Nibulon LLC (Mykolaiv), one of the largest operators at the grain market of Ukraine, intends to build an elevator and a high-tech mill at its Bessarabian branch (port Izmail) to increase the shipment of grain from the record 170,000 tons per month to potentially 300,000 tons, the company said on Facebook.
“To realize this potential, Nibulon is considering building a full-fledged elevator at the location, designed for simultaneous storage of 118.5 thousand tons of grain, as well as a high-tech modern mill with a capacity of 750 tons per day,” said Michael Rizak, director of government relations and sustainable development issues of the company during the visit of the US Ambassador Bridgette Brink to the branch.
Nibulon notes that the new mill will be able to work both for the needs of domestic consumers in Ukraine and serve the food security mission of the UN World Food Program (WFP).
“Now WFP uses the processing facilities of Turkey, sending there Ukrainian grain on the “grain corridor”. But it is also possible to transport ready-made flour, bran and other products of grain processing from Ukraine,” Rizak explained.
JV Nibulon LLC was founded in 1991. Before the Russian military invasion, grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes for reception of crops, capacities for one-time storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugboats), as well as owned Nikolaev shipyard.
“Nibulon” before the war worked 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
The grain trader exported a maximum of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products in 2021, reaching record volumes of deliveries to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
According to Opendatabot, Nibulon’s revenues fell almost 2.7 times to 15.18 million hryvnias in 2022, and its net loss was 10.53 billion hryvnias versus a net profit of 1.34 billion hryvnias a year earlier.
Oil prices rose on Friday despite concerns about the global economy and demand for energy resources after a rate hike in the U.S. and euro zone.
July Brent futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $73.21 a barrel by 8:04 a.m. Friday, up $0.71 (0.98%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $0.17 (0.2%) to $72.5 a barrel on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for June oil grew by $0.63 (0.92%) up to $69.19 per barrel at electronic trades of NYMEX by that time. At the end of previous session the contracts went down by $0.04 (0.1%) to $68.56 per barrel, which was the lowest since March 20.
The day before, the European Central Bank expectedly raised all three key interest rates by 25 basis points (bps). Thus, the benchmark interest rate on loans now stands at 3.75%, the deposit rate at 3.25% and the rate on margin loans at 4%.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve also raised its key interest rate by 25 bps, its range now being the highest since 2007 at 5-5.25% per year. Meanwhile, the words about the necessity to further tighten the monetary policy disappeared from the press release on the results of the meeting.
In addition, it became known that Saudi Arabia in June will raise the price of oil with delivery to European countries, and for Asian buyers the fuel will become cheaper. Prices for oil with delivery in the U.S. next month will not change, with the exception of grade Arab Light, which will become cheaper by $0.5 per barrel, said state company Saudi Aramco.
Total supplies of fresh, chilled and frozen pork meat in April 2023 were 16% lower than in March and amounted to 424 tonnes, the association Pig Breeders of Ukraine said.
In monetary terms, Ukraine imported $1.03 million worth of pork in April, the industry association cited data from the State Customs Service on Wednesday.
According to analysts, the April figure was the lowest since 2018.
“In contrast to previous years, low import activity has created an atypical lever of support for domestic prices in the pork market, because raw materials from abroad are not yet creating competition to domestic ones,” the association noted.
Analysts explain this trend by the continuing increase in pork prices in the EU, which has lasted since January and, although it slowed down a little in April, but did not stop.
“It is more difficult for domestic importers to find affordable commodity items for the Ukrainian market,” – stated in the association, noting that the average cost of imported pork in April rose to $ 2.4 per kg compared to $ 1.88 per kg in March.
Overall, in January-April 2023 Ukraine received 3.58 thousand tons of chilled and frozen pork meat, which is 4.5 times less than during the same period in 2022.
Electricity exports, which resumed in April after being halted in October, totaled 89,700 MWh for the month, according to data on the website of the ENTSO-E network of continental European system operators.
Most of the electric power was exported to Moldova – over 40 thousand MWh, another 30.4 thousand MWh was supplied to Poland and 19.2 thousand MWh – to Slovakia.
For Moldova, traders have been gradually increasing their booked cross-section capacity for exports and in recent days have booked about 85-95% of the 650 MW of offered hourly capacity. The market claims that most of the electricity supplied to Moldova goes on to Romania.
On the whole, the biggest volumes were reserved by “ECU” (150 MW per hour), PrJSC “Ukrhydroenergo” (100 MW per hour), “D. Trading” (130 MW per hour), “Artlex Energy” and “Sipige Energy” (mostly 50 MW per hour). DE Trading, ERU Trading, EES, Kub Energy, Smart Grid Ukraine, NAP-Comunity, NAP-Comunity Trading, and Astat Energy also booked the section. Besides, on April 26, Centrenergo PJSC started exporting electricity, having booked 10-11 MW per hour.
DTEK Zakhidenergo exports electricity to Poland, traditionally at 1800 MWh per day, reserving for this purpose the maximum at this time of the cross section capacity – 75 MW per hour.
