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Alkhorayef: Saudi Arabia Making Confident Strides Toward Localizing Automotive Industry

Alkhorayef spoke on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant at King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah. SPA
Alkhorayef spoke on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant at King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah. SPA
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Alkhorayef: Saudi Arabia Making Confident Strides Toward Localizing Automotive Industry

Alkhorayef spoke on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant at King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah. SPA
Alkhorayef spoke on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant at King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah. SPA

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef has said the Kingdom is making “confident strides” at an accelerated pace to localize the automotive industry.

Alkhorayef spoke on Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant at King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah.

He said the Kingdom’s efforts will create added value for the national economy and enhance its global competitiveness in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.

The plant is being built under a strategic partnership between the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Hyundai Motor Company, a move that supports the localization of the automotive industry in the Kingdom and advances economic diversification.

The minister described the initiative as an important milestone in the journey to localize the automotive industry due to its significant impact.

He added that it will enhance industrial capabilities, strengthen supply chains, localize production, and develop local content, meeting local and regional demand for automobiles and consolidating the Kingdom's position as a global hub for the automotive industry.

He praised PIF’s role in driving industrial transformation and empowering high-value sectors with tangible economic impact in the Kingdom and the region.

He also highlighted the importance of integrated efforts by all relevant government entities in advancing the localization of the automotive industry, including the establishment of the Hyundai plant.

He thanked the Ministries of Investment, Energy, and Finance; the Ministry of Economy and Planning; the National Industrial Development Center; and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.

Alkhorayef stressed that the project aligns with the Kingdom's accelerating industrial goals and its vision to transform ambitions into reality.

The National Industrial Strategy aims to attract three global automotive manufacturers to produce 300,000 vehicles annually within a single industrial complex, a goal now realized with Hyundai joining Lucid and Ceer.

The factory is projected to produce 50,000 vehicles annually and contribute approximately $5 billion to the Kingdom's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2045.

Hyundai has had a presence in the Saudi market for over 40 years and currently holds the second-largest market share in the Kingdom’s automotive sector.

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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.