Commodities

Chinese exports to ASEAN dropped by 21% in July from a year ago.
Caixin

Container shipping rates fall on weaker China-ASEAN trade

Shanghai to Singapore 20-foot container spot price down 30% from March

16 August 2023
Iron ore imported from Australia, Brazil and other countries is unloaded at a port in Taicang, in China's Jiangsu province. (Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Commodities

China bankrolls Africa railroad to cut Australia iron-ore reliance

Costly infrastructure in Guinea will unlock world's largest untapped source

14 August 2023
 The LNG Canada project is scheduled to begin operation in the middle of the decade. (LNG Canada handout via Reuters)
Energy

Asian nations compete for access to Canadian LNG

Country poised to become bigger exporter of clean-burning fuel than Russia

10 August 2023
A vessel is seen docked after unloading imported iron ore at a port in Zhoushan, in China's Zhejiang province.
Caixin

What has China's state iron ore giant achieved in first year?

State firm in talks for overseas purchases, faces limited personnel, funding

9 August 2023
Rio Tinto uses giant trucks to haul iron ore to as a cost-cutting measure. Electric trucks will need to be smaller. (Photo by Rurika Imahashi)
Climate Change

Rio Tinto leans on electric trucks in $7.5bn carbon-cutting plan

Anglo-Australian miner will also tap wind, solar power to cut footprint in half by 2030

9 August 2023
Although China is hurting from the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal, President Xi Jinping, right, appears determined to support Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photos from Reuters and AP)
Ukraine war

China not expected to push Russian return to Black Sea grain deal

Initiative's collapse hurts China's economy, but Beijing focused on geopolitics

7 August 2023
Imported coal unloaded from a cargo ship at a port in China. For Japan's trading houses, resources such as coal were affected by a lull in prices.
Markets

Japanese trading house profits slide as resource prices soften

Construction machinery, retail business support progress toward growth path

5 August 2023
Raditya Wibowo, left, and Arief Fadillah co-founded Maka Motors in 2021. Wibowo says the electric motorcycle company aims to be profitable by 2030. (Photo courtesy of Maka Motors)
Companies

Indonesia's Maka Motors to manufacture electric motorbikes in 2024

Local company aims to crack market controlled by Chinese players

4 August 2023
An Indian farmer carries rice saplings in her field. India banned exports of non-basmati white rice on July 20.
Commodities

Rice prices hit 11-year high as Indian export ban fuels supply fears

Once-stable rice joins expensive wheat in growing risk of 'agflation' and hunger

4 August 2023
Southeast Asian nations are importers of Japanese waste cardboard. (Photo by Akinobu Masubuchi)
Materials

Southeast Asia-bound wastepaper prices slump on weak demand

Prices of exports from the West and Japan have plunged by around half

2 August 2023
Raw ore taken from an industrial copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Supply Chain

Japan builds supply chain for EV battery minerals in Africa

Tokyo eyes exploration with Zambia, Congo and Namibia to counter China

2 August 2023
Gold at a Beijing jewelry store: China, together with Russia, accounted for 60% of official purchases of gold between 2010 and 2022.
Opinion

Asia's growing dollar wariness is hardening up gold

Seizure of central bank reserves, U.S. debt worries drive search for alternatives

31 July 2023
Officials sign a deal on July 25 for Indonesian state oil company Pertamina and Malaysia's Petronas to take over Shell's stake in Indonesia's giant Masela gas block. (Courtesy of Pertamina)
Commodities

Asian majors Pertamina, Petronas to pay $650m for Shell gas stake

European oil company sells interest in Masela block, including huge Abadi project

25 July 2023
Autonomous mining trucks, like this one seen at a trade show, helped BHP Group boost iron ore production.
Companies

Australia's BHP rides driverless trucks to record iron ore output

Miner tries to push through sluggish Chinese demand with higher productivity

21 July 2023
A combine harvests wheat in a field near Luhansk in Russian-controlled Ukraine on July 18.
Ukraine war

Russia's grain deal exit to gradually hit Asia food supplies

El Nino weather cycle of greater concern now as rice production slumps

19 July 2023
China is the top producer of processed copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite and rare earths, and the second largest processor of nickel after Indonesia, according to an International Energy Agency report. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
Commodities

China joins global hunt to diversify mineral supplies: IEA

Dominance in refining, processing makes it strong competitor for mining assets

11 July 2023
A machine engraves a palladium ingot at a plant in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. Russia produces 40% of the world's palladium. 
Commodities

Catalytic converter metals tumble in price on China slowdown

Dependent on automotive demand, palladium and rhodium slide to 4-year lows

11 July 2023
Copper and gold miner Amman Mineral Internasional is the latest Indonesian resource company to test investor appetites by listing on the stock market. (Photo by Ismi Damayanti) 
IPO

Amman Mineral closes up 3.5% after Indonesia's biggest 2023 IPO

Copper and gold miner raised $709m, eyes demand boost from clean energy

7 July 2023
"The potential growth of SOEs is massive," Indonesian Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir said in an interview. (Photo by Dimas Ardian) 
Interview

Three Indonesia state company IPOs could raise $3bn total: minister

But Pertamina's upstream unit and Pupuk Kaltim still assessing market conditions

7 July 2023
A refining and petrochemical complex is seen in Dalian, Liaoning province. Lower demand for plastics is creating supply gut of naphtha. 
Commodities

China slump pushes Asian naphtha prices near 2.5-year low

Weak demand for key plastics material leads to supply glut

4 July 2023
Florika Fink-Hooijer, European Commission's director general for environment, speaks during an interview in Kuala Lumpur on June 28. (Photo by Norman Goh)
Interview

EU, Malaysia, Indonesia create task force over deforestation rule

First meeting set for August amid lingering worries among palm oil farmers

30 June 2023
A worker at a production line for EV lithium-ion batteries in a factory in Huzhou, China.
Commodities

Chinese EV market slowdown slashes lithium, cobalt prices

Battery metal supplies to rise as countries plan output expansion

30 June 2023
Global efforts to rein in carbon emissions were a focus of discussion at the Energy Asia 2023 conference in Kuala Lumpur. (Photo by Norman Goh)
Climate Change

Pertamina, Petronas, PTTEP race to build Asian carbon storage hubs

Southeast Asia oil companies try to decarbonize, grapple with commercialization

28 June 2023
Tea exports are a major source of foreign currency for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka crisis

Sri Lanka tea prices dip 40% from record high on production rebound

Fertilizer imports spur supply recovery, buoying crucial export revenue

28 June 2023
The outlook for liquefied natural gas is a key topic at the Energy Asia 2023 conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Energy

LNG 'inequality' bites as Europe takes supply from Asia

South and Southeast Asia returning to coal amid blackout risks from gas shortage

27 June 2023