Moldovan state company Energocom will buy 10 million cubic meters of natural gas for $16.6 million from Moldovagaz, which gets gas from Russia’s Gazprom, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Andrei Spinu said on his Telegram channel, citing a decision made by the country’s National Commission for Emergency Situations.
“This transaction will also enable Moldovagaz to pay the advance for August by September 1,” Spinu said.
It was reported earlier that the the National Commission for Emergency Situations, which is chaired by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, had ordered state company Energocom to buy 10 mcm of natural gas for storage in Romania.
The gas will be purchased and delivered under a framework EFET (European Federation of Energy Traders) type purchase-sale contract between Energocom and Moldovagaz, the government’s press service told Interfax.
For the first tranche of 5 mcm, the purchase price will be about $1,459 per 1,000 cubic meters. The second tranche of the gas purchase will be made in September at a price of $1,881 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The gas will be stored in neighboring Romania, as Moldova does not have its own gas storage facilities.
Moldovagaz was unable to pay an advance to Gazprom for supplies in August and the Russian company agreed to defer the payment to September 1. Moldovagaz said that current gas rates in the country do not cover its purchase price.
The commission also decided to allocate MDL 322 million from the state budget to increase Energocom’s charter capital.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba invited Swedish businesses to resume their activities in Ukraine, in particular, the production and retail trade group IKEA, which has suspended operations since February 24.
“I call on Swedish businesses to actively explore and resume operations in Ukraine. For instance, Scania Group is already increasing business activities. Others should follow suit,” he said on Twitter.
Especially, IKEA which has abandoned six Ukrainian factories since February 24.
“Time to come back!” the Foreign Minister said.
Number of dead and wounded civilians in Ukraine as a result of military actions from 24.02.2022 according to un data (per)
Data: UN
The focus of traders remains the situation in Libya, as well as the upcoming OPEC + meeting, which is expected to discuss the possibility of cutting production.
The cost of October futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 8:15 quarter on Tuesday is $104.28 per barrel, which is $0.81 (0.77%) lower than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading on Monday, these contracts rose by $4.1 (4.1%) to $105.09 per barrel.
The price of futures for WTI oil for October in the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $96.76 per barrel by this time, which is $0.25 (0.26%) lower than the final value of the previous session. By the close of the market the day before, the cost of these contracts increased by $3.95 (4.2%) to $97.01 per barrel.
Over the weekend, clashes between two armed groups took place in Tripoli, as a result of which more than 30 people were killed, Bloomberg reported. This raised fears that Libya is waiting for another full-scale conflict, as a result of which oil supplies to the world market will be reduced. State oil company National Oil Corp., however, said on Monday that the country’s oil production remains at 1.2 million bpd.
“A new wave of Libyan production cut fears, coupled with uncertainty about the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, provided support for the oil market on Monday,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodity strategist at ING Groep NV. “However, without major supply disruptions or interventions OPEC+, we can hardly expect a significant rise in prices in the short term.”
Six ships (SEAJOY, LADY ZEHMA, SAFFET AGA, SIMAS, MICHALLIS and KARTERIA) departed from the seaports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny with 183,000 tons of Ukrainian agricultural products.
As reported on the official page of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Facebook, among them is the vessel KARTERIA, chartered by the UN World Food Program to help the population of Yemen.
“In less than a month of the initiative’s operation, we have exported almost one and a half million tons of agricultural products, and this is a fairly significant result. However, we must reach 100-150 ships per month and with a total throughput of 5 million tons per month from the three ports of Greater Odessa,” the message is quoted as saying. Minister of Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov.
He also noted that Ukraine is strengthening the humanitarian part of the initiative – on board the bulk carrier KARTERIA there are 37.5 thousand tons of wheat for Yemen, which is in a state of humanitarian catastrophe. There, according to the UN, 16 million people suffer from hunger.
“We understand our global mission and responsibility to countries that need Ukrainian food. The caravan that left today is Ukraine’s next step towards the civilized world,” the minister commented.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, during the implementation of the Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Agricultural Products, 61 ships have already departed from Ukrainian ports. There are about 1.5 million tons of agricultural products on board.
Agro-industrial holding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, received EUR 27.7 million in net profit in January-June 2022, which is 3.2 times less compared to the same period last year, according to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday .
According to it, the company’s EBITDA decreased by 1.8 times – to EUR68.14 million, while revenue increased by 44%, to EUR218.3 million. The agricultural holding’s gross profit for this period decreased by 37.4% and amounted to EUR77.46 million , the gross margin and return on sales (EBITDA margin) fell 2.3 times – to 35% from 82%.
According to the report, as of June 30, 2022, the total assets of the agricultural holding increased by 21.4% compared to the data as of December 31, 2021 – up to EUR787.2 million, current liabilities – by 37.8% – up to EUR136.7 million, long-term liabilities – by 17.6%, up to EUR125.3 million.
“As of the end of the first half of 2022, net debt increased by 8% year-on-year to EUR193 million driven by an increase in working capital, while net financial debt decreased by 30% year-on-year to EUR53 million with higher balances cash at the end of the first half of 2022,” the agro-industrial holding said in a statement.
According to Astarta, 28% of the total revenue was generated by the sugar production segment, 35% by growing crops, 24% by the production of soybean meal and soybean oil, and 10% by dairy cattle breeding.
The sugar segment of the group in January-June 2022 showed an increase in revenue by 5% – up to EUR61.85 million due to an increase in prices for it by 23% – up to EUR613 per ton. During the reporting period, 121 thousand tons of sugar and sugar-containing products were produced, which is 6.2% less than in the first half of last year.
At the same time, the vast majority of sugar produced by Astarta (96%) was sold on the domestic market, and 4 thousand tons were exported (4%), while in the first half of last year all sugar was sold in Ukraine.
“Since Ukraine has removed export restrictions, and the EU has canceled import duties (for one year – IF-U), the total export of sugar from Ukraine reached 14 thousand tons in the first half of 2022. The share of Astarta in total sugar exports amounted to 30% The key buyers were the EU countries neighboring Ukraine and Moldova,” the manufacturer said in an exchange message.
Revenue generated by the agricultural segment of Astarta in January-June 2022 jumped 2.8 times compared to the same period in 2021, to EUR 76.9 million due to significant sales volumes and high prices for crops before the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. During this period, exports accounted for 79% of crop production segment revenue.
In January-June 2022, Agropromholding sold corn for EUR54.5 million (an increase of 2.3 times compared to the first half of 2021), wheat for EUR3.2 million (an increase of 2 times), sunflower for EUR18.1 million (an increase of 14 times) and rapeseed by EUR0.39 mln.
As of the date of this report, Astarta has completed the harvesting of winter crops; in total, 265 thousand tons of wheat and 19 thousand tons of rapeseed have been harvested. Due to less favorable weather conditions compared to the previous year, winter crop yields were lower: wheat – 4.8 tons/ha (17% less), rapeseed – 3.1 tons/ha (4% less).
The agro-industrial holding’s revenue in the soybean processing segment for the six months of this year increased by 18% to EUR52.7 million due to an increase in average prices for soybean meal to EUR480/ton (+7% compared to January-June 2021) and soybean oil to EUR1300/ ton (+38%). In total, Astarta produced 113 thousand tons of soybean meal (+18% compared to January-June 2021), 83 thousand tons of soybean meal (+17%) and 21 thousand tons of soybean oil (+17%).
