Indonesia Financial News

Indonesia’s former agriculture minister has been arrested by the country’s anti-graft commission on accusations of bribery, abuse of power and fraud

palm oil imports in September fell 26% from the previous month to 834,797 metric tons, the lowest in three months, as higher inventories prompted refiners to curtail purchases, a trade body said on Friday. Lower purchases by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could lead to higher stocks of palm oil in key producers Indonesia and Malaysia, weighing on benchmark futures. Imports of soyoil edged 0.1% higher to 358,557 tons and those of sunflower oil were down about 17.8% at 300,732 tons, the Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement. Vegetable oil imports fell about 17% to 1.55 million tons from last month's record purchases of 1.87 million tons, it added. «India imported more than necessary during July and August, but retail demand in the country is weak. Refiners are now struggling to sell imported oil,» said a Mumbai-based edible oil trader. In recent months, India has emerged as a primary destination for surplus oil supplies due to its lower import duty of 5.5% on crude palm oil, crude soybean oil, and crude sunflower oil, said B.V.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India has asked Canada to withdraw the diplomats after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleged the involvement of Indian agents in the Nijjar killing. However, the claim has been vehemently rejected by India.

Following the launch of its government-backed crypto exchange, the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia is becoming a budding crypto hub that aims to be one of the leaders in Web3 technology, according to Indonesian blockchain and metaverse executives.

(Reuters) -Electric-vehicle maker VinFast Auto (NASDAQ:VFS) said on Wednesday it would acquire a 99.8% stake in battery maker VinES from its founder Pham Nhat Vuong as it seeks to ramp up its integration in the production value chain and competitive advantage.

Indonesia is in discussions with Australia about a possible joint bid to host the 2034 World Cup along with Malaysia and Singapore, the president of the country's football federation (PSSI) said on Wednesday. World football's governing body FIFA invited member associations from Asia and Oceania to bid for the rights to the 2034 edition last week. «We are discussing (a bid) with Australia,» PSSI President Erick Thohir was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald. «When I visited Malaysia and Singapore both countries expressed interest to join Indonesia and Australia.» When asked for comment on a possible joint bid, Football Australia referred Reuters to a statement last week that said it was «exploring the possibility of bidding for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and/or the FIFA World Cup 2034». The PSSI has not responded to a Reuters request for comment. After announcing Spain, Morocco and Portugal would host the 2030 World Cup, with Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina staging the opening games, FIFA invited Asia and Oceania to bid for 2034. Saudi Arabia quickly announced its intention to bid for the hosting rights and FIFA have set a deadline of Oct. 31 for other interested parties to make their intentions known. With Qatar having hosted the 2022 edition, Thohir said it might be too soon for the World Cup to return to the Middle East. «We are quite strong,» he said.

US bond yields also eased nervous sentiment as traders covered some of their bearish bets, pushing the markets higher. NSE's Nifty rose 177.5 points, or 0.91%, to close at 19,689.85. BSE's Sensex climbed 566.97 points or 0.87% to close at 66,079.36.

Russia was defeated in its bid to regain a seat in the United Nations premiere human rights body by a significant majority in Tuesday's election in the General Assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Russia competed against Albania and Bulgaria for two seats on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council representing the East European regional group. In the secret ballot vote, Bulgaria got 160 votes, Albania got 123 votes and Russia just 83 votes.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured the number one spot in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings on Tuesday, becoming the first duo from the country to reach the landmark. Following their gold medal win at the men's doubles competition at the recently concluded Asian Games in Hangzhou, 'Sat-Chi', as the duo is known to fans, made a jump of two spots to achieve the top spot. After Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, they are the fourth Indians to achieve the top ranking.

Hasan Yazdani expectedly proved too good for Deepak Punia, who settled for a silver after losing by technical superiority to the Iranian legend in the men’s 86kg category as India’s wrestling campaign concluded at the Asian Games here on Saturday with six medals but without a gold.It was the second time that Deepak found himself up against his childhood idol Yazdani, the two-time Olympic medallist and eight-time World Championship medallist.

US President Joe Biden indicated the possibility of holding a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco next month, AP reported. “There has been no such meeting set up, but it is a possibility," Biden told reporters when asked about the prospects of a face-to-face meeting with the Chinese leader. Biden and Xi have not engaged in any discussions since their last meeting in November, which took place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

BHP says electric vehicle manufacturers are not yet willing to pay a “green premium” to recognise the sustainability credentials of nickel mined in Australia, at a time when surprisingly large volumes of Indonesian nickel have dragged down prices for the metal to a two-year low.

By Marcelo Teixeira

Bell Rock Capital Management, the major Whitehaven Coal shareholder campaigning against the proposed purchase of two BHP mines, says it believes UBS has given the transaction an “excessive valuation”.

By Phuong Nguyen and Chavi Mehta

Vietnamese electric car maker VinFast said on Thursday its third-quarter revenues more than doubled as it ramps up deliveries and partnerships with U.S. dealers, and that it would set up a plant in India as part of its expansion drive. The company said in a filing to U.S. securities regulators that it made $343 million in revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30, up 159% on the same period last year. Its net loss widened 33.7% to $623 million, however, as it continued to rack up expenses.

BEIJING — Asia's competitive advantage was once cheap labor. Now, whether it's China, India or Japan, the region's edge lies in industrial services, KKR's heads of global and Asia macro said in an October note.

By Melanie Burton

Chinese-owned video platform TikTok says it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia to comply with the country’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms

TikTok said it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia on Wednesday to comply with the country's decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms — a big blow to the video platform's fastest-growing market. The Indonesian government announced the new regulation, which prohibits social media companies from facilitating sales of products on their platforms, on Sept 28 in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing the popular apps and websites of predatory pricing. The Chinese-owned video sharing app said in a statement it will stop facilitating e-commerce sales in TikTok Shop Indonesia by 5 pm Wednesday.

By Stefanno Sulaiman