Syria's president said he is working to establish secure corridors through Syrian territory for Iraqi goods, especially oil.

August export orders from the Taiwan region topped $100 billion for the first time amid a surge in AI chip and technology demand, rising 71.4% YoY versus market expectations of 63.6%. This is the 19th consecutive month of YoY growth. Taiwan economic authorities forecast September export orders to rise 50.7–55.1% YoY and see full-year export orders reaching about $1.1 trillion.

Smelters at Indonesia's Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi were told last weekend to cut nickel pig iron (NPI) output after an El Nifio-driven drought reduced water available for cooling and equipment protection, people familiar said. The reduction could total about 100,000 tonnes of NPI. Wood Mackenzie estimates the park's annual installed NPI capacity at roughly 4.2 mln tonnes (about 350,000 t/month). The cut may help curb recent weakness in nickel; LME nickel is down about 18% from its early-May peak.