Chubu Elec still aims to complete review of offshore wind projects in summer
In 2021, Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T), opens new tab, together with C-Tech, was selected to develop three offshore wind projects in Akita and Chiba prefectures, with a total planned capacity of 1.76 gigawatt (GW) and a targeted startup between 2028 and 2030.
However, in February this year, the two companies said they were reassessing the projects due to a "significantly changed" business environment, underscoring that the country is not immune to rising costs affecting offshore wind projects globally.
Mitsubishi booked a 52.4 billion yen ($352 million) loss from the three projects in the business year ended March 31, while Chubu Electric booked an 18.6 billion yen loss, amid higher construction costs, yen depreciation, tight supply chains, and rising interest rates.
"The timeline for completing the feasibility reassessment around this summer remains unchanged," said Takehide Horibe, manager of the corporate administration department, at an earnings news conference.
Chubu Electric booked an additional loss of several hundred million yen in the April-June quarter for personnel and other expenses from the three projects.
Asked about the impact of U.S. tariffs, he said industrial power demand in the Chubu region -- central Japan where Toyota Motor (7203.T), opens new tab is headquartered -- was unchanged from the same period last year and in line with its earlier projections.
"The impact so far has been minimal," he said.
For the April-June quarter, the utility posted a 14.3% drop in net profit to 85.3 billion yen, hit by higher costs in its power retail unit and lower contributions from JERA's overseas and renewable energy businesses. JERA is jointly owned by Chubu Electric and Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T), opens new tab.
($1 = 148.6900 yen)
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The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
Renewables and fossil fuels not ‘either-or', says Reeves after Trump comments
Renewable and non-renewable energy sources are not an 'either-or', Rachel Reeves has said after Donald Trump described North Sea oil as a 'treasure chest'. On a visit to Lossiemouth on the North Sea coast in Moray, the Chancellor described oil and gas as 'incredibly important for the UK and our energy security'. Her appearance in Scotland followed a five-day visit from the US president, who called on the UK Government to 'incentivise the drillers, fast'. Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'North Sea oil is a treasure chest for the United Kingdom. 'The taxes are so high, however, that it makes no sense.' Asked whether she would 'unlock' the 'treasure chest', Ms Reeves told the PA news agency: 'Oil and gas are incredibly important for the UK and our energy security. 'And oil and gas is going to play an important role in our energy mix for decades to come. 'It's why, alongside the private sector, we're investing in carbon capture and storage, which is absolutely essential for supporting energy intensive industries. 'But it's not either-or. 'At the same time, we're investing in clean homegrown energy, including at Berwick Bank in Scotland, which will create thousands of new jobs and power millions of homes. 'And that's what we need to do to make sure that our economy has this energy security that we need, that we bring down bills and bring more good jobs to Scotland.' Berwick Bank in the North Sea has this week received a green light from the Scottish Government. The proposed wind farm, off the coast of East Lothian, could add more than 4.1 gigawatts of capacity, which according to developer SSE Renewables is enough electricity to power more than six million homes annually. But Mr Trump criticised existing wind farms during his visit, when he said: 'When we go to Aberdeen, you'll see some of the ugliest windmills you've ever seen, the height of a 50-storey building.' Gesturing with his hands, he added: 'You can take 1,000 times more energy out of a hole in the ground this big.' Conservative shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie has written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, calling for a review of policies affecting the oil and gas industry. 'As President Trump has said, the UK's 'very high' tax on oil and gas companies is a deterrent to investment,' he wrote. 'The extension of the energy profits levy (EPL), coupled with uncertainty around future licensing and investment signals, has created a climate of instability that threatens jobs, innovation and the region's economic resilience. 'President Donald Trump's remarks during your visit – calling Aberdeen the 'oil capital of Europe' and urging the UK to 'bring it back' – reflect a sentiment shared by many in the region. 'May I urge you to consider the president's call to 'incentivise' domestic production of hydrocarbons? 'Oil and gas still have a vital role to play in our energy mix and economic future; British people would rather see the UK benefit from domestic exploration and drilling than import more from Norway and Qatar.' The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP added: 'Will you urgently call a meeting in Downing Street to conduct the review in partnership with industry leaders, our world-leading supply chain business, and the local workforce to ensure a coherent and sustainable path forward?'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Has Trump pulled off an amazing deal, or is the worst yet to come?
