The upcoming European Union-Central Asia summit, to be held April 3-4 in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, is seen by some European observers as a potential watershed moment that can establish Brussels’ Global Gateway strategy as a genuine competitor to China’s Belt & Road initiative for regional influence. Initial responses to a pre-summit Central Asian tour by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, however, indicate that Central Asian leaders are cautious about the EU’s bid to raise its regional profile. Kallas made a lightning…

The latest S&P Global’s UK Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) shows that UK manufacturing’s woes have deepened. S&P Global’s latest PMI survey, which asks around 600 industrial companies about their performances, suggests that manufacturing is again in the downturn following a poor start to the year.  The latest figure showed that it decreased to 44.9, which was slightly better than the figure of 44.6 that economists had predicted.  This was the lowest reading in 17 months, compared to an average of 51.7…

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced its crude oil production in March, ahead of its planned production increase for May, a new Bloomberg survey showed on Tuesday. OPEC reduced its crude oil production for March to an average of 27.43 million barrels per day—a reduction of 110,000 bpd from the prior month. The reduction comes as OPEC pushes its members into tighter compliance with their production quotas. According to the survey, Nigeria saw the largest decrease in production, by 50,000 bpd, to an average of 1.5…

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced its crude oil production in March, ahead of its planned production increase for May, a new Bloomberg survey showed on Tuesday. OPEC reduced its crude oil production for March to an average of 27.43 million barrels per day—a reduction of 110,000 bpd from the prior month. The reduction comes as OPEC pushes its members into tighter compliance with their production quotas. According to the survey, Nigeria saw the largest decrease in production, by 50,000 bpd, to an average of 1.5…

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reduced its crude oil production in March, ahead of its planned production increase for May, a new Bloomberg survey showed on Tuesday. OPEC reduced its crude oil production for March to an average of 27.43 million barrels per day—a reduction of 110,000 bpd from the prior month. The reduction comes as OPEC pushes its members into tighter compliance with their production quotas. According to the survey, Nigeria saw the largest decrease in production, by 50,000 bpd, to an average of 1.5…

Via Metal Miner   Over the last ten years, industrial metal prices have gone on a wild ride, rising, falling and rising again, thanks to everything from global economic swings to supply chain hiccups and geopolitical drama. If you’re in manufacturing, investing, or policy, keeping tabs on these price trends isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Steel Historical Price Trends Steel is the backbone of construction and manufacturing, so it’s no surprise that its price moves with global demand, production capacity and trade…