The section to Slovakia, the only one paid by traders because of the great interest and competition in this direction, was shared by DTEK Zakhidenergo, which bought up to 146 MW of its 200 MW hourly capacity, DE Trading (about 50 MW), ERU Trading, Le Trading Ukraine, TES and once state energy trader EKU, which bought 10 MW for one hour.
European stock indexes are down Thursday after the U.S. central bank’s decision to tighten monetary policy (monetary policy). Investors also expect interest rates to rise in the eurozone and are assessing issuers’ quarterly reports.
The Stoxx Europe 600 composite index of the region’s largest companies was down 0.52 percent at 460.1 points as of 11:55 a.m.
The British indicator FTSE 100 was losing 0.51% during the session, German DAX – 0.36%, French CAC 40 – 0.46%, Italian FTSE MIB – 0.71%, Spanish IBEX 35 – 0.58%.
The day before, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its interest rate on federal funds rate by 25 basis points, now its range is 5-5.25% per year. In addition, the words about the necessity of further tightening of MP, which were present in the document published at the end of the March meeting, disappeared from the press release on the results of the meeting.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is also likely to raise rates, Trading Economics said. The results of its May meeting will be published on Thursday at 15:15 Moscow time.
In addition, concerns about the banking sector are growing. PacWest Bancorp said it is in talks with partners and potential investors looking at different options for its business. Earlier, the media reported on the U.S. financier’s plans to sell the business, which triggered a more than 50% drop in its share price in Wednesday’s additional trading.
In France, shares of outsourcing Teleperformance (-4%), retailer Carrefour (-2.3%), cosmetics maker L’Oreal (-2.1%) and steelmaker ArcelorMittal (-1.7%) are among the leaders of the decline.
Papers of aerospace company Airbus SE fell in price by 1.1%. The European company in the first quarter recorded a 2% drop in revenue and net profit fell to 466 million euros from 1.22 billion euros a year earlier.
Shares of German Volkswagen AG fell 0.1%. The auto concern in the first quarter of 2023 significantly increased revenue, but reduced operating profit by 31%.
The capitalization of the Swedish Volvo Car falls by 3.8%. The company reported layoffs of 1,300 office workers in Sweden, or about 6% of its workforce in the country.
Another automaker, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (SPB: BMW), is adding 2.2% in market value. The company approved a stock buyback of up to 2 billion euros, even though pre-tax earnings in the first quarter more than halved.
Mercedes-Benz Group AG common stock and Porsche Automobil Holding SE preferred stock added 2.4% and 1%, respectively.
Oil and gas company Shell (SPB: RDS.A) is up 2.3%. The British-Dutch company boosted its January-March net income by 22% year-over-year and plans to buy back its own shares for $4 billion before its second-quarter earnings release.
Shares of rival TotalEnergies (SPB: TOT) are up 1.3% and BP plc (SPB: BP) are down 0.4%.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (SPB: BUD) (AB InBev) brewery increased its net profit 17 times in the first quarter. Its market value is up 0.1%.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of May 1, 2023, according to preliminary data, amounted to $35 billion 943.2 million, reaching a record high level for the last 11 years (since August 2011), the National Bank of Ukraine said.
“In April, reserves increased by 13% (by $4.065 billion) due to receipts from international partners amid a further decline in the net sale of currency by the National Bank and moderate debt payments of the country in foreign currency,” the central bank pointed out.
He specified that $5.852 billion arrived at the foreign currency accounts of the government at the National Bank in April, including $2.707 billion – within the framework of a new program of expanded funding by the IMF, $1.653 billion – macrofinancial assistance from the EU, $1.25 billion – a grant from the U.S. (through a World Bank trust fund) and $0.243 billion – from placement of foreign currency bonds of internal government bonds (IOB).
According to Interfax-Ukraine, the influx of foreign aid in April was the largest since the start of the war.
Also, the Ukrainian government paid $446.0 million for servicing and repayment of public debt in foreign currency, of which $282.7 million was for servicing and repayment of foreign currency OVGZ, $113.1 million was debt to the World Bank, the rest was debt to other international creditors. In addition, Ukraine paid $107.4m to the International Monetary Fund.
The NBU added that its net sale of currency in April declined for the fourth month in a row, decreasing compared to March by $0.299 billion – to $1.370 billion.
“Such dynamics in April is due to both industry factors (reduction of energy imports, increased sales of currency for the sowing season, a certain activation of mining and metallurgical enterprises), and the subsequent restriction of unproductive capital outflows from Ukraine,” the regulator pointed out.
Besides, the NBU’s consistent monetary policy aimed at improving the attractiveness of hryvnia assets and the refusal to finance the budget deficit directly in 2023 contributed to the stabilization of exchange rate expectations, the central bank added.
In addition, as a result of changes in market values and exchange rates, the value of financial instruments in reserves increased by $128.7 million.
The current volume of international reserves provides funding for 4.7 months of future imports, said the National Bank.
As previously reported, in late April, the NBU raised its forecast of international reserves of the country by the end of 2023 to $34.5 billion from $27 billion in the January forecast.
