Rio Tinto posted on Wednesday its best ever annual profit and a record full-year dividend of $16.8 billion, boosted by higher iron ore prices and strong demand from top consumer China.

The stellar results cap a mixed year for the world’s biggest iron ore producer, in which demand for its main product picked up as the global economy slowly recovered from the coronavirus but inflation and Chinese scrutiny of prices created headwinds.

Rio’s reputation suffered from a scandal over poor workplace culture, while Serbia shut down a lithium project, a promising growth area. On the plus side, it resolved a long-running dispute over a massive Mongolian copper-gold mining project.

The Anglo-Australian miner reported underlying earnings of $21.38 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, up 72% from a year earlier. Analysts had expected underlying earnings of $21.63 billion, according to Visible Alpha.

“Our balance sheet is the strongest it’s been for at least 15 years,” Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm told reporters after the results.

Rio Tinto declared a final special dividend of 62 cents a share and a final dividend of $4.17, higher than the year earlier final dividend of $3.09, taking its total 2021 dividend to a record $10.40 a share.

Its shares closed up 1.2% on the Australia Stock Exchange ahead of the results. But share prices were down 0.3% in London by 1042 GMT, underperforming other miners.

Rival BHP Group also declared a record dividend payout after reporting an estimate-beating first-half profit last week.

Labour shortages due to covid-19 curbs have hit Australian miners, with Rio previously forecasting weaker-than-expected iron ore shipments for 2022.

“The going gets a little harder from here, with inflation starting to push costs higher,” said Steve Clayton, fund manager at HL Select.

“We expect the payout to be lower in FY2022, reflecting less favourable operating conditions, but to still represent an attractive yield to shareholders.”

China, which accounts for more than half of Rio’s revenue, said it would prevent “excessive hoarding” of iron ore, a move analysts have said could affect the industry, though implementation details were still unclear.

Stausholm declined to comment on China’s move, saying nothing had officially been communicated yet.

Asked by analysts about big M&A opportunities, Stausholm said he would “be very cautious right now”.

He added, “…Because we are pretty high up in the cycle and I would dream about looking back one day and say that we invested counter-cyclically and making acquisitions right now could be very much pro-cyclical.”

Reviewing options

In the results statement Rio said it was committed to exploring all options in Serbia, which shut down its $2.4-billion Jadar lithium project.

It was “reviewing the legal basis of the decision”, it added, and the implications for its activities in Serbia.

“Ultimately, it is for the government of Serbia to decide whether they want to see this opportunity happening,” Stausholm told reporters. “Right now what we are offering is to have meaningful engagement with stakeholders.”

Stausholm took over the top job in the wake of a widespread backlash against the company after it blasted the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters to expand an iron ore mine.

An external review of the miner’s workplace culture released this month outlined a culture of bullying, harassment and racism, including 21 complaints of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault over the last five years.

“We have become more humble and better listeners, both internally and externally, as we extract the full learnings from Juukan Gorge,” Stausholm said.

(By Sameer Manekar, Harish Sridharan and Clara Denina; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Clarence Fernandez)

The Ministry of Health reported today that 497 СOVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours nationwide. In detail, 257 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 240 cases in 21 provinces.

It was also reported that two COVID-19 related death have been reported in the past 24 hours, raising the country’s death toll to 2,091. Currently, there are 3,238 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 11,310 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home. Of the total patients currently undergoing treatment at hospitals, there are 894 patients in mild, 2,039 in serious, 260 in critical, and 45 in very critical conditions.

As of today, the coverage of 1st dose has reached 69.8 percent (2,271,377), 2nd dose – 66.8 percent (2,172,714), and 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines – 31.0 percent (1,021,876) of the total population. In addition, 100,226 people (3.1 percent) have received the 4th vaccine dose.

Songino Khairkhan Solar PV Park is a 12.7MW solar PV power project. It is located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The project is currently active. It has been developed in multiple phases. Post completion of construction, the project got commissioned in November 2017.

Description

The project was developed by Farmdo and Hitachi. The project is currently owned by Farmdo.

Songino Khairkhan Solar PV Park is a ground-mounted solar project which is spread over an area of 280,000 square meters.

The project generates 18,030MWh electricity and supplies enough clean energy to power 23,000 households, offsetting 18,800t of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) a year. The project cost is $19.358m.

Development Status

The project got commissioned in November 2017.

Power Purchase Agreement

The power generated from the project is sold to Government of Mongolia under a power purchase agreement.

Contractors Involved

Jinko Solar was selected as the supplier of the PV modules for the project. The company installed 46,848 modules at the site.

