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Bloomberg UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox said he urged US officials to reconsider imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union this week, suggesting the move has upset America’s allies more than the main culprit for overcapacity, China. The EU and other foreign trading partners are seeking exemptions to the 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent ...

Bloomberg Myanmar said a planned $2.5 billion redevelopment of the six-decade-old railway station in Yangon will get underway around June once contract negotiations are completed. Talks with the preferred bidder for the revamp of the 25.7 hectare (63.5 acre) site in the commercial capital will take about two months, U Win Khant, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport and ...

Bloomberg Japan’s labour unions have won pay rises for workers, although they’re still too small to generate the big increase in consumption that the Bank of Japan needs for inflation. Initial results for this year’s “spring offensive” wage talks show workers receiving a 2.16 percent increase in monthly pay, according to figures released by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation. This ...

Bloomberg Singapore is the world’s most expensive city for the fifth straight year in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest Worldwide Cost of Living report, with Paris and Zurich tied for second place. Asia Pacific and European destinations dominated the ranks of costliest cities identified in the report released this week. Tokyo and Osaka were conspicuous in their absence from ...

Bloomberg There’s about to be enough sugar piled up in warehouses to make three chocolate cakes for every person in the world, and that’s got the market spooked. Supplies are booming thanks to the outlook for record harvests in India and Thailand, the world’s No. 2 exporter. The glut has already sent futures in New York to the lowest since ...

LONDON / Reuters Global oil demand is expected to pick up this year but supply is growing at a faster pace, leading to a rise in inventories in the first quarter of 2018, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. The IEA raised its forecast for oil demand this year to 99.3 million barrels per day (bpd) from 97.8 million bpd ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices fell this week as demand eased in North Asia on expectations for higher temperatures in the region and as nuclear reactors restart in Japan, limiting the need for gas for power generation. Spot prices for May delivery slipped to around $7.70 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), said several trade ...

LONDON / Reuters BP is seeking buyers for its stake in a 50-year-old oil and gas business in Egypt as it focusses on newer deepwater gas fields off the country’s Mediterranean coast, banking sources said. The London-based company has in recent weeks pitched to potential buyers its stake in Gulf of Suez Oil Company (GUPCO), a joint venture with the ...

Bloomberg Glencore Plc and Vitol SA are among companies submitting bids for a stake in the Indeni Petroleum Refinery, Zambia’s only fuel processor, according to the southern African nation’s development agency. Seven offers were made for a stake in the 20,000 barrel-a-day plant, including from the China Petroleum Technology & Development Corp., Philia Trading Pte Ltd, and a group including ...

DUBAI / Reuters Construction work has begun on a joint venture to build a shipyard on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast, oil rig builder Lamprell Plc said in a statement. The joint venture, International Maritime Industries (IMI), started operations after reaching agreement for a loan from the state-backed Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), the statement said. The SIDF agreed in principle ...