Mining company Ferrexpo with assets in Ukraine, after suspending production since early October at its facilities in the Poltava region due to restrictions on electricity supply due to the shelling of the energy infrastructure by the Russian occupiers, is resuming operations of one pellet production line.
“After suspending its operations in October 2022, the group is now receiving enough electricity to restart one pellet production line. This will allow the group, along with its existing stockpiled products, to fulfill existing contracts with customers,” the company stated in a stock exchange statement Wednesday.
It explains that the company produced about 0.3 million tons of pellets in October-November as a result of disruptions and continued volatility in power supply in the fourth quarter of 2022. Overall pellet production in 2022 is expected to be about 5.9 to 6 million tons (down almost half by 2021 – IF-U).
“Despite the group’s production disruptions, shipments to customers in the fourth quarter of 2022 continued at about 250,000 tons per month,” the press release noted.
As reported, pellet production for the first nine months of 2022 was 5.637 million tons, down 31% from the same period last year.
Ferrexpo in 2021 increased total pellet production by 0.02% over 2020 to 11.220 million tons. The company also produced 234,000 tons of saleable concentrate with 67% iron content (up 28%) in 2021.
Poltava GOK has four pellet production lines.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of LLC “Yeristovsky GOK” and 99.9% of LLC “Belanovsky GOK”. Before the September 2022 court ruling, Ferrexpo also owned 100% of Poltava GOK PJSC.
Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agro-industrial groups, will not pay dividends for FY2022 (FY, July-2021-June-2022) due to the net loss of $41.1 mln incurred by the holding for the period.
According to the company’s announcement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Tuesday night, the decision was made by the holding company’s shareholders at a meeting on Dec. 2022.
“Kernel Holding S.A. announces its annual general meeting of shareholders on Dec. 20, 2022, at which it declared a zero dividend for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022,” the group said in a stock exchange statement.
“Kernel was the world’s number one producer of sunflower oil before the war (about 7% of world production) and its exports (about 12%), and was the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, the company was engaged in cultivation of other agricultural products and their realization.
The largest co-owner of Kernel, through Namsen Ltd. is Ukrainian businessman Andrei Verevskyi, with a 39.3% stake.
In FY2022 (July-2021 – June-2022), the holding posted net loss of $41 mln against $506 mln net profit in the previous FY. Its revenue decreased by 5% – to $5.332 bln, while EBITDA decreased 3.7 times – to $220 mln.
Forecast of dynamics of changes in GDP in % for 2022-2024 in relation to previous period
NBU
U.S. President Joe Biden will announce about $2 billion in aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, the White House said.
“President Biden will announce a significant new aid package to Ukraine of approximately $2 billion,” the White House said in a statement.
As part of the package, the U.S. will reportedly provide Ukraine with a battery of Patriot SAMs, “which will be an important asset to protect the Ukrainian people from barbaric Russian attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.”
“We will train the Ukrainian military on how to operate a Patriot missile battery in a third country. It will take some time, but the Ukrainian military will return after training to their own country to operate that battery,” a senior White House official stressed.
The U.S. will also continue to prioritize other forms of air defense support, including NASAMS, HAWKs, Stingers, and anti-drone equipment.
In addition, the official said the visit will also be an opportunity to note work with Congress to pass a significant supplemental funding package for Ukraine for 2023.
“And we expect a bipartisan package of more than $40 billion in funding for Ukraine,” he said.
Zelensky said earlier that he had traveled to the United States to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience and defense capabilities. “In particular, with Joe Biden will discuss cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. I will also speak in Congress and hold a number of bilateral meetings,” he wrote on Twitter.
This is the first visit of the President of Ukraine abroad since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.
For its part, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that the Ukrainian delegation during the visit to the USA will ask for ATACMS missiles, as well as drones Gray Eagle and Reaper.
The profit of Ukrainian banks in January-November 2022 amounted to UAH 19.429 billion, which is 3.4 times less than in the same period of 2021 (UAH 65.728 billion), the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said.
According to the report, the profit of Ukrainian banks in November amounted to UAH 8.451 billion, which is 2.3 times more than a month earlier (UAH 3.6 billion).
The regulator noted that the income of banks in November increased by 12.2%, while expenses increased by 9.7%.
According to the regulator, the income of banks in January-November increased by 32% against the same period last year – up to 322 billion UAH.
At the same time fee and commission income for 11 months decreased by 8.4% – to UAH 76.46 billion (while during the same period last year it increased by 32.6%).
At that the result from revaluation and from sale-purchase operations was positive and made UAH 42.3 billion, while it was negative and amounted to UAH 2.7 billion for the same period last year.
At the same time expenses of banking system for January-November 2022 increased by 1.7 times compared with this index in 2021 – up to UAH 302.6 billion, including deductions to reserves – 13.6 times, up to UAH 113 billion. At the same time, the commission expenses increased by 1.6% up to UAH 31.99 billion,
As reported, the Ukrainian banks in 2021 doubled the net profit – up to 77.5 billion UAH, compared with 41.3 billion UAH in 2020.
Oil prices are virtually unchanged on Wednesday morning after rising the day before.
The price of February futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange at 8:05 a.m. Moscow time is $79.94 per barrel, which is $0.05 (0.06%) lower than at the close of the previous session. Those contracts rose by 19 cents (0.2%) to $79.99 a barrel at the close of trading on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $76.17 per barrel by that time, which is $0.06 (0.08%) below the final value of the previous session. The contract rose by $0.85 (1.1%) to $76.23 per barrel at the end of last session.
The previous day oil quotations were supported by decline of the US dollar rate, which increased the attractiveness of oil as an object for investments of holders of other currencies.
In addition, investors are following the situation with the coronavirus in China. The removal of quarantine restrictions and government stimulus measures are believed to be positive factors for fuel demand in the long term. At the same time, rising COVID-19 infections are dampening the market’s optimism, MarketWatch notes.
“After a long period of liquidating long positions, the market has become more balanced, and a bullish mood is gradually returning to oil traders,” SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes wrote. – Despite all concerns about the recession in the economy, there are still those who want to buy oil after a decrease in its quotations. This demonstrates that oil is one of the most needed commodities in the world.
At the same time, reduced liquidity in the market, which is traditionally observed at the end of the year, puts pressure on quotations, the expert added.
