Economy
Chinese firm seeks compensation from UK over British Steel
The Chinese firm that previously owned British Steel sought on Sunday compensation from the U.K. government for investment losses it said it incurred following the nationalization of the key manufacturer last week.
The British government took operational control of the company last year after Jingye Group said that it was considering closing the blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant in northern England, the last in the U.K. to make “virgin steel” from raw materials.
Jingye Group said in a WeChat statement that the nationalization move tarnished the credibility of the British government, spooked international investors and caused great losses to the company’s operation and British taxpayers’ funds. It also demanded that the U.K. government stop “trampling on international investment rules.”
The Chinese company announced it had initiated negotiation procedures under relevant bilateral investment agreements, reserving all rights, including to international arbitration. Jingye said it will also represent British taxpayers seeking to hold the U.K. government and British Steel’s management legally liable. However, it did not specify how it would handle the case.
“The U.K. disregarded Jingye’s continuous investment and significant contribution and was only willing to provide almost zero compensation,” it said.
An independent evaluation will be carried out to determine whether any compensation will be paid to Jingye Group, the U.K. government said last week.
The Department for Business and Trade announced the move on July 17, saying it would save thousands of jobs and protect the U.K.’s national interest by ensuring a supply of domestically produced steel for major construction projects and the defense industry.
British Steel and its forebears have been making steel at Scunthorpe for more than 130 years, building on the U.K.’s development of improved steelmaking technology during the Industrial Revolution. The plant currently employs about 2,700 people.
Jingye bought British Steel in 2020 and said it saved the steel company from crisis.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday said the way the U.K. handles the issue would directly influence how Chinese investors view the British investment environment and the credibility of the British government.
“China urges the U.K. to earnestly respect market principles and the spirit of contract, and find solutions on compensation and other issues acceptable to both sides,” it said in a statement.
It added that China supports enterprises in safeguarding their legitimate rights through legal means.
Diesel- and liquefied petroleum gas-powered cars in Türkiye’s vehicle fleet continue to decline steadily, as hybrid and electric vehicles maintain their rapid growth, the official data showed.
The total number of registered motor vehicles in Türkiye rose 6.7% year-over-year to 34.55 million by the end of June, from 32.37 million a year earlier, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Passenger cars accounted for 51.7% of all registered vehicles, followed by motorcycles at 21.5%, light commercial vehicles at 14.4%, tractors at 6.8%, trucks at 3.1%, minibuses at 1.6%, buses at 0.6% and special-purpose vehicles at 0.3%.
Of the 194,740 vehicles newly registered in June, motorcycles made up 49.4%, while passenger cars accounted for 37.8%.
The transition in Türkiye’s auto market has leaped since 2020.
Gasoline-powered cars increased their share of the passenger car fleet to 31% by the end of last month, up from 24.4% in 2020. Their number rose to 5.55 million from 3.20 million over the period.
Diesel-powered cars remained the largest fuel category by number, increasing to 5.74 million from 5.01 million, but their share of the fleet fell to 32.1% from 38.3%.
LPG-powered cars rose in absolute terms to 5.25 million from 4.81 million, although their share declined to 29.4% from 36.7%.
Hybrid vehicles recorded the fastest growth among conventional powertrains, with registrations climbing to 846,813 by the end of June from just 33,690 in 2020. Their share of the passenger car fleet increased to 4.7% from 0.3%.
Electric vehicle adoption also accelerated. The number of registered battery-powered cars rose to 445,939 by the end of June, compared with only 2,797 in 2020. Their share of the passenger car fleet reached 2.5%, up from 0.1% in 2022.
Overall, Türkiye’s passenger car fleet grew to 17.87 million vehicles by the end of June, compared with 13.10 million in 2020.
As the United States and Israel went to war with Iran at the end of February, analysts predicted the price of crude oil could hit $150 a barrel or even rise as far as $200, with the fifth of global supply that transits the vital Strait of Hormuz suddenly cut off from world markets.
But, Brent crude futures peaked around $126 – comfortably below 2008’s all-time high of $147 – and averaged just $101 a barrel between the start of the conflict on Feb. 28 and June 11 when U.S. President Donald Trump called off strikes on Iran, before briefly retreating to pre-war levels of $70 in early July.
