Energy Minister of Ukraine Herman Haluschenko called on Europe to use the free capacity of Ukrainian underground gas storages (UGS).
“Gas prices are at the lowest level in several months. A great opportunity to use Europe’s largest underground gas storage facilities with 15 billion cubic meters of free capacity. Additional gas volumes will be needed this winter,” he wrote on Twitter.
According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, as of October 24, gas reserves in the EU’s UGS facilities rose to 93.79%. The growth for the last reporting day amounted to 0.16 percentage points. In absolute terms, more than 100 billion cubic meters have been accumulated in UGS.
Also, LNG stocks in the tanks of receiving terminals increased to the maximum level in three years. European LNG terminals in October operate at around 61% capacity. In September and August – 59%.
From the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) and until October 26, Ukraine exported 12.19 million tons of grain crops, of which 6.48 million tons of corn (53.1% of total supplies), 4.62 million tons of wheat (37.9%) and 1.04 million tons of barley (8.5%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Wednesday, the rate of grain exports since the beginning of the current MY is 33% lower than the same period of the last MY (from July 1 to October 26, 2021, 18.19 million tons were delivered abroad).
According to the agency, from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY to October 26, 2022, Ukraine exported 4.62 million tons of wheat (2.53 times less compared to the same period a year earlier), 1.04 million tons of barley (4. 04 times less), 6.2 thousand tons of rye (8.8 times less) and 34.3 thousand tons of flour (19.7% less). At the same time, the pace of corn exports exceeded last year’s volumes – 6.48 million tons were exported, which is 3.24 times higher than in 2021/2022 MY on the same date.
It is specified that in general, since the beginning of October, 3.49 million tons of grain crops have been exported (+0.66 million tons for the period October 21-26), including 1.58 million tons of wheat (+0.26 million tons), 1 .63 million tons of corn (+0.31 million tons), 267 thousand tons of barley (+91 thousand tons), 9.7 thousand tons of flour (+2.2 thousand tons) and 1.9 thousand tons rye (no change).
As follows from the data of the ministry, for the five days of October 21-26, an average of 132 thousand tons of grain per day was supplied to foreign markets, while for the previous period of October 1-21 – 141.5 thousand tons / day, for 26- September 30 – a record 267.5 thousand tons / day since the beginning of the war, 126 thousand tons / day for September 21-26, and 132.5 thousand tons / day for September 9-21. Thus, the average daily export rates for the reporting period October 21-26 decreased by 6.7% compared to the previous period October 1-21.
As reported, in the 2021/2022 marketing year, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grains and legumes, which is 8.4% higher than the previous marketing year, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat were delivered to foreign markets (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%) , 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%).
In 2020/2021 MY, the country exported 44.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand . tons of rye.
In 2019/2020 MY, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
U.S. stock index futures are lower on Wednesday on weak quarterly reports or forecasts from a number of big tech companies.
Shares of Alphabet Inc. (SPB: GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (SPB: MSFT) shed 6.6% in pre-trading, while Texas Instruments (SPB: TXN) shed 4.7%.
Alphabet, Google’s holding company, saw its third-quarter 2022 revenue increase 6%, the slowest pace in two years, while its net income was down 27%. In addition, Google’s advertising revenue in the past quarter turned out to be worse than experts’ forecasts.
Microsoft recorded net profit and revenue better than analysts’ expectations in the first financial quarter ended September 30th. However, the company’s revenue forecast for the second financial quarter – $52.35-53.35 billion – turned out to be weaker than the market consensus forecast of $56.16 billion.
Texas Instruments gave a weak outlook for the current quarter, although its results in July-September exceeded analysts’ expectations.
“These companies’ reports are really important indicators of the advertising industry and a harbinger of the movement of goods and services in the economy,” said Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer of Kleinwort Hambros, quoted by Dow Jones.
Other tech companies due to release quarterly earnings this week include Meta (SPB: META) Platforms Inc. (recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation and banned), Apple Inc. (SPB: AAPL), Intel Corp. (SPB: INTC) and Amazon.com Inc. (SPB: AMZN) Shares of these companies lost 4.3%, 1.1%, 1.2% and 3.6%, respectively, in early trading on Wednesday.
“We’re used to the tech sector performing strong quarter-on-quarter,” says FlowBank chief investment officer Esti Dweck. “There was hope that their financials would be another signal that the sector is still resilient.”
