US natural gas futures drop on near-record output
That price decline came despite strong liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and forecasts for the weather to remain hotter than normal through late August.
The heat means homes and businesses will likely keep their air conditioners cranked up until the end of the month, forcing power generators to burn more gas than usual for this time of year. More than 40% of the electricity produced in the US comes from gas-fired power plants.
Front-month gas futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 7.7 cents, or 2.5%, to settle at $2.99 per million British thermal units.
That put the contract down for a third week in a row, losing about 3% this week, 1% last week, and 13% three weeks ago.
In a sign that the market is not worried about having enough gas supplies this winter, the premium of futures for March over April 2026 was on track to fall to a record low on Friday.
The industry calls the March-April spread the 'widow maker' because rapid price moves resulting from changing weather forecasts have forced some speculators out of business, including the Amaranth hedge fund, which lost more than $6 billion in 2006.
Traders use the March-April and October-November spreads to bet on winter weather forecasts and supply and demand.
March is the last month of the winter heating season when utilities pull gas out of storage and October is the last month of the summer cooling season when utilities inject gas into storage. Despite a hotter-than-usual summer, record output has allowed energy firms to inject more gas into storage than usual in recent months.
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Express Tribune
20 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
Feeding the armies of the Raj
Most of us are aware of the name of the business magnate Syed Babar Ali and his family firm of Wazir Ali Industries which owns Packages Limited and has many other large business interests in Pakistan. If you are interested to know how the business was established 130 years ago and its links with the British India Army, then read on. In 2010, I received a call from an old friend, Syed Shahid Ali, who I first met back in the 1960s, at the small Batakundi Rest House in the upper reaches of the Kaghan Valley. Shahid is the son of Syed Wajid Ali and the nephew of Syed Babar Ali, the famous industrialist and philanthropist who also established the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Shahid sent me a unique unpublished book with the title Syed A. & M. Wazir Ali. General Merchants, Pioneers in the Canteen Services to His Majesty's British Forces. Syed Wazir Ali was his great-grandfather and established the family business which ultimately transformed into one of the ten largest business houses in Pakistan. The book contains over 230 pages of testimonials from British officers for the excellent services provided by Wazir Ali and the firm that he established. It is a story of hard work and vision and provides a very interesting insight into one of the lesser-known aspects of the British Army in India - its canteen services and contractors. The testimonials start in 1881 when Wazir Ali was the proprietor of a merchant shop bearing his name in the Saddar Bazar of the garrison town of Ferozepur in East Punjab. "Wazir Ali has supplied me with all sorts of articles since I have been here. He gets fresh supplies from England, and sells at much more reasonable rates than the Parsi merchants and he has always been very respectful and obliging. (Sd.) G. Cambridge, Lieut., 24th P.N. Infantry, 4th June 1883." Wazir Ali was a hardworking businessman and expanded his trade into contracts for providing coolies (labourers) and punkha pullers [fan bearers] in barracks and hospitals. The testimonials praise him in a variety of ways — energetic and enterprising; one of the "nicest natives"; a good man of business; "... and the most sporting tradesmen I have yet met in India. (2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 8th Punjab Infantry, The Queen's). Excessive consumption of liquor was a serious issue with British troops in India and to dissuade them from drinking in the barracks, regiments established canteens with a bar and 'coffee shops'. The British drank coffee much before they stared drinking tea. Wazir Ali & Sons not only supplied stores to the coffee shops of the British battalions in Ferozepur, it also rented furniture and stores to the troops on maneouvre including the General's "camp of exercise". Wazir Ali endeared himself to the British by being "most useful to the Mess in many ways, getting anything done that we required, and making an arrangement [bandobast] whenever asked to". A British officer wrote, "Wazir Ali — the name speaks for itself. Everyone knows him, and like Pears, he requires no recommendation." Pears was the first of the brand soaps, and recognised throughout the British Empire for its quality. By 1896 Wazir Ali's tentacles had extended to the northern reaches of British India and during the Chitral Campaign of 1895, he sent stores worth Rs15,000 for the consumption of the 28th Punjab Infantry, which were much appreciated. Wazir Ali also expanded his business and instead of only supplying canteens, he became a canteen contractor. It was during the Tirah Campaign that he really made a name for himself by accompanying the troops deep into the "wild" and unchartered territory of the Northwest Frontier. 