Below are some of the reasons why the oil price hasn’t gone crazy. Yet.
1. Chinese surprise
The biggest surprise was China, the world’s largest oil importer, which had slashed crude imports to the lowest in nearly a decade by June. Fuel exports were curbed, its population started using electric taxis instead of personal cars and its petrochemical sector also reduced volumes.
2. U.S. pumps more
The United States, the world’s largest oil producer, pumped more crude, with production reaching a record 13.93 million barrels per day by April. It also freed crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a record 400 million-barrel release coordinated by the International Energy Agency in March, helping cushion supply disruptions.
3. Trump burns bulls
U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly wrong-footed oil market bulls by making statements about peace agreements and the resumption of flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil market liquidity has dropped as many traders have become reluctant to make large bullish bets amid the risk of sudden market reversals.
“Everybody is bullish now, but nobody is long,” said Ilia Bouchouev of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
After driving their bullish position in Brent futures to its smallest this year in early July, funds then made their largest addition in six months in the week to July 14, according to data from the ICE exchange on Friday.
However, at around $14.8 billion based on Monday’s prices, this position is still more than 50% below late March’s six-year peak.
The market is suffering from headline fatigue, which reduces the price impact of fresh announcements, said Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen.
4. Hormuz flows rebound
Saudi Arabia, the biggest Gulf oil exporter, sharply increased shipments from its Red Sea Yanbu port, helping to offset the loss of barrels via the Strait of Hormuz.
Hormuz shipments briefly restarted in June, easing concerns about crude availability, but dropped again in July as the fighting resumed.
5. Amply supply of prompt physical cargoes
Traders say there is an ample supply of physical oil, limiting the price reaction to the latest escalation in the conflict. Crude oil differentials in Europe, such as North Sea Forties, that help set the global dated Brent benchmark have fallen to a discount from a record premium in April.
“There is a lot of prompt crude around for now,” said veteran trader Adi Imsirovic. “It may not last!”
Updating the nearly three-decade-old customs union, joining the “Made in EU” framework, and securing participation in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) would significantly strengthen Türkiye’s economic integration with the European Union, the head of the country’s exporters said Monday.
“If the customs union revision, the work related to ‘Made in EU’ and participation in this payment system (SEPA) are achieved together, we would reach a completely different position from where we are today,” Mustafa Gültepe, chair of the Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TIM), said.
Türkiye and the EU have been holding talks about the EU’s 41-country Single Euro Payments Area, which makes cross-border euro-currency payments cheaper, faster and more secure.
Earlier this month, Ankara said it had sent a letter of intent to join the system.
Gültepe said the move would significantly simplify payments between Turkish companies and European partners.
“Transfers would be carried out as if they were domestic transactions. Large companies may not face major difficulties in this area, but it would provide much greater support for SMEs, both those making and receiving payments,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA).
The EU accounts for around 45%-50% of Türkiye’s exports, with the share exceeding 65% in some sectors.
Lobbying for ‘Made in EU’
Gültepe said exporter groups continue lobbying efforts regarding Türkiye’s inclusion in the EU’s “Made in EU” initiative, while the Trade Ministry is also working on the issue.
He said discussions around the framework, particularly its potential impact on the automotive industry, have not yet been concluded.
“The interim assessment is positive, but we need to remain synchronized with them in the next phase,” he said.
Gültepe warned that EU trade agreements with third countries should not disadvantage Türkiye because of the customs union arrangement.
“Work on ‘Made in EU’ continues, especially through our lobbying efforts. Intensive efforts are underway. We hope to remain included,” he noted.
At the same time, Gültepe reiterated that the customs union “genuinely” needs to be revised.
“The agreements the EU signs with third countries are harming Türkiye,” he said.
For decades, Türkiye and the bloc enjoyed good trade ties and cooperation on migration. However, relations have been strained over multiple issues, including the prolonged process of expansion of the scope of the customs union agreement and maritime issues with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration.
The deeper 1990s-era trade agreement would be expanded to services, farm goods and public procurement. The current deal only covers a limited range of industrial products.
Business groups have long argued that the deal is outdated and ill-suited for today’s trade environment.
Gültepe highlighted Türkiye’s proximity to Europe, logistics advantages, manufacturing capacity and flexible production structure as key strengths.
