CAIRO: Canal Sugar has signed an export financing agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), with a total value
of $50 million.
Abdulmohsen Al-Khayal, the managing director of the Saudi Export Program of the SFD, said that the fund’s financing of the Canal Sugar project is part of its wider role to help increase trade between the two countries by providing credit facilities to companies who wish to import Saudi goods into Egypt.
Islam Salem, CEO of Canal Sugar, said that the agreement would push forward the completion of financing for the project, which initially amounted to $1 billion, 30 percent of which is financed from the shareholders and 70 percent from local and international banking institutions.
The SFD was established in 1975 to finance projects in developing countries, to provide grants for technical aid to finance studies and institutional support, and to provide financing and guarantees for national non-oil exports.
Canal Sugar was established with the participation of the Emirati Jamal Al Ghurair Group of companies, Al Ahly Capital Holding Company, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt, and the Emirati company Murban Energy, to implement the largest factory for the production of white sugar from sugar beet in the world.
In an area of 240 feddans and with a production of up to 950,000 tons of high-quality white
sugar, the facility will make
sugar the first self-sufficient commodity in Egypt.
Egyptian sugar firm signs $50m Saudi financing deal
https://arab.news/j64wr
Egyptian sugar firm signs $50m Saudi financing deal
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
