Commodities

Stubbornly high cooking oil prices in Indonesia have frustrated President Joko Widodo's administration.
Commodities

Indonesia's policy flip-flop on palm oil export ban: 5 things to know

Total embargo may cost $3bn in foreign reserves monthly, warns economist

27 April 2022
Workers load palm oil fresh fruit to be transported to processing sites.
Commodities

Indonesia to impose blanket export ban on palm oil

Move reverses previous announcement that only cooking oil material would be banned

27 April 2022
Keppel and Sembcorp Marine are listed on the Singapore Exchange and are among the world's largest builders of offshore oil rigs.
27 April 2022
Shanghai Energy New Materials Technology is part of the Semcorp group, the world's top maker of EV battery separators. (Photo courtesy of the company)
Electric cars in China

China's EV battery materials industry set for $11bn capacity buildup

Out-muscled Japanese rivals look to mount comeback in Western markets

27 April 2022
A worker loads palm fruit at a plantation in Indonesia's West Sulawesi Province.
Commodities

Indonesia retreats from ban on crude palm oil exports

Embargo only for palm olein as 'raw materials for cooking oil,' ministry says

26 April 2022
Workers walk along a pathway at a PT Vale nickel smelter in Indonesia. Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining says it is discontinuing a long-running feasibility study on a nickel processing plant in the country due to a disagreement with PT Vale.
Commodities

Japan's Sumitomo Metal abandons Indonesia nickel project

Company had been working on feasibility study for Pomalaa site since 2012

26 April 2022
Politicians up for election say that raising the earnings of workers at the bottom of the pay scale could kickstart a multiplier effect that reverberates across economies, but the chiefs of Southeast Asian industries are not so sure.
Asia Insight

Malaysia's 35% minimum wage hike stirs recovery concerns

Critics say politicians are promising happier paydays as an election ploy

26 April 2022
Indonesian palm oil farmers could compensate for Jokowi's export ban by trimming production. A palm oil plantation in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
Commodities

Indonesia's palm oil ban threatens further global food inflation

World's biggest producer suspends supply for foreign markets

25 April 2022
A worker handles palm oil fruits at a palm oil plantation. Palm oil prices skyrocketed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 
Commodities

Indonesia slaps ban on palm oil exports

Jokowi announces restriction after recent arrests and amid continuing high prices

22 April 2022
Blue carbon could become a significant absorption tool -- if someone figures out how to quickly measure the carbon these programs soak up.
Climate Change

J-Power, Apple and Mitsui O.S.K. give blue carbon credits a try

Can tending coastal ecosystems absorb the same amount of carbon as forests?

22 April 2022
The benchmark price for Ural crude in Europe slipped by around 30% between early March and mid-April, falling from $111 to $78 a barrel.
Commodities

Who is buying bargain Russian oil in Asia?

Tankers full of Russian crude still entering Japan, South Korea, India, China

21 April 2022
A farmer rides alongside a rice field north of Bangkok. Demand for Thai rice exports is accelerating in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Commodities

Thai rice exports surge as Ukraine war roils global food supply

Importers rush to snap up alternatives to Russian, Ukrainian grain

21 April 2022
Libya's National Oil Corp. has declared force majeure, saying it has become impossible to meet obligations.
Commodities

Oil rises 2% as Libya outages add to Russia supply fears

National Oil Corp. says 'a painful wave of closures' has begun hitting its facilities

19 April 2022
A nickel processing plant in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The Southeast Asian nation is determined to become a big battery and electric vehicle exporter.
Supply Chain

LG aims to forge EV battery supply chain in nickel-rich Indonesia

Posco, Chinese miner Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Indonesian companies team up

19 April 2022
The Mallnow compressor station which mainly receives Russian natural gas in Brandenburg, Germany, on March 29: Gas supplies are harder to reroute.
Opinion

A ban on Russian energy will hurt Europe more than it helps Ukraine

Western governments should avoid 'act now, think later' policies

14 April 2022
While the world is desperate to find an alternative to Russian oil, the U.S. -- sitting on abundant shale -- is not. This has frustrated Iran, which hoped for leverage on the nuclear deal.
Energy

Iran's hope of Ukraine oil windfall fades, lacking leverage on U.S.

Millions of barrels of Tehran's crude sit in tankers offshore while negotiations stall

13 April 2022
Turkey’s third off-shore drill ship Kanuni, heading to the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. (Anadolu Agency )
Interview

Turkey targets nuclear and local gas to reduce energy imports

Deputy minister says country can help EU strengthen supply security

12 April 2022
Freeport Indonesia is the local unit of U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan. (Photo courtesy of Freeport Indonesia)
Commodities

Freeport Indonesia offers $3bn bond to finance smelter projects

Miner's announcement comes as copper price trades near all-time high

8 April 2022
The surge in food prices accelerated after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of wheat and corn.
8 April 2022
The Port of Newcastle in Australia is expected to get busier now that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is adding to the upward pressure on coal prices. (AAP)
Energy

Australian coal majors' earnings swell as demand takes off

'Live with virus' strategies, Ukraine war, even bad weather inflate prices

4 April 2022
Anderson Tanoto, left, managing director of Royal Golden Eagle, of which APRIL is a group company, and Airlangga Hartarto, right, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for the economy, visit a plantation in Riau Province on March 29 near the construction site for a new paperboard facility. (Photo courtesy of APRIL)
Commodities

Indonesia's APRIL starts work on $2.3bn paperboard facility

Pulp and paper giant shoots for 'sustainability' amid environmental scrutiny

30 March 2022
Workers look out over an open pit copper mine in Antofagasta, Chile.
Materials

Global scramble for copper spurs Marubeni, Mitsubishi to dig deep

Japanese trading houses expand mining as EVs and wind turbines boost demand

30 March 2022
Simandou in southwest Guinea is considered to be the world’s largest high-quality iron ore deposit.
Caixin

Guinea agrees to resume Simandou iron ore project

Chinese companies part of new infrastructure deal and $15bn investment

29 March 2022
Costs were already rising before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, Asia's businesses and households are being squeezed even harder. 
Asia Insight

Inflation starts to bite in Asia on war, COVID, supply squeeze

Growing public anger puts governments to the test ahead of elections

29 March 2022
Bypassing the Panama Canal means much quicker and cheaper shipments for LNG suppliers.
Energy

North American LNG suppliers go west to feed hungry Asia

Avoiding congested Panama Canal cuts shipping time to 8 days

29 March 2022