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China’s Hailiang, Shinzoom to Build Auto Battery Plants in Morocco 

The Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat. (AFP)
The Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat. (AFP)
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China’s Hailiang, Shinzoom to Build Auto Battery Plants in Morocco 

The Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat. (AFP)
The Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat. (AFP)

Chinese auto battery manufacturers Hailiang and Shinzoom will set up two separate plants in Morocco, as the country seeks to adapt its growing automotive sector to increasing demand for electric vehicles, Moroccan officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities in charge of developing the Moroccan northern industrial zone, Tanger Tech, said Hailiang plans to build a copper plant worth $450 million on an area of 30 hectares.

Shinzoom, part of Hunan Zhongke, will invest $460 million in an anodes plant spanning over 20 hectares, they said in a statement.

In April, the Moroccan government gave the green light for Chinese electric battery maker BTR New Material Group to build a factory near Tangier to produce key component cathodes.

Another Chinese manufacturer, CNGR Advanced Material, is expected to build a cathode plant in Jorf Lasfar, 100 kilometers south of Casablanca, where the government has allocated 283 hectares to electric battery industries.

Last year, the Moroccan government and China's Gotion agreed to look into setting up an electric vehicle battery plant in the kingdom with up to $6.3 billion in eventual investment.

Industry minister Ryad Mezzour told Reuters last month the Gotion project was advancing with discussions on the footprint and location.

Chinese firms are lured by Morocco's geographic location on the Strait of Gibraltar, its free trade agreements with key EU and US markets and its existing automotive industry cluster.

The automotive sector topped Morocco's industrial exports at $14 billion in 2023, up 27%.

Morocco is home to production plants by Stellantis and Renault with an annual combined production capacity of 700,000 cars as well as a cluster of local suppliers.

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Business

Euro Zone Inflation Soars Further Above ECB Target

FILE -Clouds cover the sky over the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
FILE -Clouds cover the sky over the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
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Euro Zone Inflation Soars Further Above ECB Target

FILE -Clouds cover the sky over the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
FILE -Clouds cover the sky over the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

Euro zone inflation surged further in April on soaring energy costs, Eurostat data showed on Thursday, adding to the case for interest rate hikes, even if benign underlying price growth figures ease the urgency of any move.

Inflation in the 21 countries sharing the euro currency jumped to 3.0% this month from 2.6% in March, moving further above the European Central Bank's 2% target, with energy costs accounting for the vast majority of the increase.

A closely watched figure ⁠on underlying or 'core' ⁠inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, meanwhile slowed to 2.2% from 2.3% a month earlier.

Services inflation, a stubbornly high component of the price basket over the past several years, slowed to 3.0% from 3.2% while inflation for non-energy industrial ⁠goods, a key drag on prices picked up to 0.8%.

The figures are a mixed bag for the ECB, which is meeting on Thursday and will likely keep interest rates unchanged, even if it signals that policy tightening is increasingly likely, Reuters reported.

The high headline inflation print strengthens the argument for interest rate hikes but the underlying figures suggest that the initial energy shock is not yet creating major ⁠second round effects.

The ⁠ECB is largely powerless against an energy shock but must step in if these second round effects become visible as they risk creating a hard-to-break self-sustaining inflation spiral.

This is why investors expect the ECB to hike its 2% deposit rate already in June and see at least two more moves before the end of the year.

This outlook is volatile, however, and largely depends on developments in the Iran war and oil prices, which hit a four-year-high of $124 on Thursday.

Business

TotalEnergies and Nextnorth Begin Building $300 Million Philippine Solar Farm

FILE PHOTO: The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen on a building in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, April 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen on a building in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, April 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
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TotalEnergies and Nextnorth Begin Building $300 Million Philippine Solar Farm

FILE PHOTO: The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen on a building in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, April 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen on a building in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, France, April 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo

French oil major TotalEnergies and Philippine renewables developer Nextnorth have secured financing for a 440 megawatt-peak solar park in the Asian country and started construction, they said on Thursday.

The $300 million site is expected to come online by end-2027, and produce 1.2 ⁠terawatt-hours of electricity ⁠over 20 years. Half that amount will be sold to industrial clients, with the remainder going to the national grid as part of the country's fourth renewable tender round, Reuters reported.

Unlike other oil ⁠companies that have walked back their renewable commitments, Total has continued to expand its green portfolio, most recently by forming a joint venture with Emirati firm Masdar to develop wind, solar and batteries in Asian countries that are heavily dependent on imported natural gas.

"Energy security has never been as crucial for the Philippines as ⁠it ⁠is today.

Faced with rising demand and a heavy reliance on imported fuels, the country needs large-scale, affordable domestic renewable energy capacity," Nextnorth CEO Miguel Mapa said in a statement.

Financiers include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, ING Bank NV and Standard Chartered.

TotalEnergies will place its 65% stake in the project into its renewable joint venture with Masdar, with Nextnorth holding 35%.

Business

SABIC Swings to Q1 Profit

A SABIC manufacturing site in Jubail (SABIC)
A SABIC manufacturing site in Jubail (SABIC)
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SABIC Swings to Q1 Profit

A SABIC manufacturing site in Jubail (SABIC)
A SABIC manufacturing site in Jubail (SABIC)

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), a global leader in chemicals, said on Wednesday it returned to profit in the first quarter of 2026, posting net earnings of SAR13.2 million ($3.52 million) compared to a SAR1.21 billion ($322 million) loss a year earlier.

This increase is mainly attributed to a SAR1.05 billion decline in non-recurring restructuring costs, and a SAR384 million reduction in general, administrative, research and development expenses, the company said in a filing to the Saudi bourse, Tadawul, on Wednesday.

Although revenue declined 11% year-on-year to SAR26.15 billion ($6.97 billion) due to lower sales volumes, the company said it increased its operating profit by 338% to reach SAR1.45 billion ($386.6 million), mainly due to a SAR1.05 billion ($280 million) decline in operating expenses.

“In Q1 2026, we continued to make meaningful progress according to our strategic agenda of portfolio optimization, corporate transformation, and selective growth,” said SABIC CEO and executive board member Dr. Faisal Alfaqeer.

“We are following through on the two agreements announced at the start of the quarter to divest our European Petrochemicals business and our Engineering Thermoplastics business in the Americas and Europe,” he noted.

“These decisive actions are aligned with our strategy to enhance capital allocation, strengthen SABIC’s financial resilience, and position the company for growth in profitable markets,” Alfaqeer added.

At the same time, he said SABIC’s transformation journey continues to deliver performance improvements that unlock greater value for our shareholders.

“We realized $220 million at the EBITDA level on a recurring basis during the first quarter of 2026, in line with our planned improvement rate. This keeps us on track toward our cumulative 2030 annual target of $3 billion, consisting of $1.40 billion in cost excellence and $1.60 billion in value creation.”

In terms of selective growth, Alfaqeer also said the company is advancing a number of capital projects in a disciplined way. The execution of the SABIC Fujian project continues as planned, now reaching approximately 98% completion.

He noted that the Ministry of Energy’s announced feedstock-allocation approval “enables the potential expansion of our annual urea production capacity from approximately 4.8 million tons to 7.4 million tons—a 54% increase.”

SABIC has forecast a capital investment of $3.5 to $4 billion in 2026.

Alfaqeer said the company signed a strategic agreement with the Public Investment Fund–Pirelli joint venture, enabling the joint venture to manufacture 3.5 million tires annually in the Kingdom.

“This agreement supports the localization agenda of our NUSANED program, while contributing to long-term economic growth and industrial development in Saudi Arabia,” he affirmed.