Category: Trucking News

Venezuela to Raise Fuel Prices in Historic Policy Shift

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said fuel prices would increase starting in June, a historic policy shift after decades of subsidies that have allowed Venezuelans to essentially fill their tanks for free.Gasoline will be sold at 5,000 bolivars (2.5 U.S. cents) per liter at gas stations nationwide starting Monday, including 200 stations that will sell premium fuel at the equivalent of 50 U.S. cents a liter, Maduro said. Gasoline will be limited to 120 liters (30 gallons) per month for each vehicle.“This is a war, my dear fellow countrymen who listen to me, a brutal war,” Maduro said from the presidential palace on Saturday evening. The U.S. is “persecuting any company that brings a drop of gasoline to Venezuela.”Diesel, which is fundamental for industries and electricity power plants, will still be subsidized “100%,” Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami said in the event with Maduro. State-owned PDVSA is able to meet...

Chinese Factories Humming Again Doesn’t Mean Everyone Is Buying

(Bloomberg) -- China’s factories are starting to hum again, but executives are now worried that the rebound could falter on weak demand at home and abroad.Justin Yu, a sales manager at Zhejiang-based Pinghu Mijia Child Product Co. that makes toy scooters sold for American retailers, is among those seeing their order book improve from the depths of the coronavirus lockdown, but remain well below normal.“We are seeing more orders coming in this month as we get closer to our normal peak season,” Yu said. “But our orders are still 40-50% lower than last year.” The factory’s production capacity is running at about 70% to 80%, and Yu is making to order to avoid any build up in stock.The disconnect between China’s recovering production and still dormant demand is already showing up in data revealing a rise in inventories. The worry is that sustained overproduction will lead China’s factories to keep cutting...