Vitol group submits bid surpassing $10 bln for Citgo's parent, sources say
A court officer overseeing the auction is expected to recommend a winner on Wednesday unless he requests more time to evaluate bids submitted in the last minute.
Vitol did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Leaders of growing BRICS group gather for Rio summit
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 6 - Leaders of the growing BRICS group of developing nations were set to gather in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, calling for reform of traditional Western institutions while presenting the bloc as a defender of multilateralism in an increasingly fractured world. With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive "America First" approach of U.S. President Donald Trump, expansion of the BRICS has opened new space for diplomatic coordination. "In the face of the resurgence of protectionism, it is up to emerging nations to defend the multilateral trade regime and reform the international financial architecture," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a BRICS business forum on Saturday. BRICS nations now represent over half the world's population and 40% of its economic output, Lula noted. The BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as full members. This is the first leaders' summit to include Indonesia. "The vacuum left by others ends up being filled almost instantly by the BRICS," said a Brazilian diplomat who asked not to be named. Although the G7 still concentrates vast power, the source added, "it doesn't have the predominance it once did." However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogenous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies. Stealing some thunder from this year's summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his prime minister in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Still, many heads of state will gather for discussions at Rio's Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and Monday, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Over 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners. Brazil, which also hosts the United Nations climate summit in November, has seized on both gatherings to highlight how seriously developing nations are tackling climate change, while Trump has slammed the brakes on U.S. climate initiatives. Both China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in a proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions about funding conservation of endangered forests around the world. Expansion of the BRICS has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations across the Global South, strengthening calls for reforming global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund. The growth of the bloc has also increased the challenges to reaching consensus on contentious geopolitical issues. Ahead of the summit, negotiators struggled to find shared language for a joint statement about the bombardment of Gaza, the Israel-Iran conflict and a proposed reform of the Security Council, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to speak openly. To overcome differences among African nations regarding the continent's proposed representative to a reformed Security Council, the group agreed to endorse seats for Brazil and India while leaving open which country should represent Africa's interests, a person familiar with the talks told Reuters. The BRICS will also continue their thinly veiled criticism of Trump's U.S. tariff policy. At an April ministerial meeting, the bloc expressed concern about "unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs."
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
BRICS finance ministers make unified proposal for IMF reforms
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 5 (Reuters) - Finance ministers from the BRICS group of developing nations called on Saturday for reform of the International Monetary Fund, including a new distribution of voting rights and an end to the tradition of European management at the helm. The joint statement by the group's finance ministers marks the first time the BRICS countries have agreed on a unified position on the proposed reforms. They agreed to back the shared proposal at an IMF review meeting coming up in December, which will discuss changes to a quota system that defines contributions and voting rights. "Quota realignment should reflect members' relative positions in the global economy, while protecting the quota shares of the poorest members," the ministers wrote in their statement after meetings in Rio de Janeiro, adding that the new formula should increase quotas for developing countries. The BRICS ministers called for a new formula weighted by economic output and purchasing power, considering the relative value of currencies, which should better represent low-income countries, said a Brazilian official who followed negotiations. The ministerial meetings came ahead of a leaders summit in Rio for the bloc that expanded last year beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That has added diplomatic clout to the group, which aims to speak for developing nations in the Global South, urging reforms of institutions long dominated by traditional Western powers. "With full respect to a merit-based selection process, regional representation must be enhanced for the IMF management, overcoming the anachronistic post-World War II gentlemen's agreement that is unfit for the current world order," the finance ministers wrote. Their statement also confirmed discussions to set up a new guarantee mechanism backed by the NDB, a multilateral bank funded by the BRICS, which aims to lower financing costs and boost investment in developing economies, as Reuters first reported on Thursday.
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Rebuilding global coffee stocks may need at least two good crops, experts say
CAMPINAS, Brazil, July 4 (Reuters) - Rebuilding global coffee stocks may take at least a couple of good crops following successive deficits in the supply-demand balance, coffee industry officials said on Friday during a Coffee Dinner & Summit event in Brazil. Global coffee prices hit a record high earlier this year, amid supply issues and resilient demand. Even with a large harvest expected next season in Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter, that may not bring immediate relief for coffee consumers. "I do not believe (the industry will be able to) build up stocks from this year to next year. I think we would need at least two good harvests," the commercial superintendent of Brazilian coffee co-operative Cooxupe, Luiz Fernando dos Reis, told Reuters on the sidelines of the event. "To replenish the stocks we had four years ago, it will take at least two years of very good harvests, if everything goes well," said Louis Dreyfus Company's coffee research director Charles Chiapolino. "And we know how difficult it is to keep the climate aligned across the world for two years in a row, it's almost impossible," Chiapolino added. "At the moment, no one can build stocks with demand stable, or growing in some countries," said the chief executive of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, German Bahamon. Reis, from Cooxupe - the world's largest coffee cooperative - said that even if Brazil produces a large harvest in the 2026/27 season, the following crop is not expected to be as good since the main coffee variety grown in the country, arabica, alternates in a biennial cycle of high and low output.