The Trump administration's flurry of eleventh-hour tariff agreements will raise US protectionism to the highest level in a century. The effective tariff applied on goods entering America will jump from an average of just above 2 per cent at the start of the year to around 18 per cent, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Before its August 1 deadline, the White House signed off tariff agreements that will apply a basic 15 per cent tariffs on goods from the European Union, Japan and South Korea, a higher 35 per cent rate on some Canadian goods, and 39 per cent rate on Switzerland. The UK will be subject to a 10 per cent minimum, while scores of other countries — around 70 — that failed to agree new terms will fall back on the 'reciprocal' levies announced in April. • FTSE 100 slides as markets retreat on new Trump tariffs The expiry of President Trump's deadline marks an unprecedented four months of upheaval in the global economy, where the world's economic superpower has picked apart the rules of globalisation through daily threats of punishing import taxes, de facto capital controls, and financial sanctions on its trading partners. Yet for all the noise about what Trump will announce or un-announce on the rest of the world, the US and global economy enter August in a position not too dissimilar from where they started before Trump's 'liberation day' taxes were unleashed in April. The US economy and labour market have not been plunged into recession, interest rates continue to fall in most advanced economies, and equity markets have reversed their April wobbles to touch record highs in the US, UK, and Europe. This relatively benign outcome has led some to conclude that Trump has won the first battle in his trade war: the US is dismantling the global trading system and dictating humiliating terms to its erstwhile allies with minimum damage to its economy or financial stability so far. • Investors fleeing US equities boost unloved London market To add to the euphoria, the effective 18 per cent tariff rate on the rest of the world will generate around $450-500 billion in federal tax revenues for Trump — worth more than 1.25 per cent of the US economy and significant source of fiscal relief in a country where the budget deficit was on course to stick at 7 per cent of GDP. 'The US has emerged as a clear winner in the trade war at this juncture,' Mark Dowding, chief investment officer at RBC BlueBay Asset Management, said. 'There is a feeling that Trump has extracted pretty much every concession he would have hoped for in the trade negotiations conducted to date. In the absence of material retaliatory tariffs, this has been viewed as a great result for the US.' Dowding added that then 'worries that Trump was undermining US policy credibility have been replaced by a grudging sense of respect for the negotiator-in-chief'. This reassessment is best reflected in the value of the dollar which is heading for its strongest week in three years. The US currency, which has been the chosen market proxy for worries about US policy credibility, has recovered 1.5 per cent from the trough hit at the end of June. The greenback remains around 9 per cent weaker against major currencies this year and is still having its worst year since the dollar became a free-floating currency liberated from gold in 1972. • Copper price drops a fifth after Trump waters down tariff The performance of the US stock market has been even more striking. After the worst start to a new presidency in a century, US equities have outperformed all main peers since April 21, reflecting the 'Goldilocks' state of an economy that is 'not too hot, and not too cold', Will Denyer at Gavekal Research said. Trump's tariffs strategy has been emboldened by 'hard' economic data this week which showed the US the economy bounced back strongly with a 3 per cent annualised GDP expansion in the second quarter, after a 0.5 per cent contraction at the start of the year. Signs of tariff-induced inflation are also scarcely showing up in monthly price data, and while the labour market is slowing, demand for workers remains far above historical averages. The tariffs deadline also coincided with another bumper week of corporate earnings for American tech and AI giants that has charged up US market bulls. It's not just investors who are relieved at the state of the world at the start of August. The International Monetary Fund this week gave modest growth upgrades to most developing world economies, including the US, acknowledging that after the burst of tariff fears, the probable landing spot for American protectionism is likely to be lower than first feared. Even the US Federal Reserve, the country's beleaguered central bank, is inclined to think that tariffs are likely to have a one-time impact on raising American consumer prices, rather than marking the start of a new burst of inflation that triggers higher wages. • How Trump is delivering his pledges after 200 days Outside the US, growth forecasts for big economies that capitulated to Trump's demands are not being revised down drastically. The EU economy could still outperform forecasts as Germany's mass spending counteracts part of the hit from Trump's