Oil prices rose on Monday as traders became more optimistic about the demand outlook amid news of the lifting of quarantine restrictions in China’s Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
Chengdu, home to 21 million people, has become the largest city in China after Shanghai, where a strict lockdown was introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19. From Monday, major quarantine restrictions are lifted in Chengdu.
“The main reason for the fluctuation in oil prices is the change in demand expectations,” said Vishnu Varatan, an analyst at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore, quoted by Bloomberg. “Easing quarantine restrictions in China is an important factor for the market. We are talking about pent-up demand here.” , and that explains the immediate market reaction.”
The price of November futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 8:10 am CST on Monday is $91.9 per barrel, which is $0.55 (0.6%) higher than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading on Friday, these contracts rose by $0.51 (0.6%) to $91.35 per barrel.
The price of futures for WTI oil for October in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by this time by $0.37 (0.43%), to $85.48 per barrel. By the close of the market on Friday, the value of these contracts increased by $0.01 to $85.11 per barrel.
As a result of the past week, Brent fell by 1.6%, WTI – by 1.9%.
The focus of traders this week – the meeting of the Federal Reserve System (FRS) and the Bank of England. Fears related to the fact that the rapid tightening of monetary policy by the world’s central banks will lead to a recession in the global economy and a drop in oil demand are one of the key factors pushing down the oil market in recent months. Oil prices are likely to end the third quarter with a decline, which will be noted for the first time in two years, Bloomberg notes.
The capacities of Ukrainian enterprises are sufficient to satisfy the need for roofing materials for the restoration of housing, social and critical infrastructure facilities affected by Russian aggression, Hanna Hontarenko, the acting director of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Based on the results of work of the operational headquarters for the provision of construction materials in the Ministry of Regional Development, the needs of each region for roofing materials necessary for the restoration of housing, social and critical infrastructure have been determined. The internal potential of enterprises producing roofing materials in Ukraine allows us to meet these needs as soon as possible,” she said.
At the same time, the expert added that since the end of February 2022, the construction sector and the metallurgical industry have undergone significant changes.
“The destruction and occupation of the capacities of the largest metallurgical plants Azovstal and Illich Iron and Steel Works, a reduction in demand in the domestic market, an increase in the exchange rate and the cost of logistics – all these factors led to an increase in the cost of rolled metal. Since the beginning of the year, the price for certain assortment items has increased by more than 30%,” she said.
According to her, due to the aforementioned factors, steel structures manufacturers work with a low level of loading, however, due to stocks in warehouses and the work of metallurgical enterprises in Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Kryvy Rih, there is no shortage of rolled metal.
“But the situation will change when stocks are exhausted for certain assortment items that cannot be manufactured in Ukraine, and then demand will have to be met through imports,” the expert says.
As for the issue of steel roofing, the raw materials for it, namely rolled products, are produced by Zaporizhstal. Galvanizing and galvanizing/painting is carried out at the facilities of Unisteel LLC (the design capacity is 100,000 tonnes/year) or Modul-Ukraine LLC (the design capacity is 200,000 tonnes/year).
HOUSING, INFRASTRUCTURE, MANUFACTURERS, RAUTA, roofing materials
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal announced that he, together with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, arrived in London to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II.
“At the invitation of the British side, we arrived in London today to pay respects to Her Majesty King Elizabeth II and express condolences on behalf of the President, Government and people of Ukraine. The Queen enjoyed great public and favor in the United Kingdom. She was also admired far beyond the Kingdom, including Ukraine,” Shmygal wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday evening.
The Prime Minister also noted that Elizabeth II “was the head of state, who was one of the first to lend a helping hand when Ukraine was faced with a barbaric Russian invasion. States that are still doing everything possible to bring our victory closer.”
In addition, Shmyhal expressed gratitude to the government of the United Kingdom.
The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, will be held on Monday in London.
The total area of residential buildings for which construction permits have been issued (new construction) in January-June 2022 decreased by 1.8 times compared to the same period in 2021, to 2.5 million square meters. m, according to the State Statistics Service.
According to the statistics agency, in the first half of the year the total area of new construction of apartment buildings amounted to 2 million 427.9 thousand square meters. m (97% of the total volume). The number of apartments in apartment buildings declared at the start of construction amounted to 32.8 thousand.
In Kyiv, over the specified period, the total area of new housing construction decreased by 2/3 by January-June 2021 – to 202 thousand square meters. m, while in the Kyiv region increased by 12.2% – up to 502.6 thousand square meters. m.
A significant volume of new housing construction was also recorded in Lviv (449.9 thousand sq. m.), Kharkiv (213.4 thousand sq. m.), Khmelnitsky (182.3 thousand sq. m.), Odessa (151.7 thousand m), Ternopil (120.2 thousand sq. m), Rivne (117.2 thousand sq. m) and Volyn (109.5 thousand sq. m) regions.
The State Statistics Service recalls that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as parts of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The departure of 10 ships with 169.3 thousand tons of agricultural products is scheduled from the ports of Greater Odessa to the countries of Africa, Asia and Europe on Sunday, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration (USPA) reports.
“By 10:00 am, 8 ships left the ports of Greater Odessa, and 2 more are waiting for their turn and favorable conditions,” the agency noted on Facebook.
In total, since the release of the first vessel with Ukrainian food, 3.7 million tons of food have already been exported, and the total number of vessels for the countries of Asia, Europe and Africa has reached 165.
As reported, 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, Odessa and Pivdenny.
To date, the state of readiness for the heating season is already more than 80%, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said.
“The heating season will begin in Ukraine soon. The most difficult in history. Preparations for it went on in the summer, and continue now. The state of readiness is already more than 80%. Significant coal resources have been accumulated, gas is being pumped into storage facilities,” he said at a government meeting in Friday.
According to Shmyhal, the authorities are forming agreements with partners on additional gas supplies. UAH 1.4 billion was allocated to prepare for emergency situations, almost 1.5 thousand mobile generators and dozens of backup boilers were purchased.
“An operational headquarters has been formed that will quickly resolve any crisis issues. First of all, the issue of eliminating the consequences of Russian attacks on our critical infrastructure. We have been preparing and are preparing for all scenarios. And we will do our best to ensure that this winter Ukrainians are warm, light and water,” Shmygal summed up.
