Damage and destruction of high-voltage elements of power transmission equipment is estimated at 55-70%, Director of the Energy Research Center Oleksandr Kharchenko said at a briefing at the Ukrainian Media Center on Friday.
The expert recalled that the main problem with the lack of electricity now is related to its transmission, not generation.
“The main problem now is the problem with the transmission system. High-voltage – we have lost about 55-75% of the key pieces of equipment, they are damaged or destroyed,” Kharchenko said.
At the same time, he said, regional low-voltage networks away from the front lines are in good condition.
Kiev has deployed more than 400 heating points, most of them are equipped in schools and other social institutions of the city, said the mayor of the capital, Vitaliy Klitschko.
“These stations will work every day. Most of them are equipped in schools and other social institutions of the city. If your house has no power supply for more than a day, you can come to the heating point to recharge your gadgets or flashlights, drink tea, find out information about where the water tanks are, where stores and pharmacies are open,” he wrote in the Telegram-channel.
Klitschko added that also “we are working to ensure that for each point the Internet works.”
British auction house Christie’s has canceled the sale of a Tyrannosaurus-rex skeleton worth about $15 25 million after suspicions that some of the bones were far from original.
“After consultation, Christie’s auction house decided to recall the lot. The consignor has now decided to release the specimen to the museum for all to admire,” said a representative of the auction house.
The representative Christie’s did not specify the reason for this decision, but the problem may lie in the fact that some of the bones of the skeleton named Shen are actually replicas of bones of another dinosaur. President of the Black Hills Institute for Geological Research and paleontologist Peter Larson said that some parts of Shen are remarkably similar to parts of Stan, another Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that went under the hammer at Christie’s for a record $31.8 million in 2020. Larson suggested that Shen’s owner supplemented some of the skeleton’s missing bones with casts of Stan’s bones.
“They are using Stan to sell a dinosaur that is not Stan,” Larson said.
The Black Hills Institute for Geological Research owns the intellectual property rights to Stan, despite his sale in 2020, and is selling painted polyurethane skeleton casts for $120,000.
The U.S. Museum of Natural History at the Field Museum, one of the largest museums in the United States. Field, one of the largest natural history museums in the world, said it is very difficult to find an entire dinosaur skeleton. In most cases, in the skeletons exhibited in museums, some of the bones are casts.
Russian missile strikes on Ukraine have left the country’s dairy industry without electricity, resulting in the shutdown of enterprises and disrupted mechanism of product sales, so spot prices for milk in this period can be considered tentative.
As dairy industry analyst Maxim Fasteev said in his Telegram channel, the massive rocket attacks on Ukraine once again show how important the factor of generators availability at the enterprises is now, and this factor will be relevant in the coming months as well.
“Some Ukrainian plants, as well as the population, were left without electricity for almost a day, milk trucks, in some cases, are still waiting for unloading of raw milk (it is good that at least the air temperature helps to preserve the quality of the goods). There is no possibility to resell raw milk, because all processors are in the same conditions. This is all the consequences of another wave of missile strikes of the terrorist country (already officially) on the Ukrainian civil infrastructure,” the expert wrote.
According to his data, milk processing companies continue to meet their obligations on the levels of procurement prices, but in the secondary market is not an issue of value now, because demand for the product is completely absent. Thus, the current spot price of raw milk in Ukraine can be considered conditional.
“Ukrainian exchange commodity prices in the domestic market remain under pressure from lower export (European) quotes, but there are no changes in the skimmed milk powder (SOM)/oil equivalent compared to last week due to the moderate strengthening of the hryvnia against the euro,” the analyst specified in the report.
In addition, last week the spot price of Ukrainian raw milk compared to the EU products was by 38% lower, while during the previous week this indicator was 34%, and the difference of milk equivalents (EM) of REM / butter was 21% (in the previous week -23%).
The expert reminded that the indicator of milk equivalent (EM) – recalculation of the current (spot) cost of dairy commodities in the equivalent of a basic kilogram of raw milk, taking into account the costs and standards of production of these goods.
MHP agricultural holding, the largest chicken producer in Ukraine in October 2022 increased production of chicken by 1% compared to the previous month – to 59.61 thousand tons, while its sales reduced by 2% – to 62.36 thousand tons, according to the statement of agricultural group on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.
It is noted that the volume of chicken production in October 2022 is still 12% behind the same month of the “pre-war” 2021, but its sales exceeded last October’s figures by 11%.
It is specified that the share of chicken export shipments in October this year increased by 4 percentage points (p.p.) over September 2022, and by 3 p.p. over October 2021, to 60%.
A total of 37,69,000 tons of poultry were exported this October, up 6% from September 2022 and 18% from October 2021.
The domestic market sold 24,67 thousand tons of chicken meat in October 2022, 11% less than the previous month but 2% more than last October.
The average price of poultry meat sold in October 2022 was similar to the level of September this year – $1.93/kg, while in October a year earlier it was $1.70/kg (down 14%).
During the reporting period, MHP has reduced the sales of processed meat products and semi-finished products by 9% compared to September – up to 2.97 thousand tons, and this figure is still 40% lower than in October 2021.
According to agroholding, in October 2022 the sunflower oil sales fell by 71% against September this year, and by 51% against October 2021, to 12,800 tons, while soybean oil sales increased by 81% against September this year and by 86% against October last year, to 7,38 thousand tons.
MHP also pointed out that this season the holding is harvesting 335 ths. ha, with sunflower harvesting fully completed, the soybean harvesting is almost finished and corn is harvested on 75% of the area.
The winter crops sowing campaign is completed on about 74 thsd. ha (winter wheat – about 55%, winter rape – about 45%).
MHP is the largest producer of poultry in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of grain, sunflower oil, and meat processing products. To the European market, MHP supplies chilled half-carcass chickens, which are processed, including at its facilities in the Netherlands and Slovakia. In February 2019, the agroholding completed its acquisition of Slovenian company Perutnina Ptuj.
MHP posted a net profit of $393 million in 2021, compared with a net loss of $133 million in 2020, while its revenue rose 25 percent to $2.37 billion.
Ukrainian businessman Yuriy Kosyuk is the founder, majority shareholder and board chairman of MHP.
Oil prices rise on Friday, but ended the week lower by more than 2% amid growing concerns among traders about the prospects for Chinese demand.
The incidence of COVID-19 in China continues to rise, forcing authorities to introduce new quarantine measures, notes Bloomberg.
Investors continue to follow the negotiations in the European Union concerning the price ceiling for Russian oil. Recent media reports suggest that the price ceiling may be set high enough to prevent the global market from losing a significant amount of raw materials from Russia.
The value of January futures for Brent crude at London’s ICE Futures Exchange by 8:05 a.m. Moscow time on Friday was $85.74 per barrel, $0.4 (0.47%) above the previous session’s closing price. At the end of trading on Thursday those contracts have fallen by $0.07 (0.1%) down to $85.34 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for January at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $0.58, to $78.52 per barrel. The day before, there were no major trades in the U.S. due to a holiday (Thanksgiving).
As The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, EU countries are still discussing at what exact level the price ceiling for Russian oil should be set. Poland, Estonia and Latvia opposed the G7’s proposed price of $65-70 a barrel, believing it is too high and leaves Russia with too much revenue. At the same time, Cyprus, Greece and Malta, the countries with a developed shipping industry, on the contrary, consider this level too low.
“The introduction of a price ceiling on Russian oil at $65-70 per barrel will not have a significant impact on the market, since it is already being sold at that value,” said Kotak Securities Ltd. a commodity sector analyst. Ravinda Rao, whose opinion is cited by Bloomberg.