trade war. Goldman Sachs this week revised up Europe's GDP projections by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent in 2025, after the bloc agreed to a broad 15 per cent tariff rate that will initially cover pharmaceuticals. Economists, however, are still divided over whether the resilience of the US and world economy means the tariff pain has simply been delayed, or whether there are other factors at play that will lead to an altogether more benign outcome for America and its trading partners. The widely held assumption among most forecasters is still that American households and businesses will suffer the brunt of higher import taxes, supply chain disruption, and the frozen investment as a result of the barrage of protectionism. On the flip side, the White House points to the 2018 tariffs episode as 'proof' that levies have no lasting effect on consumer prices and they did not prevent the US becoming the fastest growing economy in the G7 for the past two years. Freya Beamish, chief economist at TS Lombard, thinks market exuberance will come to a halt as US 'data over the next six months will be a rude awakening'. • Trump announces 90-day pause to higher tariffs on Mexico 'Inflation dynamics are deteriorating. Right now, it's as if the market actually believes that tariffs are going to be paid by the rest of the world and that Trump has pulled off some amazing deal. We've heard hitherto serious economists making such claims and can only assume they have taken leave of their senses. Unfortunately, the stock market reaction is likely to embolden the administration into further damaging policy moves,' she said. Looking ahead, few trade experts or diplomats expect Trump to stick to his word on his set tariff rates as the likes of the EU and Japan have been bounced into making investment pledges — like buying fanciful amounts of US energy — that they simply cannot meet. Even more worryingly, the president has shown he is willing to use the tariff stick against countries over any policy disagreements — over security, foreign policy, and in the case of Brazil, domestic court procedures against a former president. 'These are very high level deals that have been announced. A lot of work is going to have to go into filling the blanks,' Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist at the IMF, warned.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
How do Trump's tariffs affect Asian countries?
Donald Trump 's latest tariff hikes have hit Asian countries the hardest, signalling a deepening rift with key economies in his drive to reshape global commerce. The hardened position of the US towards longstanding partners such as India and Japan could reshape strategic alignments in Asia, casting doubt on the reliability of Washington as an ally. Three months after unveiling sweeping tariffs for nearly all major countries in the world, Mr Trump on Friday enforced new and revised levies for over 90 nations, with rates soaring as high as 49 per cent. Among the hardest hit were America's allies in Asia – many heavily reliant on exports to the US markets for clothing, electronics, chips and cars – even as they scrambled to strike deals with Mr Trump's negotiators before his 1 August deadline. Myanmar, India and Laos in particular were slapped with almost prohibitive rates. Steep penalties and divisions in South Asia Mr Trump seemed to single out India among major economies, imposing a steep 25 per cent tariff on the South Asian nation while blasting it for its burgeoning energy and weapons trade with Russia. Mr Trump's aggressive rhetoric in recent days had already undermined hopes of New Delhi getting preferential treatment in trade negotiations compared to other Asian economies given the president's bonhomie with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. His announcement of a steep tariff put paid to any such hope. The US president went after India even after calling it a 'good friend' and despite the country being regarded as a partner in counterbalancing China in the Indo-Pacific. New Delhi and Washington had been working to finalise a trade deal for months and Indian officials expected an agreement by September or October. In recent weeks, though, the talks had reportedly reached a deadlock over agriculture and dairy. While Washington sought greater access to the Indian market for its farm exports like wheat, corn, cotton, and genetically modified crops, New Delhi insisted that agriculture and dairy sectors, which employ over 80 million people, were off-limits. Although the 25 per cent levy on Indian exports announced on Thursday was slightly less than the 27 per cent proposed in April, it came with an unspecified penalty for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil and weapons. