India's Gas Importers Benefiting From Easing Prices: Nomura

SINGAPORE: India's leading gas importers are benefiting from easing prices of Liquefied Natural Gas prices with promises of strong profits in the coming months, Japanese financial services firm Nomura has said in a report.

"After having performed weakest in the past year, GAILBSE -1.65 % looks set to stage a strong comeback," Nomura said in its global market research report released yesterday.

GAIL is benefiting from lower natural gas price in the domestic market and imports as well as the recent strength in the petrochemical product prices.

It has benefited from the revised Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) contract prices with RasGas of Qatar, according to the report, which estimates the price at $5 per million British thermal Unit (mmbtu), down 60 per cent on the year.

Comparative spot LNG prices at $4-4.5/mmbtu are even lower. It also expects GAIL to renegotiate its LNG import contracts based on Henry Hub prices in the US. Saying the worst is over for GAIL, the report forecast 79 per cent increase in the company's Earnings Per Share growth for fiscal year 2017 and 30 per cent in 2018.

It expects GAIL earnings to decline by 27 per cent for this year, having recorded a steeper 55 per cent decline in the first half of the year. GAIL saw its earnings drop by a sharp 31 per cent in FY15, after having reported year-on-year growth on each year for the past decade.

 The outlook also remain bright for Petronet LNG (PLNG).

PLNG will also benefit from lower prices and continues to benefits from expansion at Dahej LNG import terminal which is being expanded to 17.5 million tonne capacity by 2019, up from 15 mmt by end of this year.

"We expect that after 25 per cent growth in FY16F, (as forecast), growth will be 22 per cent in FY17F, before growing sharply by 47 per cent in FY18F as benefits from the Dahej expansion feed through.

 

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

India Likely To Import 5 Million Tonnes Wheat In 2016/17, Itc Executive Says

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India may import 5 million tonnes of wheat in 2016/17 as its local production is hit by back-to-back years of drought amid rising demand, a leading consumer said on Friday.

The country is expected to produce 85 million tonnes of the grain in 2016, a decline of about 2.3 percent from last year, said S. Sivakumar, group head of agri and IT businesses at ITC Ltd .

 

 

Source:business-standard.com

Rupee Closes Marginally Lower Against Us Dollar At 66.76

Mumbai: The Indian rupee closed marginally lower against the US dollar on Friday, as traders avoided long positions ahead of the key economic data from global and domestic markets due next week.

The home currency closed at 66.76, down 0.06% from its previous close of 66.72. The rupee opened at 66.81 per US dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.74 and 66.88, respectively.

Most Asian currencies closed lower. South Korean won was down 0.81%, Malaysian ringgit 0.65%, Taiwan dollar 0.31%, Philippines peso 0.22%, Singapore dollar 0.18%, Thai baht 0.15%, China offshore 0.14% and Indonesian rupiah 0.05%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.25% and China renminbi 0.14%.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.48%, or 127.71 points, to close at 26,635.75 points. So far this year, the Sensex has gained 2%.

The government will release the April factory output data on Friday after 5.30pm. According to a Bloomberg analyst poll, the factory output will rise 0.7% in April, against a 0.1% rise in March.

The Consumer Price index (CPI)-based inflation and Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation data for May will be out on 13 June and 14 June respectively. According to a Bloomberg poll of analysts, CPI will be at 5.55% in May against 5.39% in April while WPI will be at 0.44% for May compared with 0.34% in April.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics will release the May data on industrial output, investment, real estate sales and construction, and retail sales on 13 June. The US Federal Reserve officials will meet on 14-15 June to discuss policy while the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is likely to stay on hold at its 16 June meeting. The UK referendum on its European Union (EU) membership on 23 June.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield closed at 7.492%, compared with its Thursday’s close of 7.487%.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 0.91%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $2.74 billion from the local equity market and sold $1.20 billion in the debt market.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.223, up 0.29% from its previous close of 93.953.

 

Source:.livemint.com

Steel Ministry To Seek Extension Of Floor Price On Imports

NEW DELHI: Steel ministry will seek to extend a floor price on steel imports beyond August, a senior official said, as the country looks to keep up its protectionist barriers to stem the tide of cheap foreign products.

NEW DELHI imposed the minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products in February, helping cut inbound shipments last month to their lowest level in at least 14 months. The MIP expires in August.

The steel ministry will call for the extension of MIP for as long products are being dumped in India, the official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media, told Reuters.

India is the world's third-largest steel producer with a total installed capacity of 110 million tonnes. But the industry says its margins have been squeezed due to cheap imports from China, as well as Russia, Japan and South Korea.

To shield domestic mills, India in March extended safeguard import taxes on some steel products until 2018 and has begun probing the possible dumping of cheap steel from China, Japan and South Korea.

Last month it also imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on seamless tubes and pipes imported from China.

Countries including Japan, Taiwan, Canada and Australia have accused India of restrictive trade practices with the country's steel import policies drawing wide criticism at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

A spokesman for the steel ministry said it was premature to discuss floor prices while the trade ministry, which decides whether MIP remains beyond August, was not immediately available for comment.

Recommendations that follow detailed investigations are generally accepted by the trade ministry.

 

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

India's Plan To Levy Tax Could Hit 75,000 Tonnes Sugar Exports, Says Industry Official

PUNE: India's plan to levy tax on sugar exports could hit nearly 75,000 tonnes of shipment heading towards Myanmar and Sri Lanka, an industry official said on Friday.

India, the world's second biggest sugar producer after Brazil and a top consumer, has so far exported 1.7 million tonnes in the marketing year that began on Oct 1, said Rahil Shaikh, managing director at ED&F Man Commodities India Pvt Ltd.

India plans to impose a 25 percent tax on sugar exports to maintain local supplies after two straight years of drought hit the crop in the South Asian nation.

Rising local sugar prices may force India to scrap tax on sugar imports, Shaikh said, adding he expects the country's sugar output in 2016/17 to be at around 23.5 million tonnes, down from 25.2 million tonnes in the previous year.

 

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com