TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Sunday 1-7-2024

Tishwash:  “Unprecedented”… Trade announces the opening date of the Baghdad International Fair

The Ministry of Commerce has set the opening date for the Baghdad International Fair in its new session.

The Ministry’s Director General of Follow-up and Planning, Talib Hassan Nimah, said in a press statement, “Next Wednesday, the activities of the 47th Baghdad International Fair will begin with the participation of 20 countries and 800 local, Arab and foreign companies.”

He stated, “The General Company for Exhibitions and Commercial Services in the Ministry is preparing to open the work of the 47th Baghdad International Fair next Wednesday, corresponding to the 10th of this month, for a period of ten days, including the exhibition, which will be under the slogan (Iraq Continues), the largest economic event that differs from previous exhibitions.” “His preparations began early in order for him to emerge in his splendid form.”

He stated that the participation of countries in the exhibition increased from 13 during 2023, to 20 for the current year, and the largest currently is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in terms of the number of its companies, which amounts to 140, in addition to the participation of foreign countries such as Germany, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Iran and India, in addition to Arab countries such as the Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman and Egypt.

Syria, in addition to the participation of the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan, is the first in the exhibition, limiting the number of participating local, Arab and foreign companies to 800, including 509 within the pavilions of the participating countries. 

Nimah pointed out that the exhibition will organize, during its activities, artistic and cultural folklore events that embody the civilization of Mesopotamia, which will constitute an attraction point for foreign investors, and increase the frequency of contracting companies between the Iraqi and international private sectors, in a way that is compatible with the reconstruction and construction campaigns in the country, and contributes to achieving a partnership to support the economy. Because the country has advantages for industrial and agricultural investment in various aspects. link

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CandyKisses:  In the new year Iraq maintains its rank from global gold reserves

Shafaq News / The World Gold Council announced on Sunday that Iraq has maintained its 30th rank in the world with the largest reserve of the yellow metal.

The latest table of the Council, especially this January, seen by Shafaq News, showed that Iraq maintained its ranking of 30th globally out of 100 countries listed in the table with the largest gold reserves, with its gold hold hold to 132.7 tons, representing 7.7% of the rest of its other reserves.

The table shows that Iraq came in fourth in Arab place after Saudi Arabia, which came first in the Arab with the largest gold reserves, reaching 323.1 tons, followed by Lebanon with 286.8 tons, followed by Algeria with 173.6 tons.

He pointed out that the United States of America is on the throne of the rest of the countries with the largest gold possession in the world at 8.133.5 thousand tons, followed by Germany 3.352.6 thousand tons, and then Italy came 2.451.8 thousand tons, while Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked 99th with 1.5 thousand tons, followed by Suriname with the same amount of 1.5 thousand tons.

The Council stated that on June 27, 2022, Iraq announced the purchase of new quantities of gold by approximately (34) tons, with an increase of 35% over what it had in possession, while it was announced in May that it had purchased 2.3 tons of gold.

The British-based World Gold Council has extensive experience and deep knowledge of the factors causing market changes and its members are made up of the world’s largest and most advanced gold mining companies.

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CandyKisses:  Supported by Iraq and two African countries. OPEC oil production rises by 70,000 barrels per day

Economy News – Baghdad

OPEC’s oil production has become the focus of global markets after the month of December 2023 witnessed strong events, including the announcement by 8 countries of additional voluntary production cuts along with Angola’s withdrawal.

It seems that last month’s production escaped the repercussions of the aforementioned events, as it received a production increase estimated at about 70,000 barrels per day, compared to the previous November, supported by additional performance from 3 countries, according to information published by the specialized energy platform.

Seven countries – Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman – announced a voluntary reduction in their production during the first quarter of this year until the end of March, while Russia adopted a reduction in crude and derivatives exports of 500,000 barrels per day during the same period.

OPEC oil production in December

OPEC countries produced up to 27.88 million barrels per day during the month of December, according to ship shipping and tracking data, quoted by Reuters in a survey conducted and announced its results on Friday, January 5, 2024.

According to the results of the survey, December production reveals an increase of 70,000 barrels per day, compared to the previous month, but OPEC’s oil production during the monitored month fell by more than one million barrels per day during the same month of 2022.

The majority of the increase came from Iraq, Angola and Nigeria, with the former and the latter contributing about 60,000 barrels per day, while the latter stepped up crude exports, given that the Dangote refinery, which is important for the refining sector, has not yet begun operations.

Production rates in December are higher than the previous month (November 2023), which saw a decline for the first time since July by about 90,000 barrels per day.

Markets are awaiting the release of OPEC oil production data for January, following Angola’s withdrawal from the organization and measuring the impact of the voluntary reduction of the 8 countries on production volumes and price levels.

OPEC Production Policy

Analysts believe that OPEC’s oil production is affected by the organization’s policy, as it pledged at its last meeting (end of November 2023) to work to ensure market stability and balance.

Although no new additional production cuts have been adopted, a number of member states have decided to introduce voluntary cuts in the first quarter of this year.

For example, Saudi Arabia extended its reduction of about one million barrels per day since July 2023, and expressed its desire to continue it until the end of March 2024. 

This comes without counting the voluntary reduction announced by Riyadh (during the period from April 2023 until the end of December 2024), which amounted to 500,000 barrels, so that the Kingdom’s production during this period stabilized at 9 million barrels per day.

A dispute over the production quotas of African countries caused Angola to announce in December 2023 its withdrawal from the organization, after it was unable – along with Nigeria – to meet their goals, while the organization later issued a clarification confirming the unity and cohesion of the oil market.

* Outlook 2024

The editorial advisor of the specialized energy platform, energy economics expert, Dr. Anas Al-Hajji, said that the oil market in 2024 will witness a “difficult” year, expecting OPEC+ countries to maintain their announced reductions on production throughout the year.

He confirmed during one of the episodes of the “Energy Forgets” program on the “X” platform in December 2023, that expectations of oil prices breaking the barrier of $ 90 per barrel during the fourth quarter of last year were – contrary to the expectations of the majority of analysts – is unlikely, due to the decline in economic growth rates, especially from China, as well as OPEC’s announced voluntary cuts.

Oil prices at the beginning of 2024 seem to have been in line with Hajji’s vision, as they witnessed a “temporary” rise at $80 a barrel before stabilizing at $76 per barrel on the first day of the year.

Analysts polled by the specialized energy platform linked the OPEC+ alliance’s approval of an additional cut to the stability of oil prices between $80 and $85 a barrel, or slightly lower.

It is noteworthy that the total voluntary reduction announced by the coalition countries, at the end of November 2023, is 2.193 million barrels per day.