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ZAPORIZHSTAL CONTINUES TO WORK AT 50% OF ITS CAPACITY, EXPERIENCES DIFFICULTIES WITH LOGISTICS – CEO

Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant, part of Metinvest, after a partial resumption of production, continues to operate at 50% of its capacity, Oleksandr Myronenko, general director of Zaporizhstal, said in an interview with the Segodnya newspaper.
According to him, there are currently problems with logistics – the supply of raw materials and the shipment of finished products.
At the same time, it is noted that due to significant problems with logistics and overstocking of railway crossings, Zaporizhia metal enterprises are forced to consider options for reducing production.
“Problems with logistics have not been resolved. We have significant problems with the shipment of our products to customers in the EU. Before the war, all our routes passed through ports, but they are not yet available. Now we have significant overstocking at border crossings in western Ukraine. All this forces us to consider the option of reducing production, because our products simply cannot be transported across the border,” Myronenko explained.
He noted that the leaders of the enterprise are doing everything possible to maintain the volume of exports and the inflow of foreign currency into the country, in particular, they provide additional equipment for reloading products at the border with the European Union. In addition, together with the Cabinet of Ministers, they are looking for ways to solve problems with logistics.
Earlier, other enterprises of the country announced problems with logistics.
Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are in great demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries of the world.

DIFFICULTIES, LOGISTICS, ZAPORIZHSTAL

CANCELLATION OF LICENSING OF WHEAT EXPORT FROM UKRAINE TO INCREASE PURCHASE PRICES FOR NEW CROP – GRAINTRADE

Licensing of wheat exports from Ukraine, introduced on March 6 amid Russian aggression, has created additional pressure on domestic wheat purchase prices, and the abolition of this state regulation will revive exports and stabilize prices for this exchange commodity.

This is how experts of the electronic grain exchange GrainTrade commented on the statement made recently by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky about the abolition of licensing for wheat exports in July, according to the website of the grain trading platform on Monday.

“Amid blocked ports, the purchase prices for grain in Ukraine fell sharply, but the introduction of licenses for the export of wheat further increased pressure on prices, which dropped to UAH 5,500-6,500/tonne with delivery to the mill… In anticipation of the harvesting of the new crop, agricultural producers have to vacate warehouse space, therefore, they are activating wheat sales, which increase pressure on prices. Therefore, the cancellation of licenses will revive exports and stabilize wheat prices,” GrainTrade said in a statement.

According to it, licensing complicates the export of wheat bran for processing enterprises, which are forced to spend additional funds on their storage or disposal, which also pushes down the price of wheat in Ukraine.

As reported, last week, Deputy Minister Vysotsky, at a meeting with representatives of the European Business Association, said that Ukraine planned to cancel the licensing of wheat exports in July and recalled active cooperation with Baltic and Polish partners to create alternative routes for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy is also working to continue the abolition of quotas and duties for the entire period of Ukraine’s candidacy for the EU, as well as the harmonization of legislation with the European one.

EXPORT, GRAINTRADE, LICENSING, NEW CROP, WHEAT

UKRAINIANS RECEIVE $100 MLN IN FISCAL AID REMITTANCES FROM INTL ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH PRIVATBANK

Ukrainians have received 800,000 aid remittances totaling $100 million from international organizations, the bank’s press service reported on Monday.

According to the report, most of the payments came from the UN World Food Program, the UN Refugee Agency in Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of April 1, 2022, PrivatBank ranked first (UAH 592.38 billion) among 69 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.

FISCAL AID, INTL, PRIVATBANK, REMITTANCES

MORE THAN 200 THOUSAND CARS WERE IMPORTED TO UKRAINE FROM EUROPE ON PREFERENTIAL TERMS

Ukrainians imported 211,000 cars from Europe on preferential terms, and the number of imported cars increased by 48,000 in two weeks, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on finance, tax and customs policy, said.
“As of June 27, 211,000 cars entered Ukraine under preferential customs clearance. Over the past 2 weeks, an additional 48,000 cars have been brought in,” he said on the Telegram channel on Monday.
The total amount of the benefits provided amounted to UAH 23.5 billion, he added.
After the news about the abolition of benefits from July 1, as envisaged by the legislative changes adopted by the Parliament, the pace of car imports has increased significantly. On weekdays in June, an average of 4.7 thousand cars are imported per day compared to 3.2 thousand in May, the People’s Deputy specified.
“In fact, it would probably be many times more, the throughput capacity of foreign and our customs limits. To understand, there are now a line of 1000 cars and 9.5 km at the same Budomez-Grushev, the Polish side passes very slowly. At the checkpoint” Yagodin “The queue is generally 40 km,” Zheleznyak pointed out.
“It is also significant that four times more than usual was imported over the weekend. This Saturday, 2,400 cars drove in, although this figure was usually less than 650 cars on weekends,” he added.

