Latest news with #China-bound
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Satellite Chemical, Vinmar get US govt letters preventing ethane unloading in China
Ethane traders Satellite Chemical USA and Vinmar International have received US government letters allowing them to load ethane on vessels destined for China but prohibiting unloading ethane in China without authorisation, sources familiar with the matter said. The letters received Wednesday from the US Department of Commerce follow a licensing requirement imposed several weeks ago on ethane exports to China, stalling shipments and leading vessels to drift or anchor around the US Gulf Coast. The letter could be perceived as the administration preparing to lift the restriction, industry sources and analysts said. Even so, there would likely still be some reluctance to load ethane - which is extracted from US shale gas and primarily used as a petrochemical feedstock - as China-bound vessels could be stuck in limbo depending on how long the full-path restriction plays out, said AJ O'Donnell, an analyst at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. The US also sent similar letters to Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer on Wednesday, Reuters reported exclusively. China's Satellite Chemical Co Ltd, the parent of Satellite Chemical USA, and Vinmar declined to comment. Around half of all US ethane exports head to China, and the halt in flows has pushed ethane prices lower on worries of domestic oversupply. The restrictions are likely to cut into profits of top ethane producers. Supertanker Gas Bluebonnet loaded for China's Satellite Chemicals at Energy Transfer's Nederland facility in Texas on June 12 and was near the Panama Canal on Thursday, ship tracking data on LSEG and Kpler showed. At least nine other tankers were drifting or anchored along the US Gulf, while two were moored at loading docks. In the near term, export terminal operators such as Energy Transfer and Enterprise could benefit as they can push their buyers to load at the docks, industry sources said. Still, Enterprises Morgan Point dock near Houston could see lower volumes as a result of the ethane restrictions, Tudor Pickering Holt & Co's O'Donnell said. Chinese petrochemical firms use ethane, extracted from natural gas, as a feedstock because it is a cheaper alternative than naphtha, while US oil and gas producers need China to buy their natural gas liquids as domestic supply exceeds demand.
CNBC
20-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Chip stocks fall on report U.S. could terminate waivers for Taiwan Semi and others
Semiconductor stocks declined Friday following a report that the U.S. is weighing measures that would terminate waivers allowing some chipmakers to send American technology to China. Commerce Department official Jeffrey Kessler told Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor this week that he wanted to cancel their waivers, which allow them to send U.S. chipmaking tech to their factories in China, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF declined about 1%. Nvidia, Qualcomm and Marvell Technology fell about 1%, while Taiwan Semiconductor slipped about 2%. U.S. chipmakers have been hit with curbs over the last few years, limiting the ability to sell advanced artificial intelligence chips to China due to national security concerns. During its earnings report last month, Nvidia said the recent export restriction on its China-bound H20 chips hindered sales by about $8 billion. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told investors on an earnings call that the $50 billion market in China for AI chips is "effectively closed to U.S. industry." During a CNBC interview in May, he called getting blocked from China's AI market a "tremendous loss." Read the full WSJ report here.
Nikkei Asia
10-06-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Taiwan's exports tilt toward US as China ratio drops to 24-year low
TAIPEI -- Taiwan's export focus has shifted toward the U.S. and away from China, the latest data highlights, as the Asian semiconductor power appears to be trading one set of risks for another. Shipments to the U.S. reached 26.8% of Taiwan's total exports in the January-May period, while those to China, still the largest destination, declined to 28.1%. This marked the first time in 24 years that the China-bound figure for the same period was below 30%, the Ministry of Finance's data shows.
