Oil prices are declining amid fears of a downturn in the global economy and lower energy demand, Trading Economics reported.
This year will be tougher for the global economy than last year, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. “We expect a third of the world economy to be in recession,” she said in an interview with CBS.
March Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange were priced at $85.51 a barrel at 7:00 ksk, down $0.4 (0.47%) from the previous session’s closing price.
The price of futures on WTI crude oil for February on electronic trade of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) decreased by that time by $0.35 (0.44%) – to $79.91 per barrel.
By the end of 2022 Brent quotations went up by about 10%, WTI – by 7%.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held the first telephone conversation of the new year with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the president’s press service has said.
“The interlocutors discussed the expected results of the next Ukraine-EU summit, which will take place in Kiev on February 3 this year, and agreed to intensify the preparatory work,” the statement said.
Another stationary service center for citizens of Ukraine Passport Service opens on Friday in Gdansk (Poland), where it will be possible to issue passport documents.
According to the Interior Ministry website, the new center will be located at Gdansk, Aleja Grunwaldzka (Grunwaldzka Alley) 415, 80-309 and will operate from Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00.
Ukrainians can apply for the following services: simultaneous registration of a passport and an ID-card; issuance of a passport; issuing an ID-card; driver’s license exchange; insurance.
“Acceptance of applications for the issuance of passport documents is possible both by appointment (https://gdansk.pasport.org.ua/solutions/e-queue), and on a first-come, first-served basis. Payment is made directly on the spot, using the online payment for services. Only a smartphone and bank card details are needed for this procedure,” the ministry said.
According to the Interior Ministry, four separate divisions of the state-owned enterprise “Document” have been opened in Poland: in Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Wroclaw. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have already applied for the necessary documents in these centers.
Next year, it is planned to open similar document processing centers in Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey.
The requirement for the local content in certain groups of goods during public procurement will increase from 10% to 15% from January 1, 2023, MP Dmytro Kysylevsky has recalled.
“Let me remind the participants and customers of public procurement that from January 1, 2023, the requirement for the local content will increase from 10% to 15% for certain groups of goods: such as urban and railway transport, municipal and special equipment, power equipment, etc,” Kysylevsky wrote on Facebook on Monday.
He said that the register of goods with a designated degree of the local content of the Ministry of Economy has been kept since August 2022 and said that in four months more than 250 enterprises have registered about 2,000 goods, including 750 with a degree of the local content of more than 40% and only 400 – less than 15% .
“There is significant competition in some categories of product groups. In particular, 58 enterprises registered diesel generators, 24 companies registered pumps and compressors, and more than 30 enterprises registered special trucks,” Kysylevsky wrote.
As reported, the requirement for the local content was introduced by amendments to the law on public procurement, which the Verkhovna Rada approved in December 2021. They became effective on July 14, 2022 after the approval of by-laws by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The local content requirement will increase by 5% each year until reaching 40% in 2028. It does not apply to countries that have ratified the GPA on procurement under the WTO, in particular the United States and EU countries.
The CERT-UA Government Computer Emergency Response Team, operating under the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, registered and investigated more than 2,100 cyber incidents and cyber attacks during 2022.
As reported by the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine on its website, more than 1,500 of the total number of cyber attacks have been registered since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
According to CERT-UA, the public sector is the most frequently targeted by enemy hackers, accounting for about one quarter of all cases studied.
In addition, the energy sector remains under the special attention of Russian hackers – cyber attacks on energy enterprises are difficult to carry out and prepare, they are harder to detect.
Companies that are providers of services, hardware and software for energy companies are under constant scrutiny. As such, supply chain attacks remain a growing threat. In particular, in December 2022, experts recorded an attempt to attack one of the Ukrainian energy facilities by hacking a software supplier and developer.
In addition, enemy hackers actively attacked the logistics, telecommunications, commercial and defense sectors.
Ukraine exported 7.0 million tons of agricultural products in December 2022, down 2% from the previous month, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) said on its Facebook page on Monday.
“3% of these exports were made through the “grain corridor”, the rest through alternative export routes. However, it is necessary to take into account that not all products had time to physically cross the border. A lot of products are now in line for export both by rail and road transport, which will negatively affect exports by alternative routes next month”, – Association specifies in its report.
UCAB noted that 4.9 million tons of crops were exported in December 2022, which is 4% more than in November. By crops, 3.09 million tons of corn (63% of total), 1.67 million tons of wheat (34%) and 147 thousand tons of barley (3%) were exported to foreign markets.
Ukraine also exported 868 thousand tons of oilseeds during this period – a third less than in November. Ukraine exported 295 tons of sunflower seeds (34%), 251 tons of soybeans (29%) and 217 tons of rapeseed (25%).
UCAB also noted that exports of vegetable oils in December fell by 9% against the previous month – down to 468 thousand tons, 94% of which was sunflower oil (440 thousand tons) and 6% soybean oil (29 thousand tons). In turn, exports of sunflower and soybean cake and meal increased by 58% to 506 thousand tons, including 90% of sunflower waste (455 thousand tons) and 10% of soybean oil (51 thousand tons).
“The greatest changes in the structure of exports in December 2022 are associated with a decrease in export shipments of oilseeds, which showed a drop of one-third from the previous volumes. This is primarily due to a decrease in export volumes of rapeseed. The rape grown in 2022 and intended for export is almost completely exported, there will be no significant shipments of this crop until next year’s harvest”, – UCAB stressed in the report.
However, the reduction in rapeseed exports will allow for increased shipments of other crops, particularly oilseed cake.
“In any case, Ukraine still has a significant amount of products destined for export, and there is a stable demand for Ukrainian agribusiness products in the world market. With current export volumes, it is gradually possible to take out stocks of grown products and partially generate foreign exchange earnings. The prices in Ukraine are still low, and logistics costs “eat up” the entire profit of the agrarians, which in turn jeopardizes the sowing season 2023″, the organization stated in its report.
As previously reported UCAB, Ukraine exported 7.2 million tons of agricultural products in November 2022, in October and September – 6.9 million tons, in August – 4.6 million tons, in July – 3.0 million tons and in June – 2.7 million tons. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, in May agricultural exports amounted to 1.74 million tons, in April – 0.96 million tons and in March – 0.33 million tons.
Prior to the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation, Ukraine exported on average 5-6 million tons of agricultural products per month, mostly through its maritime infrastructure in the Black Sea.
