The U.S. dollar is moderately rising against the euro and Japanese yen in Tuesday’s trading, while the Australian dollar is rising on the outcome of the country’s central bank meeting.
The euro is trading at $1.0487 as of 7:50 a.m. Tuesday, up from $1.0493 at the close of the previous session.
The dollar traded up to 136.97 yen against the Japanese currency, compared to 136.79 yen at the close of the previous session.
The ICE index showing the trend of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, British pound and Swedish krone) added 0.08%.
The pound fell to $1.2189 from $1.2192 at the close of trading on Monday.
The U.S. data published the day before, which bolstered the dollar, reinforced fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will need to raise interest rates for a longer period than expected, writes Trading Economics.
The U.S. Services Business Activity Index unexpectedly rose to 56.5 points in November from 54.4 points a month earlier, data from the U.S. Institute for Supply Management showed. The average forecast of analysts polled by Trading Economics had expected the index to fall to 53.3 points last month. A reading above 50 points showed an increase in business activity in the service sector, while a lower reading showed it was weakening.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.6727 on Tuesday, up from $0.6699 at the close of the previous session.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.1 percent a year at the end of its final meeting of the year. This coincided with the forecast of most analysts, reports Trading Economics.
The Central Bank has raised the rate for the eighth time in a row. Thus, the cost of borrowing rose to its highest level since November 2012. At the same time, the RBA management signaled a further rate hike to curb inflation, which remains at a high level.
The euro traded at $1.0487 as of 7:50 a.m. Tuesday, up from $1.0493 at the close of the previous session.
The dollar traded up to 136.97 yen against the Japanese currency, up from 136.79 yen at the close of the previous session.
The ICE index showing the trend of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, British pound and Swedish krone) is showing 0.08% growth, while the broader WSJ Dollar Index added 0.06%.
The pound fell to $1.2189 from $1.2192 at the close of trading on Monday.
The U.S. data published the day before, which bolstered the dollar, reinforced fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will need to raise interest rates for a longer period than expected, writes Trading Economics.
The U.S. Services Business Activity Index unexpectedly rose to 56.5 points in November from 54.4 points a month earlier, data from the U.S. Institute for Supply Management showed. The average forecast of analysts polled by Trading Economics had expected the index to fall to 53.3 points last month. A reading above 50 points showed an increase in business activity in the service sector, while a lower reading showed it was weakening.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.6727 on Tuesday, up from $0.6699 at the close of the previous session.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.1 percent a year at the end of its final meeting of the year. This coincided with the forecast of most analysts, reports Trading Economics.
The Central Bank has raised the rate for the eighth time in a row. Thus, the cost of borrowing rose to its highest level since November 2012. At the same time, the RBA management signaled a further rate hike to curb inflation, which remains at a high level.
European Union finance ministers will discuss a proposal of the European Commission to provide EUR18bn to Ukraine in 2023 in a specially created “macrofinancial support plus” format. It is not yet known whether a decision will be made.
This was told to journalists on the eve of a meeting of the Council on Economic and Financial Affairs, which will be held on Tuesday in Brussels, a European diplomat on the right of anonymity.
He explained that three legislative proposals will be discussed: macrofinancial aid plus (MFA+) and an amendment to the financial regulations, which must be passed by a qualified majority, and an amendment to the multiyear financial scheme, which must be passed unanimously. “Ministers will discuss these proposals and then decide whether or not to bring them to a vote. Tomorrow (Dec. 6 – IF-U) will be decisive. No decisions have been made as of today. We have to see tomorrow morning and decide how we will move forward, we have to see if there is an opportunity for the ministers to decide whether to put these issues to a vote or not,” detailed the interlocutor to the journalists.
He also recalled that the loans, which will be granted to Ukraine in 2023 in the amount of EUR18bn, will have a 10-year grace period. It is proposed that member states will cover the major part of interest expenses, while guarantees for these loans will be provided from the EU budget.
Relevant proposals were officially presented by the European Commission on November 9, followed by a vote in the European Parliament on November 24.
At the same time this proposal was opposed by Hungary. Thus, on December 2, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he “doesn’t want the European Union to become a community of debtor-states instead of a community of cooperating states. Instead, he suggested that all EU members use funds from their own budgets to help Ukraine through bilateral agreements.
It is not ruled out that it is at Budapest’s suggestion that the vote may be postponed to a later date.
The Ukrainian bakery industry has applied for the provision of electricity generators from international partners, organized for representatives of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the equipment can be delivered to Ukraine within one to two months.
At the same time, there is a shortage of generators all over the world, and the equipment purchased now can be delivered to Ukraine in January, Yuriy Duchenko, the First Vice President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers and Director of Kyiv Khlib LLC (the Kyivkhlib brand), told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have submitted applications to cover the needs for generators, the partners have responded, but this issue has not yet been resolved. We are promised them perhaps in a month, perhaps in two. Unfortunately, it is not known when the next shelling will take place and what it threatens us with. That is, this question the ministry is engaged in, but 99% of decisions need to be made independently and their decision falls on the shoulders of the producers,” the director specified.
