Archives for March 2019

So far, China has suspended canola imports from two Canadian companies. Viterra, the nation’s largest grain handler, was banned from the Chinese market earlier this week, while agricultural and food industry company Richardson International, a major Canadian canola exporter, was banned three weeks ago. Chinese officials cited pest concerns as the reason for the ban.

Beijing accuses US of trying to ‘strangle’ Chinese firms in response to Huawei crackdown

Beijing and Ottawa have been involved in an escalating diplomatic and trade conflict since December, when Canadian authorities detained Meng Wanzhou, vice-chairperson and CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei. The top executive was reportedly detained at the request of Washington which accuses Meng of violating US sanctions against Iran.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang called the step towards banning Canadian canola “scientific and reasonable,” stressing that Ottawa should make moves to “correct the mistakes it made earlier.”

Canada is the world’s number one producer of rapeseed. The country accounts for nearly 21.1 million metric tons out of global production that reportedly reached 28 million metric tons in 2018. Last year, the country exported over $5 billion worth of canola with nearly half of the volume shipped to the Chinese market, according to the data compiled by the Canadian Canola Growers Association.

The Canadian federal government is taking the situation “very seriously,” according to the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/454987-china-canada-mistakes-canola/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The lira slid nearly six percent last Friday, prompting Erdogan to call for a crackdown on market “manipulations” and Turkish regulators to open a probe into investment banks.

Erdogan says Turkey does not want a dime from the IMF

After recovering losses early this week, the lira fell again by around five percent on Thursday to 5.59 against the US dollar. Last year, the currency collapsed 30 percent after the United States imposed sanctions and increased tariffs on some Turkish products.

Erdogan said the currency fluctuations are part of a plot by the West to “corner Turkey, particularly by the US.” He said Turkey needed to “discipline speculators in the market,” adding that the alleged interventions would not succeed.

READ MORE: Putin vows to launch first Russian-built nuclear plant in Turkey in 2023

Turkey’s central bank figures showed a dramatic $10 billion decrease in the country’s foreign reserves in the first three weeks of March to 142 billion lira ($24.7 billion). The bank’s governor Murat Cetinkaya said the regulator continues to implement its reserve-building policy.

“Although reserves may fluctuate due to periodic factors, there has been a consistent uptrend in reserves in the medium term,” Cetinkaya said. “Over the last week, our gross reserves have increased across all items by $4.3 billion and by March 27 reached $96.7 billion. During the same period, our net reserves also rose $2.4 billion to $28.6 billion,” he added.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/454985-turkey-lira-erdogan-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The jury in Middlesex County Superior Court found that the plaintiff Ricardo Rimondi hadn’t proved he was exposed to asbestos via the company’s baby powder.

Asbestos is a term for a group of minerals often found in talc, which is widely used in cosmetics. Exposure to it may increase risks of a number of diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Also on rt.com Johnson Johnson must pay cancer-stricken woman $29mn in latest talcum trial

Rimondi’s lawyers argued during a month-long trial that years of exposure to products like baby powder had caused his mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the internal organs, which is associated with asbestos).

Monica Cooper of the Lanier Law Firm, which represents Rimondi, said in a statement that her team was “obviously disappointed by the outcome, particularly in light of the overwhelming scientific and documentary evidence supporting the claims of the Rimondi family that JJ’s talcum-based baby powder is laced with asbestos.”

Johnson Johnson wins trial over cancer claims linked to baby powder

The Lanier Law Firm has helped a group of 22 women with ovarian cancer successfully sue Johnson Johnson in St. Louis. A jury there awarded the women $4.7 billion last year after they argued that the company had known for decades about the risk of asbestos in talc. JJ is appealing that decision.

Johnson Johnson, which is facing some 13,000 talc-related lawsuits nationwide, denies that its talc causes cancer. The pharmaceutical company claims that numerous studies and tests by regulators worldwide have shown its talc to be safe and asbestos-free.

On Wednesday, the company settled three other mesothelioma talc cases pending in state courts in California, Oklahoma and New York. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Chris Panatier, told Reuters about the settlements but declined to provide further details, citing confidentiality agreements.

