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Commodities trader Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund are together buying a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, the Kremlin has announced.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “It is the largest privatization deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016.”

The surprise move sees Glencore and Qatar paying $11.3 billion for the stake in Rosneft, where BP already owns 19.75%.

However, the state will keep the controlling stake.

The long-planned sale is part of the Russian government’s efforts to sell some state assets to help balance the budget amid a two-year recession caused by a drop in global oil prices and Western sanctions.

Image source kremlin.ru

Image source kremlin.ru

A deadline for the sale was missed, and speculation grew that Rosneft was struggling to find a buyer.

The deal also marks a turnaround for London-listed Glencore, which had seen a collapse in its share price amid a plan to sell assets and cut its huge debts.

Glencore’s shares have rebounded this year. The Qatar Investment Authority is one of the biggest investors in Glencore.

Speaking at a TV meeting with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Vladimir Putin noted that the deal follows a rally in global oil prices after OPEC’s decision to cut production.

Russia, although not a member of OPEC, has agreed to cut its output in line with the cartel, and will attend a meeting with its member countries on December 10 to discuss specific details.

Igor Sechin said that Glencore and the Qatari fund will form a consortium and have equal stakes. He added that Rosneft had conducted talks with more than 30 potential bidders before striking the deal.

It had been thought that the US and EU sanctions imposed on Russia following the Ukraine conflict would deter huge investment in Russia, although companies were not explicitly prohibited from participating in the Rosneft sale.

Donald Trump’s election as US president has, however, raised speculation of a thaw in relations with Moscow.

In a statement, Glencore said that it would finance part of the deal by putting up €300 million of its own equity, with the rest financed by banks and by the Qatari sovereign fund. QIA had yet to make a statement.

Glencore stands to benefit by gaining access to Rosneft’s crude output, while Qatar will further establish itself as a major investor in some of the world’s biggest businesses.

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Copper price dropped almost 2% on September 29 and is close to its lowest level in six and a half years.

The price fell to $4,955 a tonne, just $100 above the level it reached in 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis.

Demand for copper, which is used across industry from construction to car manufacturing, has suffered from the slowing Chinese economy.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs warned investors this week that prices would continue to fall.

Goldman Sachs analysts predicted copper prices would probably drop to $4,800 a tonne by the end of December and to $4,500 by the end of 2016.

The decline in copper is only a part of a global meltdown in commodity prices caused by China’s economic downturn.

The depth of the slump was emphasized on September 28 when shares in commodities trader and miner Glencore dived 30%.

Crude oil has fallen some 60% from June 2014, thermal coal has been on a long 60% slide since 2011, and iron ore is down even more, close to 70% since 2010.

The effects are rippling out into other sectors. On September 29, Japanese shipping business Daiichi Chuo Kisen Kaisha filed for protection from creditors, caused by the collapse in Chinese demand for iron ore and coal.Copper price 2015

Unsurprisingly the collapse sent a shiver through the rest of the Japanese shipping sector. Nippon Yusen, Mitsui OSK Lines, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha saw their shares fall between 4% and 8%.

The effects spread far wider than the mining companies and their support services.

Any economy dependent on commodity exports is seeing its currency punished.

Australia, whose iron ore, coal, oil and natural gas fuelled the Chinese boom, has seen its dollar lose more than a quarter of its value against the US dollar over the past year.

Chile, where copper makes up 30% of the value of its exports, is expected to announce on September 29 that public spending, having grown almost 10% last year, will rise by half that amount this year.

Economic growth there has slowed along with the fall in the copper price and a decline in investment in the mining sector.

For smaller countries the effect can be catastrophic.

On September 28, Zambia’s currency, the kwacha, fell more than 17% – its biggest one-day fall on record – as prices for its copper exports dived again. Copper accounts for 85% of Zambia’s exports.

The kwacha recovered on September 29 but it is down 45% on the year.

It has also been hit by the news that Glencore, Zambia’s second largest employer after the government, might make further cuts at its Mopani Copper Mines there. Last week, it announced it would lay off more than 3,800 workers.

Ratings agency Moody’s cut Zambia’s sovereign rating on September 25, making it more expensive to borrow in the international markets.

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