“It is a market that demands flexibility, and we have flexibility. It demands quality, and we have quality. Beyond price flexibility, we currently have almost everything Europe is looking for,” he said.
Need for faster export growth
Türkiye’s exports rose 3.6% year-over-year in the first half of 2026 to $136.1 billion, a performance Gültepe described as positive given the impact of geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Türkiye recorded $278 billion in exports over the past 12 months, but Gültepe stressed that annual growth rates of 3%-5% were insufficient.
“Türkiye needs to grow at double-digit rates,” he said, adding that the country’s long-term vision should be to become one of the world’s top 10 exporting nations.
He said achieving that goal would require contributions from all 27 sectors, including services, and called for investments in industries that currently contribute to the country’s current account deficit.
Gültepe said Türkiye’s exporters aim to reach $500 billion in total exports, including services, by 2030, compared with around $400 billion currently.
He said technology-intensive sectors would play a key role in achieving the target, adding that industries with labor costs below 20% of production expenses have greater growth potential as rising costs have weakened Türkiye’s price competitiveness.
Higher costs have made it harder for existing exporters to defend their markets and reduced the number of companies entering export markets for the first time, Gültepe said, adding that the number of first-time exporters has fallen by around half over the past 12-18 months.
He said the most difficult period should be behind the sector and predicted that Türkiye could achieve stronger growth from 2027, with monthly double-digit export increases across industries.
For about four decades, Suzuki cars have been a fixture on Indian roads.
By relentlessly keeping prices and operating costs low, the Japanese automaker helped millions buy cars, while hatchbacks made by its Indian unit, Maruti Suzuki, accounted for between half and four-fifths of the country’s new car sales in recent decades.
But as Indians got richer, they gravitated to bigger and flashier rides – and the automaker’s emphasis on affordability started to become a drag. Maruti Suzuki’s share of the world’s third-largest auto market now lingers at around 39%, near an all-time low.
Suzuki’s struggles reflect how cost-sensitive managers in Japan were slow to adapt to the changing tastes of newly affluent Indians, four people familiar with its business told Reuters. Executives, the people said, for years felt that demand for sunroofs, advanced technology and SUVs hadn’t trumped questions of affordability for Indians.
It marks the first report that details the deliberations between Indian and Japanese executives at Suzuki as they struggled to pivot beyond a long-successful strategy that emphasized value before almost everything else.
Maruti Suzuki managers first floated the idea of adding sunroofs about a decade ago, the people said. But Japanese bosses considered the feature – which has become a symbol of upward mobility in India – impractical given India’s extreme heat and dusty roads. They worried that adding a more powerful air conditioning unit and strengthening the cabin to accommodate the panel would increase costs and distract from Suzuki’s mission of providing affordable transport.
The carmaker didn’t introduce sunroofs until 2022. By then, fast-growing domestic rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra – which both currently have a market share of around 14% – had sunroofs as standard features on between a quarter and a third of their cars sold in India, according to data from auto research firm JATO Dynamics.
This account of the missteps that eroded Suzuki’s iron grip on India and its subsequent efforts to woo customers back is based on interviews with more than 20 people, including executives, suppliers and others with direct knowledge of the automaker and its Indian business. Most spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media.
Maruti’s head of corporate affairs, Rahul Bharti, said in an interview that Japanese managers were not reluctant to embrace the changing tastes of local customers. Instead, he said, they had prioritized factors such as cost and climate, as well as emissions and safety considerations.
Indian and Japanese executives engage in “extensive” talks before introducing products and new features, Bharti said. Maruti’s market share had declined recently because of a collapse in demand for small cars, the automaker’s slow rollout of SUVs and its 2020 decision to stop selling diesel cars, he added.
While it is committed to building affordable and compact models, Suzuki has now directed local managers to “pay more attention to the Indian customer,” Bharti said.
To be sure, Maruti Suzuki still runs a lucrative business in India. Revenue has more than doubled over the last five years to $19 billion and profit tripled to $1.5 billion as margins improved. About 60% of the 3.3 million cars Suzuki sold in the last financial year were in India, and Maruti contributed nearly half of its profits. But while it is making more money from selling fewer cars, the company has fallen short of chief executive Toshihiro Suzuki’s goal of owning half the market.
