RUSSIA is discussing setting a quota for the wheat export season that runs from mid-February through June of 9 million tons, according to people familiar with the matter. Russia, one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters, has been taking steps to slow sales abroad to curb domestic food inflation. It’s also introduced a floating tax on grain exports, though the measures have had limited effects on total seasonal volumes. https://www.bworldonline.com/russia-considering-wheat-export-quota-of-9-million-tons/

Cyber-attacks are on the rise in Switzerland with 94 ransomware incidents reported in the first half of the year. The source of that figure is the network supporting investigations against digital crime (NEDIK) but the president of this network believes that the problem is much larger. While Swiss authorities strongly advise against paying hackers, 30 to 50% of hacked companies pay the requested ransom to recover their data. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/ransomware-attacks-on-the-rise-in-switzerland/47164950

TURKEY - ISTANBUL — Lines outside bread stores and gas stations; farmers defaulting on loans; impromptu street demonstrations. The signs of economic distress in Turkey are all too clear as the lira continues a dizzying slide. Sporadic protests have broken out around Turkey and the opposition parties have called for a series of rallies to demand a change of government after the lira crashed sharply last week. The currency has lost more than 45 percent of its value this year, and nearly 20 percent in the last week. https://dnyuz.com/2021/11/30/our-money-has-no-value-frustration-rises-in-turkey-at-lira-crisis/

CHINA - GLOBAL ECONOMY - Evergrande unable to guarantee it can fulfill all financial obligations.

In a sign that Chinese authorities are taking the situation seriously and are moving in to prevent a large fallout on the country’s property sector and overall economy, the central bank announced Monday that it would cut the banks’ reserve requirements. China Evergrande Group lost another fifth of its market value, falling to historic lows Monday after the group acknowledged in a filing that it was on the verge of a restructuring of its massive debt load. https://www.barrons.com/articles/evergrande-stock-fall-after-acknowledging-it-may-not-be-able-to-repay-its-debt-51638788429

USA - An electric utility in Colorado has disclosed an apparent ransomware attack that resulted in significant disruption and damage. They had discovered a breach of its internal network on November 7. The hacker attack resulted in disruption to phone, email, billing, and customer account systems, as well as documents, spreadsheets, and forms getting “corrupted.” DMEA’s CEO told local news outlets that the cyberattack led to 90% of internal controls and systems becoming corrupted, broken or disabled, and claimed that a majority of historical data dating back more than 20 years was lost. https://www.securityweek.com/cyberattack-causes-significant-disruption-colorado-electric-utility

The Central Bank of Bahrain is likely the next to offer a digital currency. The bank plans to offer a digital Dinar, which will come from a digital payments platform available “around the clock,”. There is a conflict being set up between central banks and cryptocurrencies as banks ponder ways to get ahead of a new interest in independent digital coins. https://www.pymnts.com/digital-payments/2021/central-bank-of-bahrain-to-offer-digital-payments-platform/

USA - “The Maryland Security Operations Center is investigating a cyberattack on the Maryland Department of Health,” which went offline this weekend. State officials were coordinating with federal and state law enforcement, and that the investigation is ongoing to determine whether any information had been stolen. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cyberattack-freezes-maryland-health-department/ar-AARuNHd

South Korea - The price of food surged five percent on-year in Korea in the third quarter of the year, the fifth-highest rate of growth in the OECD, according to Statistics Korea on Sunday. That was the steepest rise behind Turkey (27.6 percent), Columbia (11.2 percent), Australia (10.6 percent) and Mexico (eight percent). Korea's overall consumer price index also rose 2.6 percent over the same period, the biggest rate of increase since the first quarter of 2012. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2021/12/06/2021120600965.html

Australia - The Perth Mint's sales of gold products in November jumped about 94% from the previous month to an eight-month peak, the refiner said. Sales of gold coins and minted bars soared to 115,872 ounces last month, the highest level since March this year, from 59,750 ounces in October, and were up nearly 38% from a year earlier. https://www.mining.com/web/perth-mints-november-gold-sales-nearly-double/

INDIA - PM Modi is all set to launch a digital payment solution, ‘e-RUPI’. ‘e-RUPI’ is a cashless and contactless digital payment instrument, which will be delivered to beneficiaries in the form of a QR code and SMS-string-based voucher. e-RUPI will also serve as a cashless payment solution for Covid-19 vaccination. https://theprint.in/economy/pm-modi-to-launch-e-rupi-a-cashless-contactless-solution-for-leak-proof-welfare-delivery/707664/

UK- More than 300 branches of the convenience store chain Spar in the north of England have been hit by a cyberattack, forcing many of them to close. The attack hit the company’s computer systems, causing a “total IT outage” that has prevented staff from taking card payments and locked them out of emails. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/more-than-300-spar-shops-in-north-of-england-hit-by-cyberattack

