The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has included the internet broker EXANTE (IEXTi Cyprus) in the sub-sanction list, in connection with which monobank and investment company “Univer Capital” suggest their clients who bought foreign securities through this broker to urgently close their accounts, as otherwise these investments will be blocked until the removal of sanctions.
“Although Univer Capital’s agreement is formally with another broker, they are nonetheless related entities. For the investor, such sanctions could mean a temporary blocking of assets and access to the account. Accordingly, we recommend all our clients with a portfolio of securities purchased through a broker EXANTE, urgently (today) to close all positions and withdraw funds, because tomorrow access to the accounts may be closed, “- said in a statement of the investment company.
“The SNBO has just put EXANTE, which is a broker in our investment application, on the sanctions list. In this regard: all clients who have positions in securities in mono invest will be notified within an hour, in which we will offer to agree to close the position today and return the money to the card,” mono invest co-owner of monobank Oleg Gorokhovsky addressed to clients.
According to him, the positions of only those clients who in the message will click “I do not agree” will not be closed. “Access to their shares and the money spent on them will be possible only after the sanctions of the National Security and Defence Council are lifted,” Gorokhovsky warned.
Mining company Ferrexpo plc with assets in Ukraine in January-June this year produced 1.967 million tons of pellets, which is 2.3 times less than in the same period last year (4.797 million tons).
The company said Thursday that pellet production in the second quarter of 2023 was up 18 percent from the previous quarter, but down 48.9 percent from the second quarter of 2022 to 1.066 million tons.
In 2023, only pellets with 65% iron content were produced.
At the same time, the total production of commercial products (pellets and iron ore concentrate) in the first half of this year decreased 2.27 times to 2.126 million tons compared to the first half of 2022. Including the output of commercial concentrate in January-June 2023 amounted to 160 thousand tons (19 thousand tons in January-June 2022).
The press release explains that Ferrexpo continues to produce, transport and sell its products under war conditions, with associated energy and logistical constraints. Meanwhile, the group has successfully operated two pellet production lines, the second of which was re-commissioned earlier this year.
The emphasis in production is on producing pellets with a higher iron content of 65% Fe or higher. Sales continued to be exported by rail and barge to Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea. Sales for the quarter totaled 1.2 million tons, up 45% from the previous quarter and 2.1 million tons in the first half of 2023.
The Group intends to continue using one to two pellet lines through the end of the year, as it did in the first half of the year, provided there are no further significant changes in the operating environment and logistics availability in Ukraine.
Acting Executive Chairman Lucio Genovese noted in his commentary that despite incessant shelling and multiple challenges, the company has been able to adapt its business. In particular, a second pellet line returned to production in the first half of 2023, increasing flexibility and the ability to rebuild production. However, logistics remain limited.
“Although we now have the ability to produce more, we do not currently have enough alternative Black Sea ports to export more,” Genovese stated.
He also reported that “during the first six months, we continued to maintain a strong cash position while funding our capital commitments.”
“We continue to evaluate alternative supply routes in the near term, and we are looking to the post-war future, developing plans to restore capacity so that we can return to full production levels and play our part in rebuilding Ukraine,” the top manager summarized.
As reported, Ferrexpo produced 6.053 million tons of pellets in 2022, down 46% from 2021. At the same time, pellet production in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased by 86% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, and by September-December 2022 decreased by 50% to 417,000 tons.
Production of premium pellets with 65% iron content in 2022 was 5.7 million tonnes (down 47%), including 417 thousand tonnes in the fourth quarter (down 28% quarter-on-quarter and 86% year-on-year). Direct reduction of iron pellets (DRI, 67% iron) output last year was 353 thousand tonnes (down 18% q-o-q), which was not produced in Q4-2022.
No pellets with 62% iron content were produced in 2022.
At the same time, total production of commercial products (pellets and iron ore concentrate) in 2022 decreased by 46% to 6.177 million tons, in the fourth quarter, compared to the third, by 49%, and by Q4-2021 – by 85%, to 457 thousand tons. Last year’s output of marketable concentrate fell by 47% to 124 kt, including 40 kt in Q4-2022 (down 38% q-o-q and up 3% q-o-q).
