🔹USA - 🇺🇸 Egg-laying farm in Ohio has started euthanizing all of its flock, roughly 3 million chickens, due to bird flu (avian influenza). Approx. 43 million chickens and turkeys 🦃 this year has been culled across the U.S.

🔹UK - All poultry & captive birds to be culled at farms in Cornwall & in Essex. England -New virulent strain of bird flu reported killing seabirds. Lots of reports of dead gannets on land in the past few days. Wales - Protection zone set up in Gwynedd, restricting bird 🐓 movements & gatherings (Photo).

🔹France 🇫🇷 - Thousands of seabirds perished along France's western shores in past weeks reportedly due to bird flu. French farmers now concerned because they were forced to cull more than 19 million birds between November '21 & May '22.

Earlier bird flu reports:
💠 Death of seabirds in Canada 🇨🇦 linked to bird flu.

💠 US egg 🥚prices increase due to culling of hens across US.

💠 Quebec, Canada duck-farming 🦤 operation face financial ruin due to bird flu outbreak.

🔹Evergrande’s Hong Kong 🇭🇰 headquarters has been seized by a lender after Evergrande defaulted on a loan and twice failed to sell the building. The lender, appointed a receiver to take charge of the property that is valued at $1.2bn and force a sale.

🔹Evergrande 🇨🇳 has exited its investment in Shenyang-headquartered Shengjing Bank, selling its remaining 14.57% stake for 7.3 billion yuan (US$1.04 billion). The buyer was a seven-member consortium comprising three state-owned companies from Shenyang, & four private firms from Beijing.

🔹10 days ago, global funds that invested in Evergrande bonds came up with their own debt restructuring plan & demanded that its chair repay liabilities with his own fortune. Evergrande holds over $300 billion 💰 in liabilities.

Previously reported on this channel:

💠 Evergrande's CEO & CFO resigns after loan diversion investigation. China’s Banking regulator 🏦 may intervene into the ongoing mortgage boycott.

🔹EU energy ministers clash over a plan to put a price cap on 🇷🇺Russian gas. EU 🇪🇺 energy commissioner, said “nothing is decided” but defended the cap plan as reasonable. Power prices & Dutch TTF continue correcting after recent spike (Photo)

🔹10 EU members want the price cap to be placed on all suppliers of gas via pipelines, so the EU wouldn't be seen as singling out Russia.

🔹EU countries supported a proposal to offer emergency funds 💰to power 🔋firms. The possible EU's windfall plan will skim off excess revenues from coal/nuclear/hydro/wind power producers.

🔹Greece 🇬🇷 opposes a cap on the supply of Russian natural gas favouring the solution to set a maximum price in the Dutch TTF.

Previous developments for price cap.

💠 Russia 🇷🇺 warned that a price cap can result in gas flows cut-off.

💠French 🇫🇷 electricity futures contracts for next year up 10X in the past year.

💠Waiting lists, sky rocketing prices and export bans on firewood 🪵 across European countries.

🔹India 🇮🇳 banned exports of broken rice and imposed a 20% duty on exports of various grades of rice, in hopes of calming local prices after below-average monsoon rainfall curtailed planting. Rice 🌾 prices in key exporters India, Thailand, Vietnam & Myanmar are set to rise 📈. India accounts for more than 40% of global rice shipments.

🔹China, 🇨🇳 one of the biggest importers of Indian broken rice for use in animal feed, is expected to shift to corn 🌽. Speculation arises about an alliance of Thailand 🇹🇭 & Vietnam 🇻🇳 planning to increase export prices.

🔹India's neighbour Bangladesh 🇧🇩 has cut import duty on rice from 25% to 15.25%, sending rice up 5% in West Bengal, India.

Recent rice reports on this channel:

💠 India's 🇮🇳 planting areas of rice decline by 13%.

💠 China 🇨🇳 is virtually self-sufficient in rice. Imports of rice only account for 3% of the nation's total demand.

🔹Several thousand people yesterday (Sept. 9th) rallied near the palace of President Maia Sandu in the Moldovan 🇲🇩 capital Chisinau. Moldovans have been subjected to high price increases 📈 for energy. The organizers said that many buses with protesters were not allowed into the capital by the police. Protesters gathered and burned 🔥 their bills in front of the presidency to protest the inflated prices for gas, electricity, water & other utilities.

🔹State-backed gas distributor Moldovagaz failed to fulfil wholesale payments to its sole gas supplier, Russia's 🇷🇺 Gazprom. This has happened several times since last November. Russia's Gazprom had accepted a request by Moldovagaz last month, to postpone a deadline for the payment of an advance.

🔹President Sandu at a briefing on Moldova’s status as a candidate member of the EU🇪🇺, refuses to admit management mistakes, preferring to blame “pro-Russian forces” for destabilizing the situation in the country.