Maruti Suzuki also risks being seen by younger drivers as a “brand for their parents or grandparents,” said Toshihide Kinoshita, an automotive analyst at Nomura Securities.
In India, the typical buyer of a new car is in their mid-30s. The average age in the United States is 51, according to data from Cox Automotive.
The people’s car
Japanese car manufacturers increasingly see India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, as a lifeline.
Many face an existential threat in traditional strongholds like Southeast Asia from the low costs and fast-paced innovation of Chinese rivals. They are also being squeezed by tariffs in the United States and slow growth at home as Japan’s population shrinks.
Chinese EV makers, however, are largely shut out of India, which has increased scrutiny of investments from China after a deadly border clash between the two countries in 2020. Japanese carmakers sense the opportunity: Toyota and Suzuki have announced plans to spend a cumulative $11 billion to expand manufacturing and other operations in India by 2030.
Maruti Suzuki is now a symbol of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to turn India into a global manufacturing hub.
Suzuki first invested in Maruti in the early 1980s when the Indian brand was state-owned. Then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wanted to provide a “people’s car” to fulfill the dream of her late son Sanjay, an auto enthusiast who had sought to bring affordable mobility to the middle class.
The Maruti 800 arrived in 1983. It was priced at around $9,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars and became synonymous with India’s modernization. Over three decades, Maruti sold nearly 3 million of the small hatchbacks. Such was the scale of Suzuki’s dominance in India that its former CEO Osamu Suzuki said he aimed to keep a 50% market share “for eternity.”
India’s economy has grown some 18-fold since Suzuki entered the market. Yet Suzuki’s cost-control culture meant managers initially faced resistance when they lobbied to offer advanced driver assistance systems that Mahindra introduced around 2021, some four years before Maruti, three people said.
For many buyers, the modernity and aspiration that Maruti once represented is found in Tata and Mahindra’s feature-laden SUVs, rather than Maruti’s workaday models. Maruti does not have “the bells and whistles” that customers now want, said JATO Dynamics president Ravi Bhatia.
One erstwhile loyalist looking elsewhere is Anil Tiwari, who is seeking a car to supplement his family’s 17-year-old Maruti Alto hatchback. The insurance agent has narrowed his choices down to a Mahindra or a Toyota SUV after his wife and children demanded a sunroof and a large infotainment display, among other technologies.
“My wife and children want the best,” he said.
Fightback?
Maruti has been here before. Its market share dipped below 40% in 2011, though newer models and an expanded sales network helped it recover.
This time, competition is fiercer. Better-equipped rivals and the fall in market share mean Suzuki now faces its toughest situation in India “in the last 40 years,” chief executive Suzuki told reporters at the Tokyo auto show last year.
In an attempt to regain dominance, Suzuki is expanding R&D teams at Maruti and giving executives flexibility to make more decisions locally, five people told Reuters. It aims to cut the average product development time to 36 months from 48 months, four sources added.
Maruti has also built more car-testing labs in India to speed up design and execution, Bharti told Reuters.
Maruti has introduced pricier and more design-forward cars, including a three-row minivan that starts at about $25,000. It plans seven more SUVs by 2030, which will join a recently released model that has a sunroof and advanced driver assistance systems.
The brand is also reversing its decision not to use large display screens in some vehicles, according to three sources, who said Japanese executives had felt they would be a distraction for drivers.
Bharti confirmed that Maruti and Suzuki executives had discussed those concerns. Large displays and similar features are always “on the cards,” he said, though the company continues to weigh customer demand against the realities of Indian driving conditions.
One open question is whether Maruti’s more expensive cars will sell. The brand’s association with affordability means Indians willing to spend more usually don’t consider Maruti, six people told Reuters. Less than 3% of Maruti’s sales come from cars priced above $15,500, compared with over 21% for the rest of the industry, according to JATO Dynamics.
That perception is shaping the choice for buyers like Deepanshu Singhal, a sales executive who plans to upgrade to a Mahindra or Toyota SUV from the Maruti Dzire sedan he has driven for seven years.
“I’d rather spend a little more money for a better car that has some freshness and newness,” he said.
Iraq is speeding up plans for an oil pipeline to Mediterranean ports in Türkiye and Syria as the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt exports, according to its Oil Minister Bassim Khudair.