'When the Tirah Campaign commenced, in Oct 1897, he accompanied the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, who were in the Peshawar Column, as their Coffee Shop Contractor, and I can state that his shop was not only a boon to the regiment who brought him but to the whole column. (Sd.) C.T. Becker, Major (Late) D.A.G. and Q.M.G. Peshawar Column, T. E. Force." He survived an ambush by a sniper and the manner in which he repaid his rescuers is narrated in a story titled "Safe Conduct". Written by E.A. Murphy it was published in the March 1915 edition of the Royal Magazine and is reminiscent of the tales of Rudyard Kipling. When the column arrived in Landi Kotal, Wazir Ali established his coffee shop in the fortified 'Serai'. "It has been great advantage to this force to have so respectable and enterprising a firm in camp from which to draw stores of every description. (Sd.) Neville Chamberlin, Colonel on the Staff, Commanding Khyber Rifles." Wazir Ali again achieved prominence when he sent a large quantity of stores as a present for the British troops fighting in South Africa during the Second Boer War, for which he was thanked by none less than the UK's Secretary of State for War. Wazir Ali passed away in 1902. "All were very grieved to hear of his death which occurred very unexpectedly when on a visit to Lahore. (Sd.) Edetwintle, Major, 15th Bengal Lancers." Wazir Ali's two sons Syed Maratib Ali and Syed Ahsan Ali continued the business with the same standard of service and wares for which their father was praised. "Since his death some two years ago his sons have evidently determined to follow in his footsteps, and maintain the high character of the firm. (Sd.) K.P. Burn, Major Commanding 38 Dogras." It was around this time the system of canteens for British troops in India was regulated by establishing an Army Canteen Board which outsourced the canteen services to contractors. The canteens were renamed 'Institutes' and run as clubs for the British soldiers with a bar and grocery shop. The sons had changed the title of the firm to Messrs. Syed A. & M. Wazir Ali and during the next ten years, extended the business to many other cantonments including Nowshera, the Murree Hills, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Ambala, Jullundur, Delhi, Ranikhet and even as far as Bareilly. It was present at the Delhi maneouvres and the camp of the great Delhi Darbar held in 1903 to celebrate the succession of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India. While on the march from Ambala for the maneouvres, Messrs Wazir Ali & Sons " .... was the only coffee shop in the Force which never failed to be present whenever required, at a time when the roads were congested and the difficulties of getting transport forward was very great. (Sd.) W.F. Fawcett, Lieut. Col., Commanding 1st Northampton Regiment. The Acting Pay Master of the regiment acknowledges that during the maneouvres the firm even ".... arranged the supply of money for the pay and did it very well." As the years progressed and the reputation of the firm spread, requests came from distant stations for their services. When the Staff College at Quetta reopened after the First World War, it asked the firm to open up their business for the sale of groceries, stationary, wines, tobacco etc. for about 40 British married officers' families and a very large population outside the premises of the college. The firm did have competition from Parsi merchants and Mool Chand at Lahore but they kept ahead by being very inventive. "Their travelling soda water machine is an excellent institution and the various apparatus they have in use for cutting up bread, meat, etc., (which greatly minimised the handling of food by the natives) should be adopted by all other similar institutes. (Sd.) G. M. Barefoot, Lt. Col. Senior Medical Officer, 20th Infantry Brigade. 'The volume of business was so large that the firm held "a respectable and most up-to-date warehouse in the Punjab," at Lahore. What endeared them to the Presidents of the Institutes was their attention to details. The tables were decorated with little flowers and fresh vegetables were always available for the soldiers to supplement the tinned food. British battalions returning to India for another tour would ask for their services in advance — specifically naming a manager whom they had dealt with earlier. The Army Canteen Board was liquidated in 1927 due to the heavy financial losses and replaced by the Canteen Contractors' Syndicate (CCS) in the form of a limited company, with shareholding confined to the canteen contractors. Syed Maratib Ali took a keen interest in the establishment of the Board. In July 1927, the Civil & Military Gazette reported that the Army Headquarters selected the firm to provide Canteens in all Troop Trains with Canteen Cars. Concurrently the Army introduced direct embarkation and disembarkation of units at the ports of Bombay and Karachi and the firm established canteens on the quayside. A testimonial in 1928 by the Railway Transport Officer at Bombay records that the firm gave "... excellent service to the troops in the train and kept the Cars very clean. In spite of constant moves of the trains and being a new organisation, they managed it to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. They have a large connection all over India and consequently are in a position to have everything ready at any time for any place". The Embarkation Commandant at Karachi also greatly appreciated the firm's services to the British troops and families who disembarked from troopships and were waiting for entrainment at Kemari. The most prestigious tournament in British India was the Durand Football Cup that had been initiated by Sir Mortimer Durand in Simla in 1888 and was initially open to the Army in India. In 1927 for the first time the firm of Syed A. & M. Wazir Ali was given the privilege to cater for over 400 officers and soldiers in the Military Camp organised for the Tournament. During his speech at the Prize Distribution, the President of the Tournament Committee, in the presence of the Viceroy, particularly thanked Syed Maratib Ali for the admirable services of the firm and the presentation of a special trophy for the runners up. Preceding the assembly, the Syed Brothers entertained the assembly of dignitaries and it was reported in the Civil and Military Gazette on the 2nd of October 1927: "More than a thousand guests attended the 'At Home' given by Messrs. A. & M. Wazir Ali at Annandale". The place mentioned here, Annandale, is a playground in Simla that was used by the British for entertainment and sports of all types. Amongst the guests were the Viceroy, Governor of Punjab, maharajas, generals, civil servants and prominent members of political parties like Sir Umar Hayat Khan and Sir Mian Fazl-i-Husain who was a founding member of the Unionist Party (Punjab). In 1929 the title of Khan Bahadur was conferred on Syed Maratib Ali who continued to maintain a very close interest in the running of the CSS. In 1930 his views and cooperation was appreciated first by the Chief of General Staff and then by Field Marshal W.R. Birdwood, C-in-C India, who wrote "I give him this certificate because I am well aware of the really good work the firm has done for a very large number of British Units throughout India ......