Oil prices continue to rise on Tuesday afternoon, with traders waiting for new signals on supply and demand in the market.
Their attention is focused on the monthly reports of OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA), which will be published on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
In addition, the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday, at 23:30, will publish data on oil reserves in the country for the week ended September 8. The market on average expects a decline in reserves by 2 million barrels after a drop of 5.5 million barrels a week earlier, Trading Economics notes. The Energy Ministry will release official data on Wednesday.
The cost of November futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 14:42 by the end of the quarter is $91.25 per barrel, which is $0.61 (0.67%) higher than at the close of the previous session.
October futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen by $0.71 (0.81%) to $88 per barrel by this time.
In January-August this year, Ukraine’s metallurgical enterprises reduced their earnings from ferrous metal exports by 51.1% year-on-year to $1 billion 821.054 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), ferrous metals accounted for 7.44% of total export revenues during this period, while in the first eight months of 2022, they accounted for 12.86%.
In August, revenues from exports of ferrous metals amounted to $200.016 million, while in the previous month – $206.685 million.
At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 53% to $855.284 million over the first eight months of this year. In August, the country imported products worth $136.466 million.
In addition, in January-August, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 11% compared to the eight months of the previous year, to $625.707 million. In August, they were exported for $65.114 million.
At the same time, imports of steel products increased by 24.8% to $515.548 million over the first eight months of the year. In August, Ukraine supplied $82.645 million worth of these products.
As reported earlier, in 2022, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies reduced revenues from ferrous metal exports by 67.5% compared to 2021, to $4 billion 533.088 million. During this period, ferrous metals accounted for 10.26% of total revenues from exports of goods, compared to 20.49% in 2021. At the same time, last year Ukraine reduced imports of similar products by 38.3% to $954.387 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 18.6% to $1 billion 52.512 million. Imports of metal products fell by 42.9% to $643.162 million over the year.
Agrarians in all regions except Transcarpathia have sown 1155 thousand hectares of winter crops, of which 905.9 thousand hectares are allocated for winter rape and 249 thousand hectares for winter grains, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, 228.6 thou hectares are already under winter wheat, 10.8 thou hectares under winter barley, and 9.5 thou hectares under winter rye.
Over the previous week, 251 thou hectares were planted with winter rape, and 204 thou hectares with winter grain.
In addition, it is reported that farmers of Volyn, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Chernivtsi regions have completed sowing of winter rape.
Most of the winter grains were sown in Sumy region – 25.9 thousand hectares, which is 50% of the forecast, winter rapeseed – in Dnipropetrovs’k region, 93.4 thousand hectares (74.4% of the forecast).
As reported with reference to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of farmers do not plan to significantly change the area under winter crops in 2024 compared to the previous season.
On October 6, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) will hold a privatization auction for the sale of state-owned enterprise Volyntorf with a starting price of UAH 190.2 million, according to the Fund’s website.
The auction will be held on Prozorro, and the guarantee fee for participation in the auction is UAH 38 million (excluding VAT).
“The State Property Fund already has experience in the successful sale of a state-owned peat enterprise. In early July, the SPFU held an auction for the sale of RivneTorf, during which 12 bidders competed. As a result, the starting price increased 4.3 times, to UAH 205 million,” the website quoted the SPFU’s deputy chairman, Sergiy Simonov, as saying.
According to the fund, Volyntorf is a profitable enterprise specializing in the production of peat briquettes. In the first half of 2023, the state-owned enterprise received UAH 90.4 million in revenue and UAH 6.2 million in net profit, and UAH 200 million and UAH 10.6 million in 2022, respectively.
As of June 30, 2023, Volyntorf had no overdue accounts payable, with current accounts payable amounting to UAH 20.2 million, including UAH 8.9 million in settlements with the budget and UAH 2.6 million in payroll.
In total, the facility includes 109 real estate units (production, warehouse, and administrative premises) with a total area of over 21 thousand square meters. The company employs 302 people and owns 164 vehicles. Volyntorf also includes a separate division, Manevychi Peat Plant.
The state-owned enterprise has special permits for subsoil use at the Zasvity Sitneluk field for 18 years and the Soyne field for 19 years.