A feasibility study is underway for a pipeline linking the country’s oil-producing regions of Basra in the south and Kirkuk in the north with the Mediterranean ports of Ceyhan in Türkiye and Baniyas in Syria, Khudair told state news agency INA at the weekend.
The route could later be extended to the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.
Khudair said there was a “clear vision and strategy” in Baghdad on finding new export routes for Iraqi oil.
Iraq is heavily dependent on oil exports, which in normal times account for more than 90% of state revenues. More than 10 million Iraqis rely on monthly government payments, including civil servants, pensioners and welfare recipients.
The search for alternative export routes has become increasingly urgent as the Strait of Hormuz has remained effectively blocked for months due to hostilities between Iran and the U.S. Iraqi oil production has also fallen during the conflict.
However, exporting oil overland would remain more expensive and less efficient than shipping it by sea.
Iraqi officials also acknowledge that pipelines and other energy infrastructure outside the Strait of Hormuz could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks.
Iraq currently exports some oil through an existing pipeline to Türkiye that runs through the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) region. A second pipeline that bypasses KRG is undergoing final testing and could be put into operation within days, Khudair said.
During Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to Washington last week, Iraqi and Syrian officials signed a memorandum of understanding to restore a long-idled crude oil pipeline between the two countries.
The pipeline, which has a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, was damaged during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has remained out of service ever since. U.S. energy company Chevron is expected to lead the consortium overseeing its restoration.
The Iran war is also disrupting Iraq’s energy sector in the KRG, which has come under attack by Tehran. U.S. energy company HKN Energy and UAE-based Dana Gas have temporarily suspended operations in the region.
Ryanair’s profit slumped by more than a third on higher fuel costs and weaker fares in the April-June quarter, the Irish no-frills airline said on Monday, while summer fares look set to fall amid consumer nervousness around the Iran war and broader economy.
The weak results for Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, are the latest sign of how the five-month-old Iran war is turning up the pressure on companies as peace talks drag and oil prices remain elevated.
On Monday, U.S. forces hit Iran for a ninth consecutive day as part of an escalating cycle of attacks between the pair after an interim cease-fire agreement signed a month ago unraveled, pushing oil prices back up.
Ryanair shares were down 6% at 24.36 euros at 8 a.m. Rivals Wizz, Lufthansa, British Airways’ owner IAG and Air France- KLM were also all lower.
“The price of our 20% unhedged fuel doubled in the quarter and fares fell 6%, primarily we think due to the impact of the Middle East conflict” and the timing of Easter, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a video presentation.
Fares “required stimulation as the Middle East conflict led to consumer hesitancy, concerns about EU jet-fuel shortages, economic uncertainty and later bookings,” O’Leary said.
Fares ‘trending modestly down’
The Irish airline reported after-tax profit of 538 million euros ($616 million) for its fiscal first quarter through June 30, down 34% from the previous year and short of a forecast of 579 million euros in a company poll of analysts.
The airline said it was too early to forecast profit for the full year, which would depend heavily on last-minute bookings over the remainder of the summer.
O’Leary added that Ryanair’s net profit for the remainder of its financial year “remains highly sensitive to… conflict escalation in the Middle East and Ukraine, the price of unhedged jet-fuel, macro-economic shocks” and European air traffic control strikes.
The company said it was better positioned than most rivals because 80% of its fuel requirements to the end of March are hedged at $67 per barrel, compared to recent peaks around $150.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Neil Sorahan said the airline stepped in to hedge 15% of its fuel needs for the year to end-March 2028 at $85 per barrel following an interim cease-fire between Iran and the United States that has since unraveled.
Capacity falls, fare increases seen in coming year
Weakness in fares is likely to be short-lived, however, as European aviation is facing a wave of consolidation and airlines going bust that will take out capacity, Sorahan said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of casualties this winter … there are a few people very much on the edge,” Sorahan said in an interview.
He said he expected “significant capacity” to be cut in Europe this winter, “which could be positive for pricing,” and a lot more may be taken out in summer 2027.
The possible sale of British rival easyJet, which is the subject of a bidding war, could also lead to a reduction in capacity and could trigger a “domino effect” of consolidation in Europe, Sorahan said.
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