CARS, EUROPE, IMPORTED, UKRAINE

COST OF RENTING COUNTRY HOUSES IN KYIV REGION DOWN BY 40%

The cost of renting country houses in Kyiv region decreased by 40% in May-June 2022 compared to last year, while near large cities and in western Ukraine, rental housing has risen in price, according to data from the OLX Real Estate portal.
According to it, the cost of renting a house in Kyiv region is on average UAH 38,000/month, while in Lviv region the figure is UAH 15,000/month, in Zakarpattia region – UAH 12,000/month, and in Odesa region – UAH 6,800/month.
At the same time, part of the house can be rented in any part of Ukraine for UAH 4,000-5,500/month, while in Zakarpattia region the average cost of renting part of the house reaches UAH 13,000/month.
Kyiv region accounts for most offers for the rental of suburban real estate in May-June – about 5,500 ads, which is 88% more than in the same period last year. This is followed by Dnipropetrovsk (989 ads), Lviv (846), Zakarpattia (705) and Odesa (495) regions.
According to OLX, a total of 10,500 ads were placed in relatively safe areas from May 1 to June 20, which is 2.5 times more than a year ago.
Entire houses predominate among the offers (69% of the total number of ads). There are significantly fewer proposals for cottages (11%), parts of a house (9%), summer houses (6%) and townhouses (3%).

HOUSES, KYIV REGION, RENTING

SHARP DECLINE IN COST OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES LED TO COLLAPSE IN SHARES OF MINERS

The sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies this year put pressure on the shares of companies working in the field of digital currency mining, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Shares of American miners Riot Blockchain Inc. and TeraWulf Inc. Since the beginning of the year, prices have fallen by 78% and 89%, respectively, while the price of Canadian Hut 8 Mining Corp. and Bitfarms Ltd collapsed by 79% and 71%, respectively.
The price of bitcoin has fallen by about 70% from its November highs to $20,000. As a result, North American mining companies have earned less than $20 million per day in the last week, according to Glassnode. In October last year, the average daily revenue was about $72 million.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that banks are less and less willing to do business with representatives of the cryptocurrency sector, which negatively affects their ability to pay for the purchase of new equipment.
According to Arcane Research analyst Yaran Mellerud, companies have to sell almost all the mined cryptocurrency in order to purchase powerful new computers and chips. According to his estimates, in January-April 2022, publicly traded miners sold about 30% of all bitcoins they mined, and in May the figure exceeded 100% – that is, companies had to sell digital assets from their reserves.
“If they have to liquidate a significant portion of their reserves, this could put even more downward pressure on bitcoin prices,” Mellerud said.
According to Glassnode, if the price of bitcoin falls below $17,600, the miners will be unprofitable. On Saturday, the price of bitcoin at some point fell below $17,630 thousand. IDEG believes that the price at which bitcoin mining turns out to be breakeven is even higher – in the region of $28,000 thousand, and with this forecast, miners have been operating at a loss for several weeks.
The value of cryptocurrencies is falling along with other risky assets, including stocks, amid tightening monetary policy and increasing risks of a global recession, many analysts believe. As the world’s central banks are determined to keep raising rates, the fall in digital currencies could be protracted. So, the investment director of Absolute Strategy Research, Ian Hartnett, believes that bitcoin may well fall to $13,000.
A week earlier, market expert Igor Stakovichenko, responding to a request from Open4Business, said that in the current situation, the fall of the bitcoin market below 22,000 launched a new, even deeper “bearish phase” of the cycle, as it greatly shook the positions of long-term holders of the asset. The long-term holders, who had held their positions during the last drops, could not stand it and started dumping the cue ball at the lowest prices.
“This shook the entire structure, and both technical and macroeconomic indicators today indicate a possible fall in the main cryptocurrency to 16,000 or even lower,” the expert said.
However, according to Stakovichenko, it is too early to bury bitcoin, as “whales” (investors owning more than 10,000 BTC) continue to accumulate this digital currency, which may indicate the possibility of growth in the medium and long term.
In addition, the expert predicted possible stabilization and even some growth of the world’s main cryptocurrency.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES, GLASSNODE, MINERS, RIOT BLOCKCHAIN, SHARES, STAKOVICHENKO, TERAWULF, МЕЛЛЕРУД, ХАРТНЕТТ

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