent this year and 2.6 p...
    On March 23, 2011 / By
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    True Finns chief wants to renegotiate euro fund

    The leader of the populist True Finns party, vying for a key role in the next Finnish government, has said he would demand to renegotiate a package of EU measures to tackle the euro zone debt crisis. “Considering the current preliminary information… we will not accept it,” Timo Soini told Reuters in a telephone interview. “We are not happy with socialising debts. It would again transfer more power from the national level to the European Union.” The True Finns have been gaining popularity ahead of an April 17 general election and if they emerge as the biggest party, they could complicate European Union efforts to complete a deal to a...
    On March 23, 2011 / By
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    Cinven readying 5bn euro fundraising

    European private equity firm Cinven has kicked off a fundraising drive for its fifth buyout fund, aiming to gather up to 5bn euro ($7.1bn) for new deals, people familiar with the situation said. The buyout firm, whose investments include Pizza Express group Gondola Holdings and Dutch cable operator Ziggo, is hoping to buck tough fundraising markets in which amassing new funds can take up to two years. Cinven targeting a first close – the point after which investors are locked in and it can start investing the capital raised – in the autumn, three people familiar with the situation said. It has deployed about 70 percent of its fourth fund ...
    On March 23, 2011 / By