(He) was of great assistance when we established the canteen Contractors Syndicate and I am always grateful to him for the assistance". In 1933 Maratib Ali met Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck for the first time when the officer was commanding the Peshawar Brigade. It was the beginning of a personal and professional relationship of nearly three decades which features predominantly in the correspondence between the two, that are held in the Special Collections of the University of Manchester. The firm had become so big that it compiled a booklet that advertised its services and contained testimonials from British officers and battalions. The last and final book was printed in 1937 and lists the stations where the firm provided services to His Majesty's Forces in different and distant parts of India. Covering nearly 70 years, the list includes six Frontier Expeditions, 16 stations and camps in NWFP, 22 in the Punjab, 17 in the United Provinces and 22 more in the rest of India including Bengal, Bihar, Central and Southern India, the Bombay Presidency and Sind. The firm also serviced two stations in Burma. Officers who returned to India after a spell of 10 years had the opinion that "... the standard of comfort and general wellbeing of the soldiers had improved beyond belief, thanks to the efforts made by Messrs. Syed A.& M. Wazir Ali" (Sd.) R.G. Smithard, 1st Battalion K. S. L. I." At the commencement of World War II, the CCS could no longer cope with the heavy buildup of British troops in India. In 1942, the Government of India established the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) for the wholesale buying and distribution of stores to contractors in Peace areas, while a Canteen Corps was responsible for the Operational areas. During the war, A. M. Wazir Ali undertook large wartime construction contracts and also established a textile mill in Rahim Yar Khan. Maratib Ali's son Wajid Ali left the army to look after the growing family business. With tremendous energy he regularly toured over 50 stations where the firm was operating, sleeping in the rear of his Ford Station Wagon as he was driven by night to arrive at his destination in the morning. Wajid was the epitome of a well-to-do Punjabi with a big mustache and a turban. J.R.D. Tata was his close friend and when he was launching Tata Airlines, the airline mascot resembled Wajid. Soon after 1947, the firm launched a joint venture with Lever Brothers and in 1953 the family established Wazir Ali Industries. Syed Maratib Ali and the Auk (Field Marshal Auchinleck) maintained their friendship after Independence. Auk agreed to be a member of the Board of Directors and attended its meetings in Pakistan. Massive production by Pakistan Tobacco Company prompted Syed Maratib Ali and his sons to install a packaging unit by the name of Packages. The group also acquired several Coca-Cola plants. Its most well-known brands include Nestle Milk Pak, Treet, Mitchells and Tri Pack Films. Messrs Wazir Ali & Sons has come a long way from the wilds of Tirah. Syed Ali Hamid is a retired Pakistan Army major general and a military historian. He can be contacted at syedali4955@ All facts and information are the responsibility of the writer
Express Tribune
13 hours ago
- Express Tribune
New Chinese EV maker enters Pakistan
Punjab is set to welcome a new wave of industrial investment as China's Letin Auto Group has announced plans to set up a small electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in the province. A 15-member delegation of the company, led by its General Manager Xu Zhen, met with Punjab's Minister for Industries and Commerce Chaudhry Shafay Hussain in Lahore to discuss details of the project and the potential incentives available. The minister assured the delegation of full support from the provincial government and said Punjab was offering attractive facilities to investors, including a 10-year income tax holiday and duty-free import of machinery for plants being set up in the Special Economic Zones. He added that Punjab was fast becoming a preferred destination for foreign industrialists due to its favourable climate for business. "New investment in the province is not only strengthening the economy but also creating employment opportunities for thousands of people," he said. The minister emphasised that the government was focused on the promotion of EVs and wanted Punjab to play a leading role in the country's clean mobility transition. In 2023, the group, with its trading name Levdeo Automobile Group, applied for bankruptcy in China and completed its bankruptcy reorganisation in 2024. Auto sector experts believe that the group may want to relocate and make Pakistan its base for local sales and exports, since Pakistan, particularly Punjab, is offering decent incentives and has won the least US tariff of 19%. The arrival of Letin Auto adds to a growing list of Chinese EV makers entering Pakistan in recent years. Brands such as BYD, Changan and British brand MG have already introduced EV models in the local market, while others are exploring assembly and production options. Industry watchers believe this influx shows the growing confidence of Chinese companies in Pakistan's EV sector, which is still in its