Fuel prices go down

Johannesburg – The petrol price will decrease by 23 cents a litre from tomorrow, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Friday.

The price of wholesale diesel will drop between six and nine cents, wholesale paraffin by 26 cents and retail paraffin by 34 cents a litre. ABB wins Sappi contract ZURICH – Swiss engineering and technology group ABB said yesterday it had received an order worth US$32 million from South Africa’s Sappi Saiccor to upgrade the world’s largest chemical cellulose plant near Durban.”ABB will supply all the electrical, control and fieldbus communication equipment for the project,” ABB said.The order was booked during the fourth quarter of 2006, the company said.The project will increase the plant’s pulp capacity from about 585 000 tonnes per year to more than 800 000 tonnes, it said.HSBC mulls sale of London HQ building HONG KONG – Global lender HSBC Holdings said yesterday it was considering a proposal to sell and lease back its group headquarters in London, following a newspaper report of a possible one billion pound sale.Hong Kong-based HSBC spokeswoman Vinh Tran said the bank had no intention to vacate the 45-storey HSBC Tower, or 8 Canada Square, at Canary Wharf, but was looking at a plan to sell it and then rent it back for 15 years.”Demand for property in the UK is quite good and we’re reviewing the matter,” Vinh said.Dubai’s Khaleej says world sugar market balanced DUBAI – Al Khaleej Sugar, the biggest refiner in the Middle East, said yesterday the world sugar market is “healthy” as supply meets demand.”I do not believe (prices are) depressed.It is a healthy market today,” Jamal al-Ghurair, the company’s general manager said on the sidelines of a sugar conference in Dubai.Ghurair said the whites-over-raws premium is expected to remain around US$100 in 2007.SA sets spread on 2017 dlr bond tender LONDON – South Africa has set the spread on its tender offer to buy back its US$500 million 8,5 per cent bond due 2017, an official at one of the tender managers said yesterday.The bond will be bought back at a spread of 88 basis points over the 4,625 per cent US Treasury due November 2016, the official said.Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank are managing the tender.The offer expires at 5 pm New York time (2200 GMT) on February 6, with pricing due on February 7, the banks said.Germany to defend interests in Airbus BERLIN – Germany renewed a call yesterday for cutbacks at Airbus to be “shared out fairly” among European countries, but sought to play down a reported suggestion by the economy minister that Berlin could cancel defense contracts with parent company EADS.Airbus employs more than 29 000 full- and part-time workers in Germany.Although the company insists no decisions have been made, the employee council has said that it could shed between 5 000 and 8 000 jobs in the country under a restructuring plan, to be unveiled February 20, as Airbus seeks to recover from costly delays to its flagship A380 superjumbo.Nampa-Reuters-AFP-APABB wins Sappi contract ZURICH – Swiss engineering and technology group ABB said yesterday it had received an order worth US$32 million from South Africa’s Sappi Saiccor to upgrade the world’s largest chemical cellulose plant near Durban.”ABB will supply all the electrical, control and fieldbus communication equipment for the project,” ABB said.The order was booked during the fourth quarter of 2006, the company said.The project will increase the plant’s pulp capacity from about 585 000 tonnes per year to more than 800 000 tonnes, it said.HSBC mulls sale of London HQ building HONG KONG – Global lender HSBC Holdings said yesterday it was considering a proposal to sell and lease back its group headquarters in London, following a newspaper report of a possible one billion pound sale.Hong Kong-based HSBC spokeswoman Vinh Tran said the bank had no intention to vacate the 45-storey HSBC Tower, or 8 Canada Square, at Canary Wharf, but was looking at a plan to sell it and then rent it back for 15 years.”Demand for property in the UK is quite good and we’re reviewing the matter,” Vinh said.Dubai’s Khaleej says world sugar market balanced DUBAI – Al Khaleej Sugar, the biggest refiner in the Middle East, said yesterday the world sugar market is “healthy” as supply meets demand.”I do not believe (prices are) depressed.It is a healthy market today,” Jamal al-Ghurair, the company’s general manager said on the sidelines of a sugar conference in Dubai.Ghurair said the whites-over-raws premium is expected to remain around US$100 in 2007.SA sets spread on 2017 dlr bond tender LONDON – South Africa has set the spread on its tender offer to buy back its US$500 million 8,5 per cent bond due 2017, an official at one of the tender managers said yesterday.The bond will be bought back at a spread of 88 basis points over the 4,625 per cent US Treasury due November 2016, the official said.Deutsche Bank and Standard Bank are managing the tender.The offer expires at 5 pm New York time (2200 GMT) on February 6, with pricing due on February 7, the banks said.Germany to defend interests in Airbus BERLIN – Germany renewed a call yesterday for cutbacks at Airbus to be “shared out fairly” among European countries, but sought to play down a reported suggestion by the economy minister that Berlin could cancel defense contracts with parent company EADS.Airbus employs more than 29 000 full- and part-time workers in Germany.Although the company insists no decisions have been made, the employee council has said that it could shed between 5 000 and 8 000 jobs in the country under a restructuring plan, to be unveiled February 20, as Airbus seeks to recover from costly delays to its flagship A380 superjumbo.Nampa-Reuters-AFP-AP