Addressing the settlements, JJ said in a statement: “There are one-off situations where settlement is reasonable.”

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/454958-johnson-johnson-cancer-cleared/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and the waivers of said sanctions are causing rifts among the US administration—pitting the National Security Council and the US State Department against each other as the deadline for waiver extensions draws near.

US President Donald Trump is caught in the middle of the now-public squabble, as anonymous sources “familiar with the debate” disclosed the infighting to the media, according to Bloomberg.

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Many others, too, have publicly decried the extension waivers or the sanctions, including oil-dependent economies that have long relied on Iran’s oil such as India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, and others—some of which enjoy peaceful relations with the United States.

President Trump campaigned heavily on scrapping the nuclear deal with Iran, and made good on that promise in May 2018. A few short months later, he announced that the United States would levy sanctions on Iran in a move that while somewhat predictable, shocked oil markets nonetheless. Prices rose on the announcement, but later fell when Trump announced in November that the United States would grant some of Iran’s most oil-thirsty customers waivers to continue purchasing specific amounts of oil from Iran.

Also on rt.com US tells Iran’s oil customers not to expect new waivers

The US administration granted said waivers after finding itself in quite the pickle, weighing the pros and cons of being tough on Iran, appearing tough on Iran, keeping a lid on oil prices, and keeping the peace with the likes of India, Japan, South Korea, and other US allies who would find it hard indeed to comply with zero oil purchases from Iran.

When Trump announced the sanctions, many were expecting him to stick to his hardline approach, and were unhappy with his decision to offer waivers to so many countries—eight in total—and oil prices plummeted as the market predicted global inventories would no longer be drawn down as quickly as they had planned.

Read more on Oilprice.com: A “perfect coup’’ is unfolding in Algeria

The issue with sanctions on Venezuela and Venezuela’s already-declining oil production added another level of complexity to the oil markets and to the decision about just how much of a hardline approach is too much, and how much is not enough.

This complexity is precisely why we are seeing divisions now, with another decision soon to be made on extending those waivers.

According to the sources, the group taking a hardline approach favoring no more waivers includes the National Security Council—John Bolton specifically. Other hardliners include presidential advisor Larry Kudlow, and Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Their argument is that Iran is not being squeezed tightly enough, and that it may be able to withstand the incomplete nature of the US sanctions, and that as a result, it may be unmotivated to make concessions to forge a new nuclear deal.

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The opposing group is made up of the US State Department led by Mike Pompeo, who is in favor of treading more carefully with US allies who will feel the pinch if the waivers are not extended.

Waivers or no, Iran has seen a drop off in its oil production, despite the Iranian government’s insistence that the US sanctions would have little effect on its oil industry. Using OPEC’s data from secondary sources, we can see that Iran’s oil production has dipped by more than 1 million barrels per day since the re-imposition of the sanctions, even with the waivers granted to some of Iran’s largest customers.

Read more on Oilprice.com: Venezuela’s oil production in jeopardy after new blackout

Canceling the existing waivers—the move toward zero exports—would shave off a great deal more.

The US has engaged in some chest-puffing with regards to “zero exports” out of Iran, but sober-minded individuals should see the folly in the likelihood of that absolute term, wisdom aside.

Also on rt.com Russia Iran ditching dollar for trade in favor of national currencies – Moscow’s envoy to Tehran

Chances are that the reality of what’s to come will be found in some middle ground, with Trump axing or reducing some waiver limits while keeping others. When oil markets react to the decision—whatever it is—it will be, similar to last time, short-term. With more oil barrels out of the mix, especially with Venezuela’s exports dwindling as well, oil prices will likely spike. Fears will be quickly assuaged, however, as Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC, and even non-OPEC members, have the capacity to restore oil production well beyond current levels, which is an artificially reduced level designed to shave barrels off what it sees as an oversupplied market.

This perceived oversupply will drive Trump’s decision in the coming days. The current round of waivers expires in May, and prices are expected to remain volatile at least until then.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com