infancy, but holds significant potential due to the rising cost of fuel and the government's policy incentives. While consumers may welcome more choices, existing auto players are watching the development closely. An official of a Japanese-origin car assembler admitted that the entry of another Chinese automaker would intensify competition. "This means we cannot sit idle anymore. We have to accelerate our EV plans and bring affordable models to the market," he said. A senior executive representing another brand said that Chinese EVs, if priced competitively, could quickly capture market share. "Chinese companies have a reputation for speed and affordability. This will put pressure on established players, but in the long run it will benefit customers." Some local joint ventures are also preparing to join the EV race. A senior official of Hyundai Pakistan said that the company has already begun internal studies for introducing its EV line in Pakistan in the next few years. "Globally, Hyundai is moving aggressively towards electric mobility and Pakistan will not be left behind. The arrival of new Chinese players will further push us to bring our EV technology here sooner," he said. Industry experts believe that this competition will reshape the local auto landscape, forcing companies to move away from the comfort zone dominated by conventional combustion vehicles. At the same time, observers say, the rapid entry of multiple Chinese EV brands reflects a bigger trend where emerging economies like Pakistan are seen as promising markets for future growth. Car enthusiasts, meanwhile, see this as a welcome change. Salman Ali, an EV enthusiast from Lahore, said that affordable small EVs could be a game changer. "With fuel prices going up every month, people are desperate for alternatives. If these Chinese EVs are introduced at competitive prices, they will give the middle class a real chance to switch to cleaner mobility," he said. Analysts also point out that Pakistan's EV policy has given a significant push to this momentum. Reduced customs duties on EV parts and favourable tariff structures have already encouraged imports, but local assembly and manufacturing is the next step. If companies like Letin Auto move ahead with their projects, it will not only help reduce reliance on imports but also support the development of an entire supply chain, including battery and component industries. For Punjab, the benefits are clear. More foreign plants mean fresh jobs, technology transfer and a stronger industrial base. For consumers, it means more options on the showroom floor. For local auto assemblers, it signals a race against time to remain competitive. "Chinese companies don't just bring cars, they bring disruption. Those who adapt will survive, those who don't will be left behind," said the Japanese auto company official. Analysts further say that for decades, the market has been dominated by a few players offering limited choices, but the arrival of Chinese EV makers is breaking that pattern. Whether it is local assembler preparing its own electric models or new entrants promising affordable alternatives, the competition is set to redefine the way Pakistanis buy and use cars.
Business Recorder
18 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Dar in UK for AI, digital tech talks
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, arrives in the UK for his official visit from 17-19 August to meet Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pakistan, Hamish Falconer, Lord Wajid Khan, and Commonwealth Secretary-General, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey. 'Focus of the visit is on strengthening Pakistan-UK ties, boosting cooperation in digital technology, artificial intelligence & entrepreneurship, and enhanced cooperation with the Commonwealth,' Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson said on Saturday. British MPs, Kashmiri leaders, and representatives of Pakistani Diaspora would also call on the DPM/FM. Dar highlights Pakistan's potential in fintech, digital banking At the Pakistan High Commission in London, the DPM/FM would inaugurate pilot project by Punjab Land Record Authority and One Window Operation by IMPASS. 'Barring my long pre-scheduled official engagements with the Deputy Prime Minister of UK, Rt Hon Angela Rayner; Secretary General Commonwealth, Rt Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; Hamish Faulkner, Minister of State, UK Foreign Office; and members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords during my two-days visit to the UK, I will not be holding the planned community interaction with the British Pakistani diaspora,' he said. This decision has been taken in solidarity and respect for those who are grieving, and to ensure that our full attention remains on the national relief and recovery efforts. My sincere regrets to all the organizers of the community event. Dar is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and destruction caused by the recent cloudbursts and flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern parts of Pakistan. 'Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones, to those who are injured, and many whose homes and livelihoods have been swept away,' he stated this in a statement on Saturday. The government of Pakistan is mobilising all available resources to provide relief and conduct rescue operations. Federal and provincial agencies, the armed forces, and local administrations are working tirelessly to reach affected communities and ensure the safety of our citizens, he added. Prime Minister has chaired an emergency meeting, and the government is in close coordination to address immediate needs and plan for the long-term recovery of the impacted areas. Dar urged all Pakistanis, at home and abroad, to keep the affected families in their prayers and to contribute in whatever way they can to the ongoing relief work. InshaAllah, together, we will overcome this difficult hour. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
