Category: Market

His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al–Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry, met today with H.E. Ms. Zuraida Kamaruddin, Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, currently visiting Qatar.

During the meeting, the officials touched on the commercial, industrial, and investment relations between the State of Qatar and Malaysia, as well as ways to enhance and develop them. They also discussed aspects of joint cooperation between the two sides.

H.E. the Minister of Commerce and Industry highlighted the economic policies Qatar has put in place to support the private sector and pointed to the incentives, legislations, and promising opportunities that allow Malaysiancompanies to expand and invest in the State of Qatar.

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the closure of a training center in Ain Khaled for a period of 14 days, for violating Law No. (5) of 2015 on Commercial, Industrial and Similar Public Shops, and Street Vendors. The violation consisted of failure to meet the general and specific requirements.

This measure forms part of the Ministry’s efforts to monitor and regulate markets and commercial activities across Qatar, and to assess the degree of compliance with laws and regulations governing commercial activities, in a bid to uncover and crack down on violations.

The Ministry stressed that it would not tolerate any negligence in terms of meeting obligations stipulated in law No. (5) of 2015 on Commercial, Industrial, and Similar Public Shops, and Street Vendors.

The Ministry is working to intensify its inspection campaigns to control violating practices, and to refer violators of laws and Ministerial decisions to the competent authorities to take due measures.

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Washington, The Biden administration on Friday said it has resumed plans for oil and gas development on federal lands, a move that could break a pledge Joe Biden made while campaigning for president.

The plan calls for the government to lease fewer acres for drilling than initially proposed, charge steeper royalties to oil and gas companies, and assess the climate impact of developing the acreage. Reuters said.

The proposal was quickly denounced by several environmental groups, with one calling it “a reckless failure of climate leadership.” Oil industry groups praised the move but said it did not go far enough.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Seattle, Amazon is taking a step to offset its rising costs, announcing Wednesday it will add a 5% “fuel and inflation surcharge” to fees it charges third-party sellers who use the e-commerce giant’s fulfillment services.

The Seattle-based company said on its website that the added fees, which take effect April 28, are “subject to change” and will apply to both apparel and non-apparel items, AP reports.

The latest fee hike follows one announced in November and went into effect in January. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for further details on the recent move.

But in a notice sent to sellers Wednesday, the company said its costs had gone up since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic due to increases in hourly wages, the hiring of workers and construction of more warehouses.

It said it had absorbed costs whenever possible, and only increased fees to address permanent costs and to be competitive with other providers. Amazon competitors FedEx and UPS both have fuel surcharges.

“In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as COVID-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges,” the company said in the notice.

Federal data released Tuesday showed inflation jumped 8.5% in March, its fastest pace in more than 40 years. Gasoline prices have rocketed 48% in the past 12 months.

Though the company is blaming inflation and rising fuel costs for the surcharge, Stacy Mitchell, co-director for the anti-monopoly group Institute for Local Self-Reliance, criticized Wednesday’s announcement, saying Amazon was taking advantage of the moment.

“Amazon keeps increasing its fees on the sellers that have to depend on its platform,” Mitchell said, adding the new fees are a way “to take more money out of the pockets of independent businesses and put it into Amazon’s coffers.”

Amazon’s third-party marketplace, where independent merchants list millions of their products, is a huge part of its business. It has about 2 million sellers, and more than half the goods sold on Amazon.com come from these sellers.

Last year, sellers paid Amazon about $103 billion in fees, which made up about 22% of the company’s revenue. The online retailer said the new fees will apply to products ordered before April 28 but shipped and delivered after that date. Amazon is also expected to release its earnings report from the first three months of this year on April 28.

Amazon has long faced accusations of undercutting merchants that sell on its platform by making “knock-offs,” or very similar products, and boosting their presence on the site.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al-Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry, met today with His Excellency Mr. Mike Purzycki, Mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, USA, currently visiting Qatar.

During the meeting, the officials reviewed Qatari-US relations and cooperation efforts, and ways of enhancing them especially in the commercial, investment and industrial fields.

H.E. the Minister of Commerce and Industry highlighted the economic policies Qatar has put in place to support the private sector and pointed to the incentives, legislations, and promising opportunities that allow American companies to expand and invest in Qatar.

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Madrid, Oil major Shell and utilities Naturgy (NTGY.MC) and Verbund (VERB.VI) are preparing binding bids to buy renewable energy assets in Spain valued at about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), three sources close to the matter told Reuters.

Spanish fund manager Q-Energy is selling the portfolio, taking advantage of strong appetite among European energy companies feeling increasing pressure from investors and governments to tackle climate change, Reuters reported.

Competition for market share is intensifying as oil and gas companies set ambitious green targets, jostling with utilities and existing renewables businesses to lead the energy transition.

Binding bids are due by the end of April, the sources said.

Shell, Naturgy and Q-Energy declined to comment. Verbund did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mainly consisting of solar projects, the assets up for sale are scattered from near Guadalajara in central Spain down to the sunny southern coastal region of Andalucia, one of the sources said.

The winning bidder is also likely to take on a team of about 25 people to develop the assets, the sources said.

Shell has made a number of solar acquisitions and this year won licences with Iberdrola’s (IBE.MC) Scottish Power to develop wind farms in the British North Sea.

Naturgy changed its name from Gas Natural in 2018 and has since set out a plan to focus on renewable energy and distribution grids. Verbund generated 90% of its electricity from renewable sources last year and has said it is looking for opportunities to increase its investment in the sector.

The portfolio being sold includes about 75 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity covered by an old subsidy regime that guarantees core earnings of roughly 60 million euros a year, one of the sources said.

It also includes development projects that will have capacity to generate about 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity once construction is completed, the sources said. More than half of this has grid connection permits already.

One gigawatt of power is roughly equivalent to the average production of a nuclear power plant.

Source: Bahrain News Agency