The Star
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Boeing set to restart jet handovers to Beijing amid tariff dispute
The Boeing logo is displayed at the company's factory, Sept. 24, 2024, in Renton, Washington. - AP NEW YORK: Boeing Co has begun shipping commercial jets to China for the first time since early April, indicating a reopening of trade flows amid the long-simmering tariff war between the United States and Asia's biggest economy. A Boeing 737 Max registered N230BE took off for Hawaii last Friday, according to Flightradar24 flight data. It was the first stop on a journey to the US planemaker's centre in Zhoushan, China where it typically finalises delivery of that model for domestic customers. The pending resumption of China-bound Boeing planes to one of the world's largest aviation markets comes after sparring between Washington and Beijing over the licensing of rare earth minerals and semiconductors. Under US President Donald Trump, aerospace has become increasingly enmeshed in negotiations over tariffs, with agreements punctuated by Boeing jet orders. The stakes were brought into focus after Bloomberg reported that China is considering placing an order for hundreds of aircraft built by European rival Airbus SE as soon as next month. The Boeing 737 Max jet took off at around 10am Seattle time last Friday, according to Flightradar24 data. The plane departed from King County International Airport-Boeing Field, south of downtown Seattle, heading to Kailua-Kona in Hawaii, the data showed. Previously, planes registered as N230BE had flown to Boeing's China delivery centre in Zhoushan and back to Seattle when Beijing asked its airlines to reject delivery of the US-made jets. Chinese government officials on May 12 lifted a ban on airlines taking delivery of Boeing planes after striking a truce with the United States that temporarily slashed tariffs on each side. China reduced its 125% duties on US goods to 10%, while the United States agreed to drop the combined 145% levies on most Chinese imports to 30%. But the accord struck in Geneva is for 90 days, leaving Boeing and its Chinese customers at risk of more trade gyrations. There's been added uncertainty as the White House moved to impose new restrictions on US technology shared with the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd, China's planemaker, and the jet it created to challenge Boeing and Airbus. China's airlines have been cautious about resuming US imports. Delivery activity has only recently stepped up at Boeing's Seattle facilities, including jets for Air China, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, according to a website that tracks plane movements at the manufacturer. At stake for Boeing is the opportunity to finally clear its inventory of already built aircraft, a step to improving its finances. The sparring has also left in limbo the first major aircraft order from China since Trump visited Beijing in 2017. Both sides have a mutual interest in preserving commerce around aerospace, which traditionally has generated large trade surpluses for the United States. China's airlines can't rely solely on Boeing's European rival, Airbus, or its domestic upstart to provide the aircraft they need to expand operations. Planebuilder Comac also needs US-made engines, avionics and other technology to build its C919 jetliner. Boeing had expected to deliver another 50 planes to China when the latest trade spat erupted in April, with Beijing countering Trump's new levies by hiking tariffs that priced the US-made jets out of the market for Chinese carriers. With demand for new aircraft far-outstripping supply, Boeing has indicated that it's willing to find new takers if its China-bound aircraft get caught up in the trade wrangling. — Bloomberg
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Targets Niche Gas That China Can't Replace as Trade War Chip
(Bloomberg) -- The US is using its dominance of a niche petroleum gas as a bargaining chip in its trade war with China. Next Stop: Rancho Cucamonga! ICE Moves to DNA-Test Families Targeted for Deportation with New Contract Where Public Transit Systems Are Bouncing Back Around the World US Housing Agency Vulnerable to Fraud After DOGE Cuts, Documents Warn The Global Struggle to Build Safer Cars America supplies China with almost all of its ethane, a product of the shale boom that's used as a building block for making plastics. But the commerce department is now ordering shippers to apply for export licenses, and has told at least one, Enterprise Products Partners LP, that it intends to withhold permits for three China-bound cargoes. The trade war is throwing a spotlight on how the US and China rely on each other for certain commodities — dependencies that both nations are seeking to leverage as they negotiate terms to resolve their dispute. In this case, America is the world's biggest producer of ethane, which is converted into ethylene for plastics factories, and China is its largest customer. The commerce department has cited risks that petroleum products like ethane could be diverted to the military, copying the playbook deployed by Beijing in justifying restrictions on what it calls dual-use items such as rare earths and other critical minerals. 'Ethane is no longer just a byproduct of shale — it's now a geopolitical weapon,' said Julian Renton, lead analyst covering natural gas liquids at East Daley Analytics. 'China bet billions building infrastructure around US ethane, and Washington is now questioning whether that bet should continue to pay off.' America's shale revolution and China's rapid industrialization have coincided this century to create a market where cheap energy byproducts are parlayed into millions of tons of materials used as trash bags and shampoo bottles, car seats and computer keyboards. But companies that prospered from cooperation are now caught in the crossfire of an increasingly antagonistic trade relationship between Washington and Beijing. Chinese firms such as Satellite Chemical Co. operate giant petrochemical plants that process US ethane almost exclusively. US producers like Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer LP rely on exports, almost half of which go to China, to augment sales in their heavily saturated domestic market. Joint Venture Energy Transfer and Satellite formed a joint venture in 2018 to construct a new export terminal on the U.S. Gulf Coast to provide ethane for the Chinese company's plants. It's an example of how infrastructure that facilitates the ethane trade — from specialized terminals and pipelines to expensive tankers purpose-built to carry the fuel — can revolve around long-term relationships between a single buyer and seller, said Renton. The vessels that ship the gas, dubbed Very Large Ethane Carriers, are another case in point. There are about 30 in the world, according to Kpler ship-tracking data, plying dedicated routes. There's not much of a spot market to absorb dislocations in supply or demand, said Renton. 'These aren't oil tankers that can pivot mid-ocean,' he said. At least one VLEC is now idling off the Gulf Coast waiting for its next move, which looks dependent on the US government's approach to licensing. But there's more at stake than the fate of a few cargoes. 'It throws a wrench into multi-billion dollar, multi-decade commercial planning cycles,' said Renton. --With assistance from Sarah Chen. Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Is Elon Musk's Political Capital Spent? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