Total annual sales in 2022 were 6.2 million tons, down 46% from 2021.
Poltava GOK has four pellet production lines.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of Yeristovsky GOK LLC, 99.9% of Belanovsky GOK LLC and 100% of Poltava GOK PJSC.
Impact of electricity deficit on real GDP vs. No deficit, % (forecast up to 2024)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The low average yield of rapeseed of 1.2-1.3 tons/ha will not allow Ukrainian agrarians to get a high gross of oilseed crop, the yields may level out in the future, but there will not be a record harvest, said the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, created within the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (AAR).
“Rapeseed prices have started to rise sharply, and this trend will continue both in Ukraine and around the world,” the analysts said at a weekly briefing Tuesday.
According to their information, in small river ports the indicative rapeseed prices for a week increased from 330 euro/ton to 345 euro/ton. Supply of Ukrainian rapeseed was low last week. The situation will not change quickly, as the harvest has recently started.
Analysts expect indicative prices in small ports to grow to € 348 / ton by the end of the week, on the terms of CPT – up to € 355-360 / ton in the coming weeks.
Processors sounded purchase prices for rapeseed in a wide range, depending on the region – 12300-13200 hryvnia / ton, the lowest mark in the Odessa region, stated the “Pusk”.
The world prices for biodiesel are rising again, vegetable oils are becoming more expensive, so rapeseed will rise in price at the exchanges. But July and early August will be unfavorable for sales under the pressure of the new harvest, analysts summarized.
The port of Gdansk (Poland) in anticipation of an increase in cargo flow with Ukrainian grain harvest-2023 will increase the number of tents and silos to increase transshipment capacity by 0.5 million tons per month, which will allow to transship 5.8 million tons of grain per year, said president of the port Lukasz Malinowski.
“Last year the port terminals transshipped a total of just over 1.9 million tons of grain,” the Polish edition of pap.pl quoted him as saying.
Malinowski stressed that this decision was made in connection with the forecasts of Polish analysts, who expect an even greater swell of grain to be shipped from Polish ports.
“Only from January to the end of May, the volume of grain transshipment in the port was about 1.1 million tons,” stated Malinowski.
According to his information, currently the capacity of the main grain terminals in the port of “Gdansk” is 300 thousand tons per month, and storage capacity – 126 thousand tons. The development of port capacities by almost 70% will allow to increase the transportation of grain in the near future. This will allow during the peak periods to get to the port 1500 trucks with grain.
The Port of Gdansk is gradually increasing the number of parking spaces. In total, there are already 780 parking spaces. By mid-July, their number to 970, said Malinowski.
President of the port also underlined that thanks to rakoraf (devices for taking samples of the grain intended for export – IF), it will be possible to check the quality of the grain in three parking lots within the Port of Gdańsk borders.
As reported, until September 15, 2023 by decision of the European Commission, a ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to five frontline countries: Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
Oil prices of benchmark grades are weakly falling Thursday morning after an increase in the previous session.
The price of September futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $76.41 a barrel by 8:10 a.m., down $0.24 (0.31%) from the close of the previous session. Those contracts rose $0.4 (0.5%) to $76.65 a barrel on Wednesday.
The price of WTI crude futures for August at electronic trades of NYMEX fell by 6 cents (0.08%) to $71.73 per barrel by that time. The day before these contracts rose $2 (2.9%) to $71.79 a barrel.
A positive factor in previous session was the statements of the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that OPEC+ will do everything necessary to support the oil market.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced an extension of its voluntary oil production cut of 1 million bpd for August. Thus, the country’s oil production will remain at around 9 mln bpd in August.
Meanwhile, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API), U.S. oil inventories fell by 4.38 million barrels last week.
Official data from the nation’s Energy Department will be released Thursday at 6 p.m. Q, a day later than usual since Tuesday was a non-working day in the States. Experts polled by Trading Economics, on average, forecast a decrease in oil reserves by about 1 million barrels.