Video compilation sourced from social media.

Steel market developments while Europe de-industrialises:

🔹Steel prices expected to recover after it's recent slump, as China 🇨🇳 announces a stimulus package of $4 billion for infrastructure spending.

🔹Nov. deliveries of hot rolled coil will see a 13% price hike, & commodity-grade long steel will rise by $150 per ton. ArcelorMittal has idled blast furnaces at its Asturias plant in Spain 🇪🇸 & its Dunkirk plant in France 🇫🇷.

🔹Outokumpu, the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe🇪🇺, announced that it would delay the restart of one of its ferrochrome furnaces.

Recently reported steel news on this channel:

💠ArcelorMittal, shut down one of the two blast furnaces at the Bremen, Germany 🇩🇪. It's Hamburg long steel plant will be shut down from Q4.

💠Stainless steel producer Aperam is shutting down its production facility in Genk, Belgium 🇧🇪

💠Chinese 🇨🇳 iron ore port 🚢 inventories in May registered their sharpest decline of the past year.

🔹Chinese exports to Russia 🇷🇺 soared in August despite Western sanctions. Shipments 🚢from China to Russia last month reached roughly $7.9 billion, an increase of 26.7% from last August.

🔹According to data for July (Aug. unavailable), 36% of Chinese exports to Russia consisted of equipment, mechanical devices, and various machinery ⚙️.

🔹Chinese 🇨🇳 imports of Russian goods also jumped significantly last month, reaching $11.2 billion, 58% higher than in August 2021. Crude oil and petroleum 🛢 products accounted for more than half of Russian exports.

🔹Trade 🏗 turnover between Russia and China amounted to $97.7 bln from January to July 2022, while imports from China gained 49%.

Recent Sino-Russian developments:

💠 One of Russia’s 🇷🇺 top banks, VTB launches money transfers to China in yuan, bypassing SWIFT.

💠 Gazprom move payments for gas exports to China 🇨🇳 away from USD/Euros and shift to rubles & yuan (split evenly).

🔹Russia 🇷🇺 is selling LNG from the Sakhalin-2 project at a 50% discount & the operating company, is still making a profit. In August, China's 🇨🇳 imports of Russian LNG rose to the highest level since at least 2019, buying volumes that were previously going to Japan and South Korea.

🔹Russia's largest privately held gas producer, Novatek, may become the 2nd largest shareholder in the Sakhalin 2 project as bidding is ongoing for 🇳🇱 Shell’s 🇬🇧 former 27.5% stake. Novatek fulfills the pre-requisites to be a potential bidder.

Sakhalin-2 developments recently reported on this channel:

💠 Moscow approved Japan’s 🇯🇵 Mitsubishi participation in the Sakhalin-2 LNG project. Tokyo Gas & JERA signs long term LNG contracts.

💠 President Putin 🇷🇺 ordered the re-organization of the Far Eastern Sakhalin-2 LNG project, transferring ownership to a new domestic company.

💠 Japan lacks viable alternatives to Russian LNG, 🚢 which it buys relatively cheaply under long-term deals, to secure its baseload 💡power.

🔹USA - 🇺🇸 Freight railroads 🚂 & their unions are facing increasing pressure from business groups & the White House to settle their contract dispute before Friday’s possible strike action. A strike would shut down 30% of the country’s freight and halt many passenger and commuter trains.

🔹The coalition negotiating on behalf of the nation’s biggest freight 🚂 railroads — including Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF & Kansas City Southern — has announced eight of the 13 tentative agreements needed to avert a strike by some 115,000 rail workers.

🔹The two biggest unions representing 🚋 conductors & engineers have been holding out because they want the railroads to go beyond offered bonus💰payments & address strict attendance policies & working conditions.

🔹Lumber 🪵 prices are already reacting to the possible strike, due to shipment concerns. Futures contracts rose 9.6% today 📈 in Chicago to reach the exchange limit of $559.80 per 1,000 board feet.

🔹Most EU 🇪🇺 states are experiencing shortages & pellet prices have multiplied by around 2.5 times in countries like Germany and Belgium. In July 2022, a ban on importing Russian 🇷🇺 pellets came into force.

🔹N.B. The German 🇩🇪 gov't has a 45% of costs subsidy to citizens that replace an oil heating system with a heating system that uses biomass – including wooden pellets is increasing demand for firewood 🪵.

🔹Centuries old forests 🌳such as in the Gurghiu mountains (Photo) in Romania, are being exploited for firewood as demand soars.

🔹The Dutch 🇳🇱 National Hotline for Internet Scams is warning consumers about new fake online stores, claiming to sell firewood and wood burning stoves.