China- Having sold its Gulfstream Jets, dumped assets (at fire-sale prices), and seen its CEO forced to pledge his Hong Kong mansion as collateral for a loan, it appears - as we warned yesterday - that time is up for Evergrande bond (and stock) holders.
Specifically, offshore (dollar) bondholders did note receive coupon payments by the end of a 30-day grace period, pushing the cash-strapped property developer closer to formal default. And after this missed payment, there are billions more coming due... and soon ($300 billion in total liabilities) https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/evegrande-default-inevitable-sp-warns-chinese-developer-misses-dollar-bond-payments

Europe’s energy crunch is set to last as electricity prices climb to a record, fueling inflation and raising bills for millions of households and industries across the continent. Power prices for delivery next year surged almost 11% in Germany and 7.7% in France as freezing weather has forced European utilities to burn more gas, coal and even oil to keep the lights on. High prices this month are spilling into futures contracts for the following years, a sign that the crunch could last longer than many expected. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/energy-crunch-sends-benchmark-european-power-prices-to-record

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest shipping company, announced Wednesday it would pay $1,000 bonuses to each of its 80,000 employees after projecting a record $17 billion in profits for 2021. Bloomberg recalled Maersk paying a similar bonus to most of its staff in 2020, when the company emerged from several years of losses to post a $2.9 billion profit. The company just posted the best third quarter in its 117-year history. https://paine.tv/worlds-largest-shipping-company-hits-record-profits-pays-80m-in-bonuses/

Australia -Millions of homes were moments away from losing power after a major energy network was hit by a ransomware attack believed to have been the work of Chinese hackers. The attack was stopped at the last minute before it had the potential to shut down two major thermal coal plants. If the attack had been successful, 3500 megawatts of power would have been taken out of the grid, enough for between 1.4 and three million homes. https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/cs-energy-hit-by-chinese-cyberattack-that-almost-cost-3m-homes-power/news-story/a35d9903dbd87b39e48901055bc8fef3

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said a tokenised form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) could be used by the wholesale market for the funding, settlement and repayment of a tokenised syndicated loan on an Ethereum-based distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. https://news.yahoo.com/australias-central-bank-sees-potential-235414527.html

Russia and India have agreed to ditch the dollar as a means of mutual settlements, as Washington continues to impose sanctions on Moscow. Russia and India have abandoned the use of the US dollar in mutual settlements, with all payments made in rubles and rupees. Rosoboronexport has moved away almost 100% from settlements in the US currency. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/russia-india-abandon-us-dollar-in-mutual-settlements

Coffee drinkers have been given an unwelcome pre-Christmas jolt after wholesale prices jumped to a ten-year high this week. Freight bottlenecks and a drought in Brazil have seen the cost of coffee double since January. On the Intercontinental Exchange, one of the main venues for trading soft commodity futures, the price of a pound of arabica — the higher quality coffee bean — exceeded £2.50 earlier this week. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coffee-prices-surge-as-weather-hits-crops-mm5wg56zx?shareToken=e9bf730419eeeaf72d9bb2ed02b3a535

Two more Eastern Caribbean nations have begun using the DCash system, which allows payments and transfers of the digital EC dollar CBDC. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) rolled out its digital payment system to The Commonwealth of Dominica and the British overseas territory of Montserrat. DCash is a payment system designed specifically for use with the digital EC currency. The wallet app allows holders to make purchases and person-to-person transfers of the CBDC within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). https://cointelegraph.com/news/eastern-caribbean-cbdc-expands-to-another-two-territories

Key crops, from Brazilian corn to Malaysian durians, are at risk after tight supplies and blistering prices of fertiliser have caused farmers to scrimp on vital crop nutrients, adding to global food security and inflation fears. Fertiliser costs soared this year amid rising demand and lower supply as record natural gas and coal prices triggered output cuts in the energy-intensive fertiliser sector. Urea surged more than 200% this year while diammonium phosphate (DAP) prices have nearly doubled. Brazil, the world's top soybean grower and third-largest corn producer, feeds 10% of the global population. The country has warned of a fertiliser shortage next year that is predicted to slow soy, corn and cotton farm expansions. https://www.yahoo.com/now/analysis-global-farmers-facing-fertiliser-063347848.html

Israel led a 10-country simulation of a major cyberattack on the global financial system in an attempt to increase cooperation that could help to minimise any potential damage to financial markets and banks. The simulated "war game", as Israel's Finance Ministry called it and planned over the past year, evolved over 10 days, with sensitive data emerging on the Dark Web. The simulation also used fake news reports that in the scenario caused chaos in global markets and a run on banks. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/exclusive-imf-10-countries-simulate-cyber-attack-global-financial-system-2021-12-09/