2025-10-27 10:39
TOKYO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrated Japan's Nikkei share average (.N225) , opens new tab closing above the 50,000 level for the first time on Monday, in a meeting with Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama in Tokyo. "It's an honor to be here on the day it went over 50,000", Bessent told Katayama. "Congratulations," he added. Sign up here. "I've been coming since 1991," said Bessent, a former hedge fund manager known for having made hefty profits for betting against the yen in the 2010s. Bessent arrived in Japan on Monday evening as part of the Asia tour of top U.S. officials led by President Donald Trump and met Katayama for the first time in person since she took office last week. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bessent-celebrates-nikkei-milestone-meeting-with-japan-finmin-katayama-2025-10-27/
2025-10-27 09:47
CEO concerned over security officers shortage during shutdown Delta's joint venture with Aeromexico faces antitrust scrutiny No resolution timeline for Delta's Aeromexico joint venture issue RIYADH, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) , opens new tab is seeing a "small" impact from the U.S. government shutdown, costing it less than $1 million a day, and the shortage of airport security staff is of greater concern, the carrier's CEO said on Monday. "The more obvious concern is TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and ensuring that those checkpoints are staffed accordingly," Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Reuters on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh. Sign up here. There is also a shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States. Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay during the government shutdown. Controllers will miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday. "Air traffic control is something in the U.S. that is understaffed to begin with. So it's hard to sometimes identify what is attributable to the shutdown versus just understaffing in general," Bastian said. Delta is locked in a dispute with the U.S. government over its nearly nine-year-old joint venture with Aeromexico, which the U.S. Department of Transportation has ordered must end on January 1, as part of several actions aimed at Mexican aviation, citing competition concerns. "We believe that the dissolution of our joint venture, particularly because of (Antitrust Immunity) is not the right strategy and something that we have to ensure that we protect our interests here for the long term," Bastian said, adding that he sees no timeline for a resolution of the issue. "We've been in conversation (with the administration) for a long time," he said. The joint venture allows the two carriers to coordinate scheduling, pricing and capacity for U.S.–Mexico flights. https://www.reuters.com/business/delta-air-lines-seeing-small-impact-us-government-shutdown-ceo-says-2025-10-27/
2025-10-27 07:58
LISBON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS) , opens new tab reported an 11% increase in adjusted third-quarter core profit on Monday, beating analysts' estimates, driven by a jump in refining margins and robust gas trading. The energy firm reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 911 million euros ($1.06 billion), surpassing the company-provided consensus of 865 million euros. Sign up here. Galp said in a statement that it is "well positioned to surpass" its current guidance of a full-year adjusted EBITDA of 2.7 billion euros. Co-CEO Maria Joao Carioca said "the results show the strength of our investments," and Galp's performance and efficiency enable it "to navigate the unpredictability of today's world." The adjusted EBITDA of its refining and gas trading business soared to 315 million euros in the reported quarter from 165 million a year earlier, as the refining margin nearly doubled to $9.5 per barrel from $4.7 a year ago, Galp said in a statement. The start of LNG deliveries from Venture Global's (VG.N) , opens new tab Calcasieu Pass export facility in Louisiana also contributed positively, "supporting a 42% rise in natural gas volumes traded", it said. EBITDA from extracting crude oil from rich fields offshore Brazil, its main business, fell 14% to 464 million euros, despite the company signalling "good operational performance". Its share of oil and gas production from its projects in the third quarter increased by 2% to 115,000 barrels per day, but Brent crude prices fell to an average of $69.1 per barrel in the quarter from $80.3 last year. Galp is in advanced talks with a shortlist of preferred bidders to sell half of its 80% stake in its offshore Mopane field in Namibia, which has estimated oil-in-place of more than 10 billion barrels. It said negotiations are advancing "with discussions supportive of a value accretive partnership." Galp's adjusted net profit climbed 53% to 407 million euros in the quarter, beating the 321 million-euro estimate. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/galp-energias-quarterly-core-profit-rises-11-surpassing-estimates-2025-10-27/
2025-10-27 07:53
KYOTO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Gold refineries accredited by the London Bullion Market Association will be required to provide data to a digital platform from 2027 to increase transparency in the industry, the association's head said on Monday. The LBMA, which oversees London's over-the-counter gold trading hub, the world's largest, is pushing the market for more transparency as the gold price has risen 55% this year, and hit a record high of $4,381 a troy ounce on October 20, with broader concerns about U.S. tariffs adding to overall turbulence. Sign up here. "We will have voluntary periodic reporting from January next year, moving to mandatory in 2027," LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell told the association's precious metals conference in Kyoto, Japan. The association launched the Gold Bar Integrity Database in January for faster data collection and data processing from refiners, which are on its "good delivery" list. Being on the "good delivery" list provides access to the London market, requiring refineries to source the metal responsibly. As of now, refineries report data on the country of origin of the material they source to the LBMA once a year. "We want that to be an ongoing dialogue, but we also want to work with the refineries to make sure that it's practical, that we're not creating unnecessary burden for them," Crowell told reporters. The LBMA's "good delivery" list includes 66 gold refiners and 83 silver refiners around the globe. LBMA's publicly available monthly data on the amount of gold held in London vaults, which goes back to 2016, was a crucial source of information for the market early this year when U.S. tariff concerns caused metal outflows to the United States, adding to worries about the remaining liquidity in London. "It's this data that we need to build on, and the Gold Bar Integrity infrastructure and ecosystem is just that," Crowell said. "Markets are becoming more and more complicated. We need to have dialogue with the refineries when you start to source from new jurisdictions. We need to all have trust in the gold that is underpinning these markets." https://www.reuters.com/business/lbmas-new-database-gold-bars-will-be-mandatory-listed-refineries-2027-2025-10-27/
