Good morning, ladies and gents. It’s a very busy start to the week with lots of ground to cover in the investments space and some key trade and IPO updates. First, let’s take a quick glance at several meetings happening today…

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is in India for his first official visit, which will see him meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss strengthening cooperation in key economic sectors, Wam reports. Al Nahyan and a few other ministers are also expected to participate in a business forum tomorrow which will see participation from both Indian and Emirati businesses, according to an Indian External Affairs Ministry statement.

Indian and Emirati officials are also set to review their 2022 trade pact this week, following concerns from Indian industry over a surge in precious metal imports from the UAE, Reuters reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. The discussions will coincide with Al Nahyan’s visit to Mumbai and New Delhi, though he’s not expected to take part.

REFRESHER- India requested a review of its trade agreement with the UAE back in August to address concerns over rules of origin and concessional rates, focusing on value add policies and customs duties. This review follows a sharp increase in Indian imports of gold and silver from the UAE under the agreement, with concerns that India could incur losses from the zero-tariff policies decided under the trade agreement.

#2- The GCC Ministerial Council is meeting in Riyadh today, with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani — who is president of the ministerial council — set to chair the meeting, according to a statement. On the council’s agenda: A handful of decisions from the GCC’s Supreme Council summit in Doha last December, several unspecified “memoranda and reports submitted by the ministerial and technical committees,” and strategic ties between the bloc and other countries.

Meetings with Russia + India + Brazil on the sidelines: The GCC ministers are also scheduled to hold ministerial meetings on strategic dialogues with each of Russia, India, and Brazil on the sidelines of the main council meetings, the statement said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed in Riyadh overnight for the meetings, according to a ministry statement.

#3- The first round of the GCC-Indonesia trade agreement talks kick off today: A General Authority for Foreign Trade-led delegation has arrived in Indonesia to take part in negotiations — which began today and will run until Friday, 13 September — on exchanges of goods and services, customs procedures, and other trade-related matters as part of GCC efforts to conclude a freetrade agreement with Indonesia within a 24-month period, the authority said in a statement. The initiative was launched in July when GCC Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi met with Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan.

#4- Egypt-Iraq investments, trade, partnerships incoming: An Egyptian delegation, led by Industry and Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir, arrived in Baghdad yesterday to discuss prospects of infrastructure and developmental projects by Egyptian contractors in Iraq, according to a statement.

REMEMBER- There’s a lot of interest in the Iraqi market: Egyptian companies expressed interest in Iraq’s pharma, infrastructure, and construction sectors during Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani’s recent visit to Egypt.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala could soon take full ownership of Turkish startup Getir after applying for sole ownership of the grocery and food delivery businesses last week, Bloomberg reports, citing a statement from Turkish antitrust regulators. Mubadala acquired a controlling stake in Getir back in June.

REFRESHER- Mubadala funneled USD 250 mn into Getir in June as part of the company’s restructuring plans, which involves splitting the company into two separate entities. One segment, specializing in food delivery in Turkey, was set to be primarily owned and controlled by Mubadala, with Batuhan Gultakan at the helm. Under the acquisition agreement, Getir founder Nazim Salur agreed to step down as CEO to focus on leading the other division which encompasses Getir's ride-hailing services and additional assets.

Mubadala ❤️ Getir: Mubadala, along with other investors, provided Getir with additional funding — which Bloomberg said came in at about USD 200 mn — to Getir in late April. “We have been the only investor to consistently support Getir over the last three rounds, providing over 80% of the capital that has gone into the company since 2021. Without Mubadala’s partnership, Getir would not exist today,” a Mubadala spokesperson told Bloomberg last month.

#2- Tristar is lining up stake sale: Dubai-based energy logistics firm Tristar — which is partly owned by Kuwaiti logistics outfit Agility — is considering the sale of a company stake to boost shareholder value and is consulting with advisors, according to an ADX disclosure (pdf) released last week.

We’ve been expecting this: Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in March that Tristar was reviving a plan to sell the company to capitalize on its recent revenue surge. It reportedly tapped deNovo Partners to work on the sale, and was on the lookout for another advisor to assist with the process.

Background: Tristar had shelved plans to go public on the Dubai bourse back in April 2021 due to a lack of investor demand. The firm planned to offer 24% of its shares in the IPO, potentially valuing it at AED 3.24 bn. Tristar is 65% owned by Agility Public Warehousing Company and 20% owned by Gulf Investment Corp, while Eugene Mayne holds the remaining stake.

#3- Shortage in concrete trucks spell trouble for Egyptian contractors: A number of private Egyptian contractors have been forced to freeze their projects over the past two weeks on the back of a shortage in cement trucks availability, unnamed contractors told Asharq Business. The shortage of the trucks is affecting cement shipments from factories to construction sites, causing a 10% deficit in the local freight and transport vehicles for Egypt’s cement industry.

What is causing the shortage? The shortage of cement trucks is largely attributed to increased exports to Libya, which receives some 100k tons per month of cement on the back of increased demand, according to sources. Difficulties of importing spare parts for the tracks on the back of an earlier shortage in FX availability has led to the retirement of some vehicles, Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors head Mohammed Sami Saad told Asharq. He also attributed the shortage to the shipment of aid through the Rafah crossing.

In perspective- Egypt’s cement production is estimated at 5 mn tons monthly, with some 4 mn tons allocated for the local market and 1 mn ton for neighboring countries, including Libya, one of the sources said.