Recent firewood report on this channel:

💠 Firewood / wood pellet prices & demand drastically increase in Sweden 🇸🇪, Estonia 🇪🇪, Belgium 🇧🇪 & UK 🇬🇧. Polish 🇵🇱 politicians advise stocking firewood. Hungary 🇭🇺places firewood export ban. Germany 🇩🇪 google searches for firewood skyrockets.

🔹USA - 🇺🇸 Amtrak 🚋 has cancelled all long-distance trains nationwide starting tomorrow Sept. 15, as it prepares for a possible freight-rail strike that would impact its service. While the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington is unaffected, many other major routes will not run.

🔹Amtrak has started to preemptively suspend service because its track will be affected if freight rail 🚂 workers go on strike. “Amtrak operates almost all of our 21,000 route miles outside the Northeast Corridor (NEC) on track owned, maintained, and dispatched by freight railroads,”.

Reported 2 days ago on this channel:

💠 Freight railroads 🚂 & their unions are facing increasing pressure from business groups & the White House to settle their contract dispute before Friday’s possible strike action. A strike would shut down 30% of the country’s freight and halt many passenger and commuter trains.

Germany's 🇩🇪 largest importer of Russian 🇷🇺 gas, Uniper, need gov't aid to survive:

🔹Uniper says the gov't might increase its stake above 50% in the co. as it seeks further aid, paving the way for a what could result in a full nationalisation of the firm. For nationalisation, Uniper’s Finnish 🇫🇮 parent co. Fortum Oyj would have a say in that decision.

🔹Uniper, burned through its cash 💶 reserves sourcing gas on the expensive spot market, triggering 19 billion euros a rescue package with Berlin agreed in July.

🔹VNG AG, a subsidiary of German utility EnBW AG & another major gas importer, submitted an application for government aid last week. The German 🇩🇪government's primary concern is avoiding a 'Lehman-style' collapse of its energy industry.

Recently covered on this channel:
💠 German gov't attempted to pass new gas tax 💰to help Uniper.

💠 Uniper increasing debt 📈& gov't bailout.

💠 Uniper using winter ⛄️ gas storage.

Photo: Uniper's CEO says this is a good crisis with opportunities.

Iran 🇮🇷 makes in roads to the multi-polar world at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan 🇺🇿.

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 has signed a memorandum paving the way to transition from its current observer status to full membership in the SCO. Iran's FM declares - "we have entered a new stage of diverse economic, commercial, transit, energy, etc. cooperation".

🔹Iran & Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 have signed a total of 17 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) as the two countries seek to expand their bilateral ties.

🔹President Putin 🇷🇺 says volume of trade 🚢 between Moscow & Tehran had grown 81% in annual terms last year. President Putin announces that a Russian delegation of 80 large companies are set to visit Iran next week

🔹Iran’s ministry of trade 🏗 says trade with Russia was in surplus for a first time in July-August amid a surge 📈 in sales of manufacturing products to Russian customers.

🔹Iran has announced its readiness to mediate between Armenia 🇦🇲 & Azerbaijan 🇦🇿.

🔹EU 🇪🇺 Parliament voted for a declaration that recognizes that 🇭🇺 Hungary can no longer be considered a democracy. 433 votes for. 123 MEPs votes against & 28 abstained. It declares Hungary a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy".

🔹The EU executive recommend suspending billions of euros 💶 earmarked for Hungary over corruption woes. A suspension of up to 70% of 22.5 billion euros worth of cohesion funds earmarked for Hungary from the EU's 2021-27 budget.

🔹Hungary 🇭🇺 threatened to derail a standard renewal of EU 🇪🇺 visa bans on Russians 🇷🇺. They made a U-turn within 24 hours, after several high-level phone calls & diplomatic pressure from Brussels.

🔹Hungary has resisted the EU's proposal of phasing out Russian crude oil 🛢 within six months & refined oil by the end of the year.

🔹Hungary 🇭🇺 has issued a decree which will require doctors to present women requesting an abortion with fetal vital signs. This angered western pro-abortionists.

Video: Hungary gas deal with Russia 14 days ago.

🔹Retaliation? While President Erdogan represents Türkiye 🇹🇷 (a NATO member) as a 'Dialogue Partner' at the ongoing SCO summit, the EU & US pressures Türkiye's Central Bank.

🔹The US 🇺🇸 & EU 🇪🇺 are taking action to crack down on Russian sanctions evasion by Türkiye amid concerns that the country’s banking sector has banks that have integrated into Mir, Russia’s domestic payments system.

🔹The 🇺🇸 US Treasury announced it is ready to impose sanctions on any institution outside Russia 🇷🇺 using the country’s payment system.

Recent posts on the Mir Payment System:

💠 Five Turkish 🇹🇷 banks have adopted Russia’s Mir payments system.

