GreenergyDaily

Aug. 7, 2024

1. During the first seven months of the year, China's yuan-denominated foreign trade in goods reached a record CNY24.83 trillion (USD3.46 trillion), marking a 6.2% increase compared to the same period last year, according to China Customs. In July alone, trade rose by 6.5% to CNY3.68 trillion (USD517.2 billion) compared to the previous year.

2. Indonesia's President Joko Widodo on Wednesday inaugurated a plant built by China's BTR New Material Group and Singapore's Stellar Investment that will produce anode materials for EV batteries. In the first phase, the companies invested $478 million in the plant that will produce 80,000 metric tons of materials per year, according to the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs.

3. China's imports of major commodities continued to lose momentum in July, with crude oil arrivals slumping to the weakest in nearly two years, while those of iron ore, coal, copper and natural gas were largely steady. The headline-grabber in Wednesday's official data release was the drop in crude oil imports to 9.97 million barrels per day in July, the lowest daily since September 2022. China, the world's biggest importer of crude, has seen arrivals slump this year, with imports of 10.90 million bpd in the first seven months of the year, down 2.9% from the 11.22 million bpd over the same period in 2023.

4. China's daily crude oil imports in July fell to their lowest since September 2022, as weak processing margins and low fuel demand curbed operations at state-run and independent refineries. The world's largest crude oil buyer brought in 42.34 million metric tons in July, or about 9.97 million barrels per day, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

5. Liquidators of troubled property giant China Evergrande Group have started legal action against PricewaterhouseCoopers, accusing it of "negligence" and "misrepresentation" in its work for the group, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Lawyers for the liquidators started the court proceedings against PwC Hong Kong and PwC Zhong Tian in March, the report, said, citing court documents obtained by the FT.

6. China on Tuesday unveiled an action plan to build a "new electricity system" with measures to be taken in 9 areas between 2024 and 2027 to pursue green development and ensure energy security, noting the country will work to increase the transmission of clean electricity through the grid, upgrade coal-fired power plants, and expand charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

7. Tesla is performing a remote recall of 1.7 million vehicles in China with an over-the-air software update, the state market regulator said on Tuesday. The recall in Tesla's second-largest market involves imported Model S and X vehicles and China-made Model 3 and Y vehicles that could fail to detect when the front trunk lid is unlocked, resulting in potential safety hazards, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement.

8. China National Offshore Oil Corporation announced on Tuesday that it had successfully secured a long-term contract for the trade of 12 million barrels of crude oil from the Mero oilfield, the third largest pre-salt ultra-deepwater oil field in the world. This marks the first time a Chinese company has won a bid for the Brazilian government's share of oil, managed by PPSA (Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A.), through an on-site public auction, it said.

9. Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said on Tuesday he expected oil demand growth of between 1.6 and 2 million barrels per day in the second half of this year, adding that fundamentals do not support the current drop in oil prices. Nasser, who heads the world's most profitable oil company, said he expects global oil demand of 104.7 million bpd in 2024 and that some forecasts saw demand of more than 106 million bpd in the second half of the year.

10. Japan's Honda Motor reported a 23% increase in first-quarter profit on Wednesday as the automaker benefited from a weaker yen, higher pricing and growing hybrid vehicle sales in the U.S. and its home market. Japan's second-biggest carmaker said quarterly operating profit totaled 484.7 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in the April-June period, compared with an average estimate of 472.4 billion yen in a poll of seven analysts by LSEG.