The value of Boeing Co. (SPB: BA) shed 0.8%. One of the world’s largest manufacturers of aviation, space and military equipment increased revenue in the third quarter by 4%, but the figure turned out to be almost $2 billion worse than the average market forecast. At the same time, Boeing’s free cash flow in July-September amounted to $2.9 billion, significantly exceeding the average analysts’ forecast of $1 billion.
The focus of traders on Wednesday – the data on sales of new buildings in the US in September, which will be released by the country’s Department of Commerce at 17:00 Moscow time.
Experts polled by Trading Economics, on average, expect sales to decline by 13.9% last month, to 585,000 homes.
The value of the December E-mini futures for the S&P 500 fell by 0.97% to 3832.75 points by 15:50 square meters on Wednesday. The quotation of the December E-mini futures on the Dow Jones index fell by this time by 0.36%, to 31,762 points. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 for December fell 1.97% to 11,483 points.
Agro-industrial group Kernel, the largest producer of vegetable oil in Ukraine, will publish its consolidated report for the 2022 financial year (FY, July-2021 – June-2022) on November 10 instead of the previously scheduled date of October 28.
As indicated in the message of the holding on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the postponement was caused by the collection of additional information about the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
It is specified that on the day of the publication of the report, the management of Kernel will not hold a regular telephone conference, since “no information in addition to that published in the report should be presented during such a conference.”
“The management does not intend to make any recommendations or forecasts regarding the future activities of the company, given the uncertainty prevailing in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. The company will return to the usual practice of arranging quarterly calls after the lifting of martial law in Ukraine,” the agricultural holding emphasized in an exchange message. .
In addition, the group of companies will continue to analyze the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine and inform all parties interested in the company’s activities about updates and changes in the work of Kernel.
Before the war, Kernel ranked first in the world in the production of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and its export (about 12%), and was also the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, the company was engaged in the cultivation of other agricultural products and their sale.
The largest co-owner of Kernel through Namsen Ltd. is Ukrainian businessman Andrey Verevsky with a share of 39.3%.
The agricultural holding in fiscal year 2021 (FY, July 2020 – June 2021), increased its net profit by 4.3 times compared to FY 2020 – up to $513 million, its EBITDA increased 2.1 times – up to $929 million, revenue – by 38%, to $5.65 billion.
Stock indices of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) are rising during trading on Wednesday, following the dynamics of the US stock market.
China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.06% by 8:24 pm, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.45%.
Alibaba (SPB: BABA) Health Information Technology Ltd., which provides services for the collection and use of medical data (+7.6%), and biopharmaceuticals CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. are the leaders in growth of quotations on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. (+6.3%) and Wuxi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. (+5.7%).
Paper retailer JD.com Inc. (SPB: JD) gained 0.3% while Alibaba Group lost 1.3%.
The value of the Japanese index Nikkei 225 to 8:27 qoq increased by 0.9%.
The shares of Denka Co, a chemical company, are rising most significantly. Ltd. (+6.1%), M3 Inc., providing medical services (+4.7%), and insurer T&D Holdings Inc. (+4.1%).
The South Korean index Kospi added 0.7% by 8:30 qoq.
Quotes of securities of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chips and electronics Samsung Electronics Co. grow by 3%, the cost of automaker Kia Corp. decreases by 0.8%.
Shares of another South Korean chipmaker, SK Hynix Inc., rose 1.4%, although the company said it plans to cut investments in 2023 by more than half amid a sharp decline in third-quarter net income due to weak demand for semiconductors.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2%.
Consumer price growth in Australia accelerated, raising fears that the Reserve Bank of Australia will have to raise interest rates more than previously forecast, writes MarketWatch.
Consumer prices rose 7.3% in September compared to a revised 6.9% growth a month earlier. This is the highest inflation rate since at least September 2018, writes Trading Economics.
The capitalization of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto increased by 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively.
The Kyiv city air quality monitoring system has been officially integrated into the international IQAir service, the Kyiv City State Administration reports.
“Official data on air quality in the capital is available to users of the IQAir website, which forms the world rating of cities according to the state of atmospheric air. There is a network of five reference points for observing the state of atmospheric air of the European standard in Kyiv. They complement more than 40 indicative posts,” the statement reads. message in the Telegram channel.
Data from both types of monitoring points is available to users of the Kyiv Digital application, where they can also receive notifications about a high level of air pollution in the capital.