💠 Iran, 🇮🇷 South Korea 🇰🇷 & Cuba 🇨🇺 adopts Mir Payment system. Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 & Syria 🇸🇾 adoption under consideration.

Video - President Erdogan meets President Putin at the SCO Summit.

🔹The German 🇩🇪 gov't confiscates Russia's 🇷🇺 state-owned Rosneft's German assets in order to keep the PCK Schwedt refinery operating. This plant 🏭 supplies the bulk of aviation fuel for the airport in Berlin and gasoline for cars in the region.

🔹"This is a far-reaching energy policy decision to protect our country," says Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Germany seems desperate to shore up energy supplies & meet its European Union commitment to eliminate Russian oil 🛢 imports by the end of the year.

🔹Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, reported a 13% increase in its first-half net income 📈 compared to the same period last year. Rosneft’s net profit increased to $7.2 billion (432 billion Russian rubles) in the first half of 2022.

Previously reported here on this development:

💠 Germany 🇩🇪devising plan to seize Rosneft's PCK refinery in Schwedt.

💠 Germany considers 'nationalisation' of 🇷🇺 Rosneft's assets. (Photo).

The multipolar shift made at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 🇷🇺🇨🇳🇮🇷🇮🇳🇵🇰🇰🇬🇰🇿🇹🇯🇺🇿🇷🇺(SCO) Summit.

🔹Member countries agreed to take steps to increase the use of national currencies in trade 🏗. "Interested SCO member states" agreed a "roadmap for the gradual increase in the share of national currencies 💰in mutual settlements".

🔹State Bank of India, 🇮🇳 the country’s largest lender, is opening special rupee accounts to handle Russia-related trade settlements.

🔹Russian 🇷🇺 natural gas to Türkiye 🇹🇷 will be paid 25% in Russian rubles & Turkish Lira. Erdogan reportedly asked Putin for a 25% discount on gas.

Moves prior to the SCO summit:

💠 Russian 🇷🇺bank, VTB launches money transfers to China in yuan, bypassing SWIFT. Sberbank has started lending out money in yuan.

💠 Gazprom move payments for gas exports to China 🇨🇳 away from USD/Euros and shift to rubles & yuan (split evenly).

💠 Iran 🇮🇷 and Russia unifying banking systems for trade in ruble/rial currency pair.

🔹The entire island of Puerto Rico 🇺🇸 lost power 💡just before Hurricane Fiona made landfall yesterday Sept18th. Puerto Rico’s power grid is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017. No deaths have been reported, but authorities in the U.S. territory said it was too early to estimate the damage from a storm that was still forecast to unleash torrential rain across Puerto Rico today.

🔹Up to 30 inches was forecast ⛈ for Puerto Rico’s eastern and southern regions. Nearly 1.5 million people tracked by PowerOutage (photo) have experienced power disruptions. Hurricane Fiona bore down on the Dominican Republic today.

🔹LUMA Energy, the private company that handles the transmission and distribution of electricity 🔌 in Puerto Rico, stated that full power restoration could take days "due to the magnitude and scope of the blackout,".

🔹The world's top arabica coffee ☕️ producer, Brazil, 🇧🇷 is headed for record low inventory, highlights tighter global supplies plus robust demand should continue boosting prices. President of the National Coffee Council, said inventories in the South American country could decline to just 7 million bags (each weighing 60 kilograms) by the end of 1Q '23. Brazil usually has 9-12 million bags in inventory.

🔹In Colombia 🇨🇴, the world's second top arabica coffee producer, crops are drowned in too much rain. Yields are expected to decline in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while Vietnam, the largest robusta supplier, will also see stockpiles tumble because of poor harvest.

Recent coffee reports from this channel:

💠Sanctions on 🇷🇺 Russian/🇧🇾 Belarussian fertilizers affecting Brazil coffee farmers and other coffee farmers in Latin America/Africa.

💠 Kenya's 🇰🇪 2022/23 coffee production is forecast to decrease by 10%.

💠April's post on frost issue affecting future coffee yields in Brazil 🇧🇷.

Wake Up Europeans!

🔹 The European Commission 🇪🇺 (EC) is using the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI) (released today Sept 19th) proposal as a trojan horse for future centralisation of Europe's economy. This SMEI will grant direct control over the private sector (means of production) in an emergency.

💠 The SMEI provides a blacklist of prohibited ❌ restrictions through reinforced & rapid scrutiny of unilateral restrictions.

💠 The EC 🇪🇺 can instruct Member States to distribute their strategic reserves in a targeted manner.

💠 The EC can set new rules to facilitate public procurement of relevant goods 🚛 & services.

💠 The EC may issue targeted information requests (legally binding) 📜 to economic operators.

💠 Firms 🏭 must either comply or explain the grave reasons justifying refusal to accept EC priority rated orders.