Oil prices were stable on Friday, but ended the week in the black amid geopolitical tensions and declining US oil inventories.
The cost of March futures for Brent crude oil on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:20 a.m. is $78.98 per barrel, which is $0.12 (0.15%) lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Thursday, these contracts rose by $1.22 (1.6%) to $79.1 per barrel.
February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.08 (0.11%) to $74.16 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $1.52 (2.1%) to $74.08 per barrel.
Since the beginning of this week, Brent has risen in price by 0.9%, WTI – by 2%.
Commercial oil inventories in the United States last week decreased by 2.492 million barrels, to the lowest level since October, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday. Stocks at the Cushing terminal, where oil traded on the Nymex is stored, decreased by 2.1 million barrels over the week, the most since September last year.
US oil production increased by 100 thousand barrels to 13.3 million barrels per day (bpd).
Gasoline reserves in the United States increased by 3.08 million barrels last week, and distillate reserves by 2.37 million barrels.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which published its monthly oil market review the day before, expects oil demand growth in 2023 to decline to 1.2 million bpd from 2.3 million bpd in 2023.
The IEA’s forecast “is consistent with OPEC’s expectations of a steady increase in demand,” said Matthew Weller, an analyst at FOREX.com and City Index, as quoted by Market Watch.
However, “OPEC’s demand forecast for this year is significantly stronger,” the expert says.
In 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 5.8% compared to 2022, to 1 million 248.512 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), pig iron exports in monetary terms amounted to $471.467 million in the period under review (down 26.2%).
At the same time, exports were carried out mainly to Poland (51.91% of supplies in monetary terms), Spain (21.41%) and the United States (13.15%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 154 tons of pig iron worth $156 thousand from Germany (42.31%), Brazil (41.67%) and Poland (16.03%), compared to 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand in 2022.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine decreased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 59% compared to the previous year to 1 million 325.275 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 61.1% to $638.774 million.
In 2022, Ukraine imported 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand, while in 2021 it imported 185 tons of pig iron worth $226 thousand.
Exports were made mainly to the United States (38.47% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (32.91%), and Turkey (8.12%), while imports were made from Germany (100%).
In 2023, Ukraine reduced imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 8.5% compared to 2022, to 328.697 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), coke imports in monetary terms decreased by 25.8% to $129.472 million during this period.
In 2023, Ukraine exported 3,383 thousand tons of coke, down 12.3% from 2022. In monetary terms, it decreased by 22.2% to $787 thousand.
Exports were carried out to Moldova (100% of supplies in monetary terms), while imports were mainly from Poland (88.47%), Colombia (7.72%) and the Czech Republic (3.15%).
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 98% compared to the previous year – to 3,856 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 97.6% – to $1,011 million. The main exports were made to Hungary (42.63% of supplies in monetary terms), Georgia (37.69%) and Turkey (17.41%).
In 2022, Ukraine imported 359.192 thousand tons of coke and semi-coke, which is 54.5% less than in 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 50.3% to $174.499 million. Imports were carried out mainly from the Russian Federation (43.43% of supplies in monetary terms, before the war), Poland (30.07%) and the Czech Republic (13.15%).
As a result of the war, a number of mines and coke plants are located in the territories temporarily not controlled by Ukraine.
Real GDP percentage changes over previous period in 2014-2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
WBA flyweight world champion Artem Dalakyan (22-0, 15 KOs) of Ukraine will defend his belt against Seigo Akui (18-2-1, 11 KOs) of Japan on January 23. The fight for the WBA lightweight world title will take place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The fight with Dalakyan’s participation will be shown live on XSPORT TV channel. The beginning is at 11:00.
Before the start of the broadcast, an analytical studio will be held on the official XSPORT YouTube channel. The guest expert will be a well-known Ukrainian boxing coach, former WBA world champion Vyacheslav Senchenko. The online broadcast starts at 10:10. Pre-fight analytics, exclusive footage from the training camp of our champion, an interview with Artem Dalakyan himself, expert opinions and much more await the viewers of the XSPORT studio, who will also be able to enjoy watching the fight with Viacheslav Senchenko and the XSPORT host, and after the fight will receive a detailed analysis of the fight and expert opinions.
It will be recalled that Artem Dalakyan fought his last fight in January 2023, defeating David Jimenez. Artem won the vacant WBA world title in 2018. Since then, he has made six title defenses.
Beer production in Ukraine (except for non-alcoholic beer with an alcohol content of up to 0.5 vol%) amounted to 133.4 million dal in 2023, which is 7.8% more than in 2022, according to the website of the industry organization of brewers Ukrpyvo.
As noted, this figure is only 78.3% of the volume of beer production in Ukraine in 2021.
As reported, beer production in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 27.9% compared to 2021 – to 122.8 million dal.
By the end of 2022, the brewing industry had partially recovered from a 50% drop in production in the first quarter due to the Russian invasion and the shutdown of some breweries. Thus, in the first four months of the year, the decline amounted to 42.8% compared to the same period in 2021, January-May – 36.4%, January-June – 32%, January-July and January-August – 31.6% each, January-September – 30.5%, January-October – 28.6%, January-November – 28.1%, and the whole of the previous year – 27.9%.