About Hitachi

Hitachi Ltd (Hitachi) is a multinational company with operations in sectors such as engineering and electronics, nuclear, transportation and industrial systems. It manufactures and sells information and telecommunication systems, power systems, social infrastructure and industrial systems, construction machinery, electronic systems and equipment, automotive systems, and smart life and eco-friendly systems; and provides related solutions. The company’s products and services find application in various markets, including manufacturing, communications, finance, healthcare and life science, government, energy and transportation, distribution, industry and urban. Hitachi caters its services to global automobile, aerospace, nuclear, and computer industries. It operates through affiliates, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures in Asia, North America and Europe. Hitachi is headquartered in Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Methodology

All power projects included in this report are drawn from GlobalData’s Power Intelligence Center. The information regarding the project parameters is sourced through secondary information sources such as electric utilities, equipment manufacturers, developers, project proponent’s – news, deals and financial reporting, regulatory body, associations, government planning reports and publications. Wherever needed the information is further validated through primary from various stakeholders across the power value chain and professionals from leading players within the power sector.

(MARKET DATA)

Oil prices have surged past $100 (£74) a barrel after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a "special military operation" in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.

These are the highest levels seen by the international benchmark Brent crude futures in more than seven years.

Prices jumped earlier this week before cooling amid economic sanctions and moves to block a Russian gas pipeline.

Russia is the second biggest exporter of crude oil after Saudi Arabia.

It is also the world's largest natural gas exporter.

"We could see prices keeping the momentum," said Tina Teng, a markets analyst at CMC Markets.

"Investors are concerned about an even tighter supply, caused by the US sanctions on Russia to target the key supply source, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline," she told the BBC.

Nord Stream 2 is a 1,200km pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which will take gas from the Russian coast near St Petersburg to Lubmin in Germany.

The pipeline does not yet have an operating licence - and Germany has now put this on hold.

It took the step after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, and sent troops there.

The US, UK and some of their allies have also imposed a series of sanctions on Russia in response to Mr Putin's actions against Ukraine.

The UK has frozen the assets of five banks and three Russian billionaires, who have also been hit with travel bans.

On Tuesday, Boris Johnson said these sanctions were a "first barrage" and could be extended.

"The moves by Russia suggest economic sanctions are not having any significant impact in holding off aggression," said Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG.

"With retaliation measures coming from Western powers soon, it seems that the situation may show no signs of easing," he added.

At its regular Cabinet meeting today, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene deputed related officials to commence the Zuunbayan-Khangi railway project in March and complete it in October this year.

“Specifically, last month the Procurement Agency was given a duty to make a direct contract with the project implementing entity. Accordingly, a responsible working group was set up,” told Prime Minister’s spokeswoman Ch. Bolortuya during the press briefing.

With the commissioning of this railway, the transportation route from Darkhan and Selenge regions to Zamyn-Uud-Erlian, Jinin-Hohhot-Bautou (1722 km) will be changed into Sainshand-Zuunbayan-Khangi-Mandal-Bautou (1404 km), which will shorten the distance for transporting iron ore and coal by 318km and reduce the transportation cost by USD4-8.

On 28 January 2021, the Parliament of Mongolia adopted the

Law of Mongolia on Amendments to the Banking Law (the

“Banking Law Amendments”) which, among other things,

required systemically important banks to become open joint

stock companies (i.e. a publicly listed company) by 30 June

2022, and other banks to become open or closed joint stock

companies. For more information, please refer to our previous

note on the Banking Law Amendments here.

The Banking Law Amendments was adopted within the framework of banking sector reform and a number of related developments. Some of these developments, including the approval of plans of five systemic banks on how they intend to meet the new requirements by the Bank of Mongolia (the “BoM”)

and the Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia (the “FRC”), have occurred since the adoption of the Banking Law Amendments; and one non-systemic bank has become a publicly listed company.

Article 36.6 of the Banking Law, enacted on 28 January 2010 (the “Banking Law”), revised as per the Banking Law Amendments, provides that the BoM is to make a decision on whether to provide its approval in respect of changes to the amount and structure of shares of an influential shareholder1 and issuance of shares and other securities classified as shares.

In light of the above, on 5 October 2021, the Governor of the BoM and the Chairperson of the FRC adopted a Joint Order No.A-262/ 262 approving the Regulation on the Approval of Changes to the

Share Capital and Shareholding Structure of a Bank in the form of a Joint Stock Company (the “New Regulation”).

The New Regulation is silent as to when it will become effective. However, it is likely that it will apply after banks are registered as joint stock companies.