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday that India's close relations with Moscow remained a 'point of irritation' in relations with Washington. India's neighbours Sri Lanka and Bangladesh each face a 20 per cent levy, targeting export-reliant economies that send large volumes of textiles and garments to the US. The tariff on Bangladesh is significantly lower than the original 37 per cent rate, a big relief to the world's second-largest garment supplier. Pakistan received a 19 per cent tariff after Mr Trump announced a last-minute trade deal with the country. Pakistan, an ally of China as well as the US, had been wooing Mr Trump ever since he first announced the tariffs in April. It credited American diplomatic intervention for ending a brief military conflict with India in May, while New Delhi denied it, and even nominated the president for the Nobel Peace Prize. Winners and losers in Southeast Asia While Myanmar and Laos were slapped with a 40 per cent tariff rate each, fellow Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines faced a mid-range tariff of 19 per cent. Myanmar and Laos were among the worst hit globally, with rates that could effectively price their exports out of the US market. These countries were especially vulnerable given their dependence on low-cost textile and agricultural exports. Japan and South Korea managed to strike deals with the Trump administration in time and ended up with a baseline tariff rate of 15 per cent, lower than the 25 per cent floated in April. However, a key area of concern remains unresolved: automobile exports from both East Asian nations continue to face a separate 25 per cent tariff unrelated to Thursday's announcement. Given that Japanese and South Korean cars and semiconductors are their key exports to the US, the continuation of such sector-specific duties casts a shadow over trade relations in the long run. Key US ally, Taiwan, the world's largest major semiconductor manufacturer, saw a tariff reprieve from the previous 32 per cent to 20 per cent. The levy on Taipei, though, is temporary as negotiators are trying to hammer out a deal in Washington. 'The US side informed Taiwan's negotiating team in Washington that a provisional tariff rate of 20 per cent would be applied to Taiwan,' the island's president Lai Ching Te said on Friday. The reason for the provisional tariff was that they had 'yet to hold a concluding meeting due to procedural arrangements', he added. 'If a final agreement is reached later, the rate may be lowered.' In West Asia, Syria was hit with a 41 per cent tariff – the highest on the list – despite limited direct trade due to existing US sanctions. Iraq was put on a 35 per cent rate, raising concerns about its oil and mineral exports. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan was hit with a 25 per cent tariff rate, suggesting that even neutral nations weren't exempt from Washington's pressure tactics. Lower levies for Australia and New Zealand Australia was placed on a 10 per cent tariff rate in April and it appeared to have escaped an increase, at least for now. Trade minister Don Farrell said on Friday the White House had confirmed that no country was on a lower tariff rate than Australia. "While we remain in the best possible position under the United States' new tariff regime," a government spokesperson said, 'we will continue to advocate for the removal of all tariffs in line with our free trade agreement.' Neighbouring New Zealand saw its rate climb from 10 per cent to 15. Trade minister Todd McClay called the move 'unfair', saying Wellington had requested a call with US trade negotiator Jamieson Greer to 'start making a case' for a reduction. Trade with China in limbo China was absent from Mr Trump's latest tariffed nations list, putting one of the world's most critical trade relationships in limbo. The two sides previously agreed a 90-day extension of their trade truce until 12 August. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday a trade deal with China was in the works, but it was "not 100% done". US negotiators "pushed back quite a bit" over two days of trade talks with the Chinese in Stockholm this week, Mr Bessent said in an interview with CNBC. "I believe that we have the makings of a deal," he added. How would the tariffs impact Asian countries? The new tariff for India was expected to impact about $40bn worth of exports to America, an Indian government source with knowledge of the trade discussions told Reuters on Friday. The official said the trade talks were still ongoing and a delegation from the US was expected to visit New Delhi later this month. 'These significant tariffs, coupled with penalties linked to India's dealings with Russian energy and military supplies, pose serious challenges for key export sectors including electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and textiles,' said Ramnivas Mundada, director of Economic Research at Global Data. Exporters in India said the high tariff would hurt the country's textile exports as its competitors like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia got lower levies. "We are hoping that the tariffs will be rationalised. We will have to recalibrate our strategies depending on the final tariff imposed, Chintan Thakker, chairman of industry body ASSOCHAM in the state of Gujarat, a major apparel exporter, said. Bangladesh called the new tariff rate a "decisive diplomatic victory". 'We proudly congratulate the Bangladesh tariff negotiators on securing a landmark trade deal with the United States, a decisive diplomatic victory,' interim leader Muhammad Yunus told the press.