“Peat is not a strategic fuel for the energy sector of Ukraine. Its total share in the country’s energy balance is less than one percent, according to the State Statistics Service. Therefore, the SPFU is gradually putting state-owned peat enterprises up for privatization auctions,” the SPFU explained.
As reported, on July 5, the SPFU sold RivneTorf at an online privatization auction in the Prozorro system for UAH 205 million at a price 4.3 times higher than the starting price.
Ukraine’s Alfa Development Group is completing the construction of new warehouse real estate projects with a total area of about 244 thousand square meters, with commissioning scheduled for 2023-2024, said Maxim Onufrienko, CEO of the group.
According to him, the construction of the second and third phases of the Oleksandrivskyi logistics center (Chubynske village) with a total area of 115.2 thousand square meters is being completed in Kyiv region. Completion of the second stage (12.6 thousand square meters) is scheduled for October 2023, and the third stage (40.7 thousand square meters) – in March 2024.
“This is a multi-mode warehouse complex, which means that there is both freezing, refrigerators, and dry storage. I must say that we have already leased 50% of the second stage, scheduled for commissioning in October 2023, and signed contracts with customers. This confirms the growing demand for warehouse real estate in Kyiv,” Onufrienko said at RAU Expo 2023 in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Other projects in the Kyiv region, he said, include the Dudarkiv warehouse center with a total area of 45.5 thousand square meters, scheduled for commissioning in January 2024. About half of the first phase’s area (23.1 thousand square meters) has already been leased.
In addition, the construction of a logistics complex with a total area of 159.6 thousand square meters is underway in Chaiky village. The completion date for the first (19.5 thousand sq. m) and third (27.2 thousand sq. m) phases is March 2024, and the second phase (23 thousand sq. m) is May 2024. After that, the project envisages the implementation of two more stages.
In Dnipro region, Alfa Development Group is building two projects: the Shynnyi Industrial Park (Dnipro) and the Peredovyi warehouse center (51.3 thousand square meters, Chumakivska village council).
“Shynnyi is the first industrial park in Dnipro. We started it in early 2022, before the war. We negotiated with Ukrposhta, but this is still a thing of the past. So now we are building an industrial park. The construction plans for January 2024 include 130 thousand square meters, of which 34% have already been signed with a major client,” said Onufrienko.
In addition, a warehouse complex in Kropyvnytskyi with a total area of 14.2 thousand square meters is planned to be commissioned in October 2023.
The group also has a facility in Odesa, Odesa Logistic Park, which was damaged during Russian shelling.
“In Odesa, we have two warehouse complexes, one dry warehouse with a total area of 38 thousand square meters and a cold logistics facility with 27 thousand square meters. We had an arrival in Odesa, after which we have half of the dry warehouse left, which we are reconstructing. In September, we will complete 14 thousand square meters, which is almost half. We restored the refrigerators back in May,” said the CEO.
Next year’s plans also include the construction of a new logistics complex in Lviv with an area of 50 thousand square meters. Onufrienko told Interfax-Ukraine that the warehouse will be put into operation in 2024.
The expert noted that all of the company’s facilities are equipped with generators in case of power outages in the face of Russian aggression. In addition, shelters are being built at the facilities and new fire safety systems are being installed.
Alfa Development Group was founded in 2005. It holds one of the leading positions in the warehouse real estate market of Ukraine. Its portfolio includes 16 completed facilities with a total area of over 326 thousand square meters.
The number of bankrupt companies in the EU in the second quarter of 2023 increased for the sixth consecutive quarter and reached 106, the highest since the beginning of data recording, i.e. since 2015, according to the European Union Statistical Office (Eurostat).
In quarterly terms, the number of bankruptcies increased by 8.4%.
At the same time, the number of new company registrations decreased by only 0.6% to 124. The figure has been stable around 120 companies since the third quarter of 2020 after falling to 80 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The most notable increase in the number of bankruptcies in April-June was recorded in the hotel and catering sectors (by 23.9% compared to the first quarter), as well as in the transport and warehousing sector (by 15.2%).
The number of bankruptcies also increased in almost all sectors compared to the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019. The only sectors where the number of bankruptcies decreased during this period were industry (-11.5%) and construction (-2.7%).