#4- Libya’s oil exports see a blink of hope: Some Libyan oil tankers were allowed to load crude from storage although oil exports remained largely halted on Thursday, Reuters reported last week, citing shipping data. Liberian-flagged oil tanker Kriti Samaria was allowed to enter Libya’s Zueitina port to load some 600 barrels of crude from storage for transport to Italy, while Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Front Jaguar was also permitted to load crude from storage at Libya’s Brega port, unnamed engineers in the field told the newswire.

REFRESHER-Exports were largely shut in Libya in late August after a growing conflict between rival political factions over control of the central bank. This comes after Libya’s eastern-based administration shut down oilfields in eastern Libya, which account for almost all of the country’s production, after western authorities replaced the country’s veteran central bank governor last month. However, Libya’s two legislative bodies in the country’s east and west agreed last week to jointly appoint a central bank governor within 30 days to help resolve the crisis.

#5- Red Sea attacks continue to take its toll on Egypt’s Suez Canal: The number of ships crossing through the Suez Canal has dropped by 66% since attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea forced ships to divert their vessels around Africa, recent data by AP Moller-Maersk

showed on Thursday. “These disruptions have led to service reconfigurations and volume shifts, straining infrastructure and resulting in port congestion, delays, and shortages in capacity and equipment,” Maersk said, adding that a “timeline for easing these disruptions and returning to normal remains uncertain.”

Bad news for the canal: The shipping company is one of several global shipping giants firms that began rerouting their ships away from the Red Sea last winter in light of ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on shipping traffic. Disruptions in the Red Sea have hit Suez Canal revenues — a major source of FX — hard, with officials in July saying that revenues from the canal had fallen some 23% y-o-y during FY 2023-2024 to USD 7.2 bn.

MARKET WATCH-

#1- Oil prices rebound: Oil prices jumped USD 1 in early morning trading as news of an impending hurricane approaching the US Gulf Coast broke and market recovery after weak US jobs data caused a selloff on Friday, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures rose 1.39% to USD 72.05 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 1.48% to USD 68.67 a barrel. Brent price had dropped 10% to the lowest level since December 2021, while WTI fell 8% to its lowest close since June 2023 at market close on Friday.

ICYMI- Opec+ hits the brakes on oil production hike: Opec+ has agreed to suspend its planned 180k bpd output hike for October and November, according to a statement. The move comes after prices fell to their lowest level in a year. While the group still intends to move forward with its plan to revive 2.2 mn bpd of idle supply over the year, the timeline for the process is now set to be complete by December 2025, two months later than originally planned.

ALSO- Aramco has set the October official selling prices for its flagship Arab Light Crude to Asian buyers at USD 1.3 / barrel above the Oman and Dubai benchmarks, it said in an emailed statement to EnterpriseAM Saudi. North American buyers will pay at a USD 4 premium to the Argus Sour Crude Index, while Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean will see USD 0.45 and USD 0.35 premiums to ICE Brent.

#2- Baltic index maintains upwards trajectory: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — was up for a second consecutive day by 1.2% to 1,941 points on Friday. The capesize index rose 2.2% to 3,356 points while the panamax index remained unchanged at 1,294 points. The smaller supramax index lost another 6 points to 1,260 points.

#3- The Drewry World Container Index decreased 8% to c. USD 4,775 per 40-ft container last week, according to the latest index readings. Spot rates for 40-ft containers are now 54% below the previous pandemic peak of c. USD 10.4k in September 2021, but remains 236% above the pre-pandemic rate of USD 1.4k. The average composite index YTD is USD 4.1k per 40ft container, which is USD 1.3k higher than the 10-year average rate of USD 2.8k

DATA POINT-

Cargo handled at Mawani’s ports jumped 26.7% y-o-y in August 2024 to 30.5 mn tons, the Saudi Port Authority (Mawani) said in a statement last week. The number of export containers rose 18.8% y-o-y during the month to c. 259k TEUs, while import containers were up 15.2% y-o-y to 261.3k TEUs. The number of handled containers was down 5.0% y-o-y last month to 685.6k TEUs, with maritime traffic down 4.2% y-o-y to 986 ships during the period.

PSA-

Saudi Arabia is waiving all customs service fees for exports effective 6 October under new regulations introduced by the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (Zatca). Meanwhile, a new mechanism will be implemented to reduce customs declaration service fees for personal imports, where a fee of 0.15% of the value of incoming goods will be enforced, in addition to a SAR 15 fee on goods purchased through online stores whose value is less than SAR 1k.

What has changed? The new fee structure seeks to unify charged fees on imports by tying them to the 0.15% fee, whereas they previously included various charges such as SAR 100 for X-ray inspections, SAR 100 for information exchange services, and SAR 20 for declaration processing. The updated fee structure stipulates a maximum fee of SAR 500 and a minimum of SAR 15, including ins. and shipping. For goods exempt from duties, the maximum fee will be capped at SAR 130.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Saudi Arabia will host SkyMove MENA on Tuesday, 10 September and Wednesday, 11 September in Riyadh. The event will gather global industry stakeholders, experts, and service providers to discuss challenges in the regional cargo industry.

The UAE will host the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress from Monday, 16 September to Friday, 20 September in Dubai. The Congress is expected to welcome 20k participants to explore innovations in smart mobility and transportation technology.

Saudi Arabia will host the Saudi Maritime and Logistics Congress on Wednesday, 18 September and Thursday, 19 September in Dammam. The event will gather international industry leaders in the maritime sector to discuss a range of topics including interconnected logistics, supply chains, digitalization, decarbonization and workforce development.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.