The dollar is weakly strengthening against major world currencies on Thursday morning, investors are waiting for the results of the September meeting of the European Central Bank and evaluate the statements of members of the leadership of the Federal Reserve System.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows the dynamics of the US dollar against six currencies (the euro, the Swiss franc, the yen, the Canadian dollar, the pound sterling and the Swedish krona), is down 0.1%, the broader WSJ Dollar Index is up 0.1%.
The euro / dollar at 8:56 Moscow time is trading at $0.9996 compared to $1.0008 at the close of the previous session, the euro is losing about 0.1%.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to raise key interest rates following the results of the September meeting immediately by 75 basis points (bp). The ECB has only once raised its base rate so sharply – a few days after the launch of the euro in 1999, but then it was a short-term technical adjustment, the Financial Times notes. The results of the meeting will be announced at 15:15 Moscow time on Thursday.
“There are no doves left in the ECB, only moderate and radical hawks,” said Katarina Utermeul, chief economist for European markets at Allianz SE.
The exchange rate of the American currency against the yen rose by 0.15% to 144.04 yen.
The yen has been the main casualty of the dollar’s recent rally as the Japanese currency is particularly sensitive to rising US long-term government bond yields, Investing.com writes.
“Any attempts to return to the 140 yen/$1 level have been short-lived, and in recent days the pair hit 144 yen/$1 for the first time since 1998,” wrote OANDA Senior Analyst Craig Erlam. to the dollar.”
The yen is under pressure from more hawkish comments from the Fed. Thus, the vice-president of the US Central Bank, Leil Brainard, said the day before that the Fed would have to raise the base interest rate to levels at which there would be a slowdown in economic activity.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) at its coke chemical division in January-July this year reduced production of metallurgical coke by 59.4% compared to the same period last year, to 696,700 tonnes.
A representative of the company told Interfax-Ukraine that in July the company produced 43,500 tonnes of metallurgical coke.
At the same time, in January-July 2022, production of 6% moisture gross coke at the plant amounted to 800,000 tonnes, including 51,000 tonnes in July.
Coke production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih over seven months of 2021 increased by 11.9%, to 1.716 million tonnes, including 257,000 tonnes in July last year.
In January-July 2022, the company received 216,000 tonnes of domestic coal, 390,000 tonnes from Russia (before the war), 65,000 tonnes from Kazakhstan, 27,000 tonnes from Poland, 15,000 tonnes from the Czech Republic, 190,000 tonnes from the USA and 126,000 tonnes from Australia. In July, the plant delivered 68,000 tonnes of domestic coal, 32,000 tonnes from the United States, and 4,300 tonnes from Australia.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular rebar and wire rod.
Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in Jan-May 2022 (export)
SSC of Ukraine
The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) authorized five outbound vessels loaded with food on Thursday within the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN has reported.
“JCC authorized the movement of five ships carrying a total of 83,241 tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the UN said.
The UN reported that vessels Jasmin Queen (9,531 tonnes of corn), Captain Adam 1 (9,300 tonnes of wheat) and Filyoz (4,410 tonnes of sunflower oil) will go to Turkey. The Kiran America ship will head to China with 50,000 tonnes of barley and corn, while the Santana ship will deliver 10,000 tonnes of wheat to Italy.
In addition, vessel Dignity (8,200 tonnes of sunflower seeds) previously postponed the departure from the port of Chornomorsk to Thursday, September 8. It is planned that it will go to Turkey.
“As of September 7, the total tonnage of grain and foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 2.335 million tonnes. In total, the movement of 211 ships has been authorized at the moment – 111 inbound and 100 outbound,” the UN said.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny.
Black Sea Grain Initiative, CHINA, ITALY, SHIPS, TURKEY, Ukrainian food
Metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine in January-July this year reduced revenues from the export of ferrous metals by 2.16 times compared to the same period last year – to $3 billion 490.360 million from $7 billion 537.902 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), ferrous metals accounted for 13.61% of total merchandise export earnings over this period compared to 21.23% in January-July 2021.
In July, proceeds from the export of ferrous metals amounted to $266.620 million.
At the same time, in January-July this year, Ukraine reduced imports of similar products by 33.3%, to $473.488 million. In July, it was imported for $80.368 million.
In addition, during the specified period, Ukraine reduced the export of metal products by 6.3% – to $632.629 million. In July, they were delivered for $81.933 million.
Imports of metal products in January-July decreased by 40.6% – to $351.238 million (in July – $67.335 million).
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 increased foreign exchange earnings from exports of ferrous metals by 81.4% compared to 2020, to $13 billion 951.117 million. Ferrous metals accounted for 20.49% of total revenues from exports of goods over this period against 15 .63% for 2020.
At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 48.8% in 2021, to $1 billion 547.477 million.
In addition, Ukraine in 2021 increased the export of metal products by 43% – up to $1 billion 293.199 million.
Imports of metal products over the past year increased by 28% – up to $1 billion 125.908 million.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has opened a case on the fact that ProZorro.Sale state enterprise had established additional terms of the contract and payment for access by operators of authorized electronic platforms to the electronic trading system ProZorro.Sale.
“The case was initiated on the statements of one of the operators, who complained about the unreasonable increase in fees for the development of the electronic trading system and the provision of access to ProZorro.Sale only after additional conditions are met,” the statement on the official website of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine reads.
It is indicated that the state-owned enterprise requires a certain fee for the development of the electronic trading system, however, the AMCU has reason to believe that its size is not economically justified.
The committee also found out that ProZorro.Sale state enterprise provides operators with access to the ProZorro.Sale trading system only if they fulfill additional marketing obligations that do not directly relate to the subject of the access agreement and aim to promote the trading system.
The AMCU noted that back in 2021, the committee began to study the situation on the market for providing services for access of operators of authorized electronic platforms to the electronic trading system, which is used to conduct auctions in normatively defined areas.
As a result of the adoption of control measures, recommendations were provided to ProZorro.Sale aimed at eliminating the above problems. However, the state-owned enterprise has not taken comprehensive steps to prevent possible negative consequences for the competitive environment.
Now, in case of evidence of the negative impact of the actions of ProZorro.Sale on competition in the market, the company may face a fine of up to 10% of income per year preceding the decision on the violation.
The net income of the state enterprise in 2021 increased by 2.7 times, to UAH 141.81 million, and its net profit increased to UAH 42.43 million from UAH 950,000 in 2020.
In the first half of 2022, the revenue of ProZorro.Sale decreased by 36.3%, to UAH 25.14 million, and its net loss amounted to UAH 6.92 million against UAH 550,000 of net profit for the first half of 2021.
