Oil prices of benchmark grades fell again on Thursday.
Investors fear that high interest rates may have a negative impact on global economic growth and fuel demand. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise its benchmark rate by 25 basis points in May and the European Central Bank is expected to hold three more hikes in the next few months, Trading Economics reported.
The price movement shows “evidence that there are still some concerns about the demand outlook,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodity strategy at ING.
Brent June futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $82.16 a barrel by 8:23 a.m. Thursday, down $0.96 (1.15%) from the previous session’s close. The day before those contracts fell $1.65 a barrel (nearly 2%) to $83.12 a barrel, the lowest level since March 31.
The price of WTI futures for May crude oil fell by $0.88 (1.1%) to $78.28 per barrel at the electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). The contract value decreased by $1.7 (2.1%) to $79.16 per barrel at the end of previous session.
The market was not supported even by the latest data on changes in fuel reserves in the USA.
The country’s oil reserves decreased by 4.58 million barrels last week, the Energy Department said on Wednesday. Experts from S&P Global Commodity Insights expected a reduction of only 400,000 barrels.
Meanwhile, gasoline stocks increased by 1.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks decreased by 355 thousand barrels. Analysts forecasted the reduction of the first indicator by 1.6 million barrels, the second – by 600 thousand barrels.
Cherkasy Bus JSC which produces Ataman buses based on Japanese Isuzu units is planning to invest UAH 200 million in the project for creation of two buses exceeding the buses produced today, deputy Dmitry Kisilevsky said after his visit to Cherkasy.
“Due to localization, the owner of Cherkasy Bus, Alexander Dorosh, is bolder in his plans to invest. He is preparing two new larger buses for production. The volume of investments in this project is 200 million hryvnias,” he wrote in Facebook on Thursday, summarizing some results of the law on localization in machine-building, initiator of which he is.
According to him, during the period of the law (since June 2022), which in 2023 provides for mandatory availability of at least 15% of the Ukrainian component in public procurement (and +5% annually until it reaches 40%), the plant has produced 324 buses, won 60 tenders in public procurement – not only for buses, but also for other wheeled vehicles with localization.
“The largest of them is for the supply of 126 school buses for the Lviv region. The localization index in these buses is 60%. Today, two-thirds of the company’s production is an order from the public sector,” Kisilevsky stressed.
In this connection, he noted inappropriate, in his opinion, limitation of the maximum support, which industrial manufacturers can get from the state on the program 5-7-9, to the sum of 60 million hryvnias.
“For comparison, this ceiling is set at 1 billion UAH for retail chains. Such priorities, in my opinion, should be changed to the exact opposite. “Cherkassy bus” program 5-7-9 successfully took advantage of, but the need for investment funds is much more, “- emphasizes the people’s deputy.
Kisilevsky noted that “Cherkassy bus” was idle only a few days in February 2022 (immediately after the Russian invasion), and now 450 residents of Cherkassy work at the plant, another 50 specialists the company is ready to hire. The average salary is 15,000 hryvnias.
He stressed that in Ukraine today there are at least four major manufacturers of buses, jointly capable of covering the needs of the state in this form of transport.
“Buying Ukrainian public transport, state departments, companies and communities win three times. Firstly, they save on service, because the manufacturer is close by. Secondly, they get back more than 40% of their money spent in taxes. Thirdly (and most importantly) this way the State encourages investments and job creation in the country, not abroad”, summed up the MP.
Founded in 1994, “Cherkassy Bus” plant until now has been producing only small class buses, as well as other wheeled vehicles using Isuzu equipment.
According to the resource opendatabot, in 2022, the plant increased its net profit by almost 2.9 times to UAH 65.02 million, while its net income grew by 32.5% to UAH 842.29 million.
The Kiev-based “Investments for Development” LLC and Oleksandr Dorosh own 24.79% of the stock, Anna Suprun and Konstantin Vorushylin – 8.2498% each, another four natural persons (including the long-term director of the plant Vitalii Raabe) own 5.3999% of shares each.
The charter capital of Cherkassy Bus JSC is 162.96 mln hryvnia.
The Main Special Control Center of the State Space Agency of Ukraine called the flash over Kiev on Wednesday night a “high-energy acoustic event” and suggested that a meteorite had fallen.
“On April 19, 2023 at 21:57 Kiev time by infrasound means of the SCSC on the territory of Ukraine recorded a high-energy acoustic event. The calculated place of the epicenter of the explosion is in the Kiev region,” – said in a message on the page of the Center in Facebook.
Scientists suggested that the event is associated with the entry of a space body in the dense layers of the atmosphere. The Center added that the information is being clarified.
Negotiations to unblock imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU between Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the European Commission (EC) continue. The EU offered a package of financial assistance to five countries neighboring Ukraine in exchange for the lifting of restrictive measures on Ukrainian agricultural products, informs the Ukrainian government portal.
“These countries will receive the package offered by the Commission on condition that member states cancel their unilateral measures,” EC Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said after a meeting with representatives of Ukraine and the five EU member states that restrict the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.
According to him, the European Commission understands the importance of a joint EU approach rather than unilateral decisions, which can lead to new bans and thereby endanger the internal European market.
“The Commission has taken note of the views of the participants. We agreed to continue political consultations in the coming days to find an early solution to this problem,” Dombrovskis summarized.
The ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain through the territory of Poland and other countries was imposed last week. Poland subsequently pledged to unblock the transit of Ukrainian products through the territory of a neighboring country.
The Kiev City Military Administration (KCMA) explained yesterday’s report about the probable fall of an American satellite by seeking to calm residents and guests of the capital agitated by a bright glow of incomprehensible origin.
“A very bright glow from the fall of an unknown object caused excitement and anxiety among Kiev residents. To reassure residents and guests of the capital, the Kiev city military administration released information about the probable fall of an American satellite and marked “preliminary information,” said in a statement by KGVA chief Sergei Popko in a telegram channel on Thursday.
Around 22:00 hours on April 19, an unknown air object was recorded falling in the sky within Kiev. “After checking and clarification, the information about the probable use of enemy aircraft or air strike with missile weapons was not confirmed,” the report said.
However, as noted, “at the time there was no data or warnings of a possible re-entry of a significant-sized space body into the Earth’s atmosphere from any global aerospace agency or astronomical observatory. However, there was a warning from NASA about their space satellite falling to Earth. Now, after an official statement from NASA, we can give clarified information – it was not their satellite.”
“What exactly it was – it is up to specialists to find out. But the most important thing is the safety of Kiev and the calmness of the people of Kiev. It was not a rocket attack, our air defense did not use available weapons,” Popko concluded.
Dynamics of prices for main agricultural products in structure of Ukraine’s export in 2020-2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