According to him, the company has recently purchased 650 kW generators for its mill and bakery for more than EUR100,000 to ensure emergency operation, but he noted that such a solution does not allow powering the production for a long time. In addition, the electricity they produce costs 3-4 times more than electricity from the network.
“For bakeries, working on generators is an emergency mode. It is possible for half a day or a day. But it is impossible to ensure the constant operation of the enterprise on a generator. This also applies to technological issues, and such that generators need to be constantly maintained and refueled. It is very difficult now organize. But we have to provide it for emergencies,” Duchenko stressed.
According to him, the issue of selling bread and bakery products during planned and emergency power outages is not as acute as with other perishable products, and the main problem is the lack of communication and access to the Internet during a power outage.
“The main difficulty today arises in the fact that when the power goes out, the connection disappears. This is very critical. Even if we organize emergency operation of stores and production on generators, it is difficult to accept an order and ship products. It’s all tied up through computer networks. We had a case, that we made the products, but could neither print invoices nor contact the store,” the expert explained.
A list of stores, shopping malls, markets, pharmacies and veterinary clinics which continue working on autonomous power supplies during power outages has been compiled in Kiev.
You can read the list of objects and their addresses at the links:
Pharmacies: https://cutt.ly/Q1HCzGg
Veterinary clinics: https://cutt.ly/e1GaSwN
Supermarkets: https://cutt.ly/41BQ1UY
SHOPPING MALLS: https://cutt.ly/l1BWwoW
Markets: https://cutt.ly/X1BWiQf
Primary registrations of new commercial vehicles in Ukraine (trucks and special vehicles) in November decreased by almost 2.5% compared to October of this year – up to 497 units, which is also 66% less than in November-2021, reported “Ukravtoprom” in Telegram-channel.
As reported, in October there was a 17% drop in registrations compared to September-2022 – up to 510 cars.
The best result for the second month in a row is shown by German brand Mercedes-Benz – 99 cars, which is 34% more than last November and 17% more than in October this year.
Renault is second, with 21 fewer registrations compared to October, down to 55 cars (-77% compared to November 2021), and Scania is third, with 49 cars, up 2.3 times from November 2021 and moving from 16th to third place (in October 2022, sixth place with 36 cars).
MAN – 41 vehicles (+5% compared to November of the last year) and Volvo – 34 vehicles (+42%) also made it to the top 5.
As reported, in November 2021, 1479 commercial cars were registered in Ukraine, which is 51% more than a year before. The top five includes Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Peugeot and Belarusian MAZ (Mercedes was in the 6th place).
According to Ukravtoprom, a total of 5.9 thousand new commercial vehicles were registered in Ukraine in January-November 2022, which is 2.4 times less than during the same period in 2021.
In turn, according to the information published on the website of AUTO-Consulting information-analytical group, in the segment of trucks weighing over 3.5 tons, the dealers managed to maintain the positive dynamics and retain the market, even during blackouts.
According to the experts of the group, in November they sold more than 300 such cars – 22% less than in November-2021 and 37% less than in October-2022.
At the same time, analysts note the ongoing trend of dealers searching for replacements for Russian and Belarusian chassis for special-purpose vehicles – in particular, in addition to Iveco and Chinese brands, they began to actively use Peugeot chassis.
As reported, according to Ukravtoprom in 2021 new trucks and special vehicles were 15.9 thousand units. – 37% more than in 2020.
Ukraine exported 7.2 million tons of agricultural products in November 2022, a 4% increase over the previous month, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) said on its Facebook page on Monday.
According to the Association, it is a very good indicator, taking into account the difficulties with the operation of the grain corridor in November. During the month, it was possible to export 2.6 million tons of agricultural products, compared to 4.2 million tons in October, while the remaining volumes were exported by alternative routes.
UCAB noted that 4.7 million tons of crops were exported in November, which is 4% more than in October. By crops, 2.54 million tons of corn (54% of the total), 1.79 million tons of wheat (38%) and 376 thousand tons of barley (8%) were exported to foreign markets.
Ukraine also exported 1.3 million tons of oilseeds during this period, which is 10% more than in October. Ukraine exported 520 thousand tons of rapeseed (40%), 390 thousand tons of sunflower seed (30%) and 377 thousand tons of soybeans (29%).
UCAB also reported that exports of vegetable oils in November increased by 3% against the previous month – up to 515.8 thousand tons, 94% of which was sunflower oil (484 thousand tons) and 6% soybean oil (31 thousand tons). In turn, the export of sunflower and soybean cake and meal decreased by 21% to 342 thousand tons, including 88% of sunflower waste (300.1 thousand tons) and 12% of soybean oil (41 thousand tons).
“Problems in the operation of the “grain” corridor, caused by significant delays in inspections by the Russian side and the formation of queues of ships, force to focus again on the development of alternative routes, although this process has not stopped. However, we should take into account that the cost of logistics by alternative routes are many times higher than the cost of shipping from the ports of Odessa region, and just the sea route is the most cost-effective and efficient today,” – summarized UCAB in the message.
As previously reported by the Association, in October and September, Ukraine exported 6.9 million tons of agricultural products, in August – 4.6 million tons, in July – 3.0 million tons, 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 used to export an average of 5-6 million tons of agricultural products per month, mainly through its maritime infrastructure in the Black Sea.