Please review full article on the link https://www.melvilledalai.com/publications

At its regular meeting held today, the Cabinet made a decision to organize the Mongolian Economic Forum, which has been suspended for two years due to the pandemic, under the theme ‘New Revival Policy’ on April 7-8.

“The conditions for organizing the forum have been created considering the factors such as the Government’s decision to downgrade the country’s level of heightened state of readiness from ‘Orange’ to ‘Yellow’ and high vaccination rate”, said the Deputy Minister of Economy and Development S.Narantsogt.

He further mentioned that the plans are underway to organize a series of events this year to expand the economy, accelerate the implementation of the ‘New Revival Policy’ as well as to attract foreign investors.

It was also reported that the ‘Invest Mongolia-2022' conference is scheduled to be held in September.

Mongolia’s officials, economists and UN experts discussed policy options that help make Mongolia transform its economy towards more socially inclusive, resilient to future shocks and ecologically sustainable.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Mongolia, and the Ministry of Economy and Development (MED) just kicked off a two-day national workshop on ‘Building forward better: Securing inclusive, resilient and green development in Mongolia’, to be held virtually on 21-22 February 2022.

Vice-Minister for Economy and Development, Mr Narantsogt Sanjaa highlighted in his opening remarks that the Government of Mongolia has just recently adopted its New Revival Policy that will lead Mongolia on the sustainable recovery from the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Mongolia’s economy.

He stressed that the macroeconomic models and tools discussed at the workshop will be instrumental for the policy directions to improve the basic infrastructure and stimulate the economy, as set out in the New Revival Policy.

The discussion focused on key policy areas such as Mongolia’s medium-term policy planning, major development opportunities and challenges, and the socio-economic and environmental implications of policy options to build forward better.

UN Resident Coordinator Tapan Mishra underscored the timeliness and importance of this national workshop that came at a crucial time when the Government of Mongolia is leading their important New Revival policy.

“We welcome the Prime Minister’s recent decision to reopen the country for business, inviting investors as well as tourists to this beautiful country with tremendous economic potential,” said Tapan Mishra.

Especially in the face of the ongoing challenges that all countries encounter, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic recession, and climate change, there is an urgent need for better policy coherence and integrated measures to build forward better and fulfil sustainable development goals across all three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.

At the workshop, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, Mrs Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana emphasized the importance of having a longer-term perspective to the recovery plan that will ensure leaving no one behind, building stronger national resilience and preparedness to future crises and focusing on sustainability by a firm commitment to net-zero emission to ensure sustainable and inclusive development.

As a result of this national workshop, participants discussed policy scenarios simulated using a macroeconomic model that is based on the region-wide ESCAP macroeconomic model but tailored to Mongolia’s context and their socio-economic and environmental implications and possible incorporate in the national policy planning process. The national workshop will be followed by the technical seminar for the Ministry of Economy and Development of Mongolia to build its forecasting and policy planning capacity.

Source: UN Mongolia

The US is on course to become the globe’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2022, UK-based energy major Shell said in its annual LNG Market Outlook.

“LNG exports grew in 2021 despite a number of unexpected outages that dented LNG available for delivery. The US led export growth with a year-on-year increase of 24 million tons and is expected to become the world’s largest LNG exporter in 2022,” Shell said in the report published on Monday.

At the end of 2021, the US ranked only third in global LNG exports, after Australia and Qatar.

According to Shell, America has two countries to thank for its LNG export growth, as China and South Korea both saw LNG demand soar last year. In its push toward switching to cleaner energy sources, Beijing increased its import of LNG by 12 million tons (to 79 million), bypassing Japan and becoming the largest importer of LNG in the world.

“During 2021 Chinese LNG buyers signed long-term contracts for more than 20 million tons a year, signaling an ongoing role for LNG in coal-to-gas switching in powering key sectors and helping to reach its ambition to be carbon neutral by 2060,” the report stated.

LNG is also increasing its role as a backup energy carrier in the event of power outages. For instance, Brazil tripled its imports of LNG last year amid persistent droughts that led to a decrease in electricity generation at hydroelectric power plants.

Overall, Shell paints a bright future for LNG, stating that “global LNG demand is expected to cross 700 million tons a year by 2040” – 90% up from 2021 demand. Asia is expected to emerge as the main consumer as “LNG replaces higher-emissions energy sources, helping to tackle concerns over air quality and to help progress towards carbon emissions targets.”

“As countries develop lower-carbon energy systems and pursue net-zero emissions goals, focusing on cleaner forms of gas and decarbonisation measures will help LNG to remain a reliable and flexible energy source for decades to come,” Wael Sawan, head of Shell’s renewables department, said in the report.