2025-10-27 07:42
Weather has worsened since 2022, farmers say More heat, longer summers inhibit crabs' growth Hairy crabs prized for sweet flesh, golden roe YANGCHENG LAKE, China, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The last three years have been the toughest for Xie Dandan and her family during more than a decade cultivating one of China's most esteemed culinary delicacies, the "hairy crab", named for its furry claws. "From 2022, it feels like the weather has been getting worse every year," said the 34-year-old, standing amid tanks filled with the crabs, coveted for their sweet flesh and golden roe, while she wrapped some in straw to prepare them for customers. Sign up here. "We've come to mentally prepare for these losses." Xie is among the farmers at Yangcheng lake in the eastern province of Jiangsu being forced to devise new ways to keep the crustaceans alive as unusually high temperatures and longer-than-expected summers have disrupted breeding cycles since 2022. The Chinese mitten crabs, as they are also known, can sell for hundreds of dollars when exported in sets of four to countries such as Singapore and Japan. "Those who work in agriculture are at the mercy of the sky," said Xie, whose community reeled last year from losses caused by the strongest typhoon to hit the east coast since 1949, ripping out nets and shutting down oxygenation systems. Higher temperatures than usual spell a triple threat for the crabs by slowing their growth, reducing the amount of oxygen in the water and boosting growth of bacteria, said Kenneth Leung, a marine environment expert at the City University of Hong Kong. Hopes for a bumper harvest this year were crushed by summer temperatures around the lake in Suzhou city famed for some of the tastiest crabs, which stayed above 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) until late October, delaying their maturity. The labour-intensive cultivation of the crabs begins with farmers growing their larvae in ponds for about a year before they are moved to fenced farms within the lake for the creatures to molt, or shed their outer shells, as they grow. Molting happens about five times between March and the traditional end-September start of the harvest, Xie said. But stronger heat can kill crabs as they shed their shells, in addition to the delay in maturity caused by longer summers. In 2022, farmers dumped blocks of ice into the water to cool it, Xie said. Some of eastern China's hottest and longest summers in the last three years have brought temperatures of 40 degrees C (104 degrees F), or higher, on consecutive days as early as July. In September, weather officials said this year's summer was China's hottest since 1961, while northern rains were the longest in the same period, bringing disruptions that scientists have linked to climate change. Leung suggested selective breeding as a possible solution, by choosing crabs with a greater tolerance of higher temperatures for breeding. Authorities expect the lake to yield a harvest of 10,350 metric tons this year, roughly in line with previous years' figures, except for 9,900 tons last year, when the typhoon hit. While crab farmers may pray for better weather next year, they know they ultimately have little control, Xie added. "We only can see whether the hairy crabs will be able to adapt, and if they can't, then maybe this industry will just be eliminated. We can't do anything about it." (This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 7) https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-heatwaves-threaten-dry-up-supply-delicious-hairy-crabs-2025-10-27/
2025-10-27 07:26
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 (Reuters) - European Council President Antonio Costa on Monday said he conveyed his strong concerns to Chinese Premier Li Qiang about Beijing's expansion of export controls on critical raw materials. Costa also expressed the European Union's expectations that China will assist in ending Russia's war against Ukraine, he said in a statement following a meeting with Li on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia. Sign up here. Li said China is willing to expand and deepen "optimised and balanced" trade cooperation with the European Union, according to a readout of the meeting from the Chinese side that was released by the official Xinhua news agency. Beijing and Brussels, embroiled in a number of trade disputes in recent years covering Chinese electric vehicles and European pork and dairy products, have lately tried to work together to fend off trade uncertainties from Washington. But Beijing's rare-earth export controls and a perception that China has been inactive with regard to Russia's assault on Ukraine have stood in the way of further consensus-building. Bilateral relations have faced challenges and opportunities, Li said, as he called on the EU to foster a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese firms. Both sides should "promote the resolution of existing problems in China-EU economic and trade cooperation through dialogue, consultation, mutual understanding and accommodation," Li said. Last week, China's commerce minister spoke with the EU's trade commissioner and the Dutch economy minister to discuss, among other issues, a stand-off over China-owned chipmaker Nexperia. Dutch authorities seized control of Nexperia last month, citing fears that the company's technology would be taken by its Chinese owner, Shanghai-listed Wingtech. China, where most of Nexperia's chips are packaged, responded by blocking exports of the company's finished products, alarming European carmakers that rely on them. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/eus-costa-expressed-concerns-chinas-li-expanding-mineral-export-curbs-2025-10-27/
