Business & Tech News
Cocoa Futures Slump
Cocoa markets were hit with a price plunge of over -6% this morning after seeing steady gains over the last week. The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) estimates global cocoa output will grow by 8% year-on-year to 4.84 million tonnes, driven by an 11% increase in Ivory Coast (1.85 million tonnes) and 13% and 12% increases in Ghana and Ecuador, respectively. These projections suggest a shift from recent crop deficit years to a potential surplus of 142,000 tonnes, easing supply concerns and putting downward pressure on prices. The market is currently inverted with recent short term contracts over the $10000 mark at a higher rate than longer term contracts that are now pricing in the crop surplus for the current season alongside dropping demand.
International Space Station Mission a Success
The first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary slashed down in a successful landing off the Southern California coast, late yesterday afternoon. The group of four astronauts that entered space almost three weeks ago, included India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, whose countries, dished out a hefty $65 million each for the mission to the international space station. The mission was led by Commander Peggy Whitson, the most experienced U.S. astronaut, who now works for he Houston space company Axiom Space, with the visiting astronauts conducting dozens of scientific tests and experiments while on the space-station.
Standard US Tariff Touted by Trump on Smaller Nations and reduces Indonesian Tariff
US President Donald Trump has said that plans to limit tariffs of just over 10% on smaller countries, including nations in Africa and the Caribbean. “We’ll probably set one tariff for all of them,” Trump told reporters yesterday. He added that it could be “a little over 10% tariff on goods from at least 100 nations.” At the same time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean—places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the US and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump’s goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world.
Trump also announced that Indonesian goods would now face a 19% tariff, down from the 32% he had previously threatened. “As part of the Agreement, Indonesia has committed to purchasing $15 Billion Dollars in US Energy, $4.5 Billion Dollars in American Agricultural Products, and 50 Boeing Jets, many of them 777’s,” he wrote on a social media post.
SpaceX Plans Share Sale with a $400 billion company Valuation
SpaceX is reportedly planning an insider share sale valuing the company at approximately $400 billion, marking the highest valuation for a privately held U.S. company. The sale involves insiders (employees and early investors) selling shares at $212 per share, up from $185 in December 2024, when the company was valued at $350 billion. The deal includes a primary fundraising round for new shares and a secondary offering for existing shares, with about $1 billion worth of shares on offer
Business, Tech & Market News Shorts:
- Lab AI startup Thinking Machines has closed a $2 billion seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and included funding from Nvidia, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street. The company, founded by OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati, is now valued at $12 billion.
- Eskom has announced that Agnes Mlambo will become acting Group Executive for Distribution, effective 1 August 2025. Mlambo has had a 17 years’ experience in Eskom to the role and holds a master’s degree in business administration. While Monde Bala, will move over to the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) as its interim chief executive officer.
- Core US inflation rose in June by less than expected for a fifth month, as lower car prices helped offset gains in other goods exposed to tariffs.The consumer price index, excluding the food and energy sectors, increased 0.2% from May, according to Bureau of Labour Statistics data out Tuesday. On an annual basis, it advanced 2.9% in line with expectations.
- China’s naphtha imports are set to reach record levels this year with the establishment of new plants and caution over U.S. propane and ethane purchases driving higher demand and support refiners’ margins for the petrochemical feedstock, analysts and traders have indicated.
Markets by Numbers
Currencies:
Currency markets today indicate the US Dollar is holding earlier gains against the Euro at 1.16175 and against the Pound at 1.33952. The Yen is currently at 148.86 to the dollar. The rand is currently at R17.89 to the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold futures prices are trading slightly higher this morning, after a small drop yesterday and are currently at $3336 per ounce.
- Copper prices are trending around 0,6% lower today, with prices currently at $5.4634
- Silver futures prices are trading 0,3% higher this morning after a drop earlier, and are currently at $37.833
- Platinum futures are around 0,49% higher this morning, and are currently trading at $1403. While Palladium prices are trading over 1% higher this morning and currently at $1255.50
- Brent crude oil prices are currently at $68.92, with WTI trading at $66.88.
- Cocoa futures have slumped by more than -6% this morning, and currently at $7784 per ton.
- Coffee futures have slipped by -1.2% this morning, and currently at $301.60
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are marginally higher today, and currently at $117863
- Ether prices are trending upwards this morning and currently at $3145.10
- $Trumpcoin is currently trading around 3% higher at $9.45
(All prices quoted at approximately 07H35 Central African Time)
Other Breaking News in Africa Today
Harry and Meghan in Angola
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are currently visiting. According to reports Harry met with Angolan President João Lourenço after arrival in Angola yesterday. Harry is in the country with a land mine clearing charity, repeating a famous trip his mother made in 1997. He had previously made the trip to the southern African country in 2019 with the land mine clearing project – Halo Trust, an organisation that works to clear land mines from historical war zones, that still plague areas of African society and wildlife today.
