In January-September this year, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum ores and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 99.8% compared to the same period last year, up to 19.528 thousand tons. According to statistics released by the State Customs Service on Tuesday, bauxite imports in monetary terms increased 2.2 times to $2.435 million during the period.
The imports came mainly from Turkey (77.38% of supplies in monetary terms), China (19.42%) and Spain (3.20%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in the same period of this year as in January-September 2013.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year – to 945.396 thousand tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports were mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%) and Ghana (7.48%). In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 thousand tons of bauxite worth $2.360 million.
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material to produce alumina, which is used to make aluminum. They are also used as fluxes in ferrous metallurgy.
Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP) imports bauxite to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga met with his Chinese counterpart to discuss the development of bilateral relations and trade.
“Together with Andriy Yermak, we met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. We thanked China for its support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he wrote on the social network X on Thursday night.
According to Sibiga, the parties focused on the next steps in the development of bilateral relations and trade. They also discussed prospects for further contacts.
Sibiga noted that they briefed on Ukraine’s efforts to implement the Peace Formula and exchanged views on the principles of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine based on the UN Charter.
According to Worldsteel, August saw an increase in steel production compared to August 2023 in most of the top ten countries, except for China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
The top ten steel producing countries in August are as follows: China (77.920 million tons, down 10.4% by August 2023), India (12.285 million tons, up 2.6%), the United States (7.048 million tons, up 0.7%), Japan (6.870 million tons, down 3.9%), and the Russian Federation (5.8 million tons, down 11.5%), South Korea (5.465 million tons, down 2.2%), Turkey (3.146 million tons, up 13.8%), Brazil (2.963 million tons, up 7.3%), Germany (2.874 million tons, up 0.5%) and Vietnam (1.793 million tons, up 1.5%).
In August, Ukraine increased steel production by 15% compared to August 2023, retaining its 20th place in the Worldsteel ranking.
In total, in August 2024, steel production decreased by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2023 to 144.834 million tons.
In January-August 2014, the top ten steel-producing countries were as follows: China (691.410 million tons, down 3.3% compared to January-August 2023), India (98.522 million tons, up 6.5%), Japan (56.665 million tons, down 2.9%), the United States (53.785 million tons, down 1.7%), the Russian Federation (48.469 million tons, minus 4.9%), South Korea (42.509 million tons, down 5.5%), Germany (25.378 million tons, up 4%). million tons, up 4%), Turkey (24.816 million tons, up 14.8%), Brazil (22.363 million tons, up 3.8%) and Iran (19.784 million tons, up 1.9%).
In August, China increased exports by 8.7% year-on-year to $308.65 billion, according to the report of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China.
Thus, the figure reached its highest level in 23 months. At the same time, the increase was the most significant since March 2023.
Imports increased by 0.5% to $217.63 billion.
Analysts on average predicted a 6.5% increase in exports and a 2% increase in imports, according to Trading Economics.
China’s exports to South Korea last month increased by 3.4%, to the European Union by 13.4%, to the United States by 4.9%, and to ASEAN by 8.8%.
Imports from South Korea increased by 13.3%, ASEAN by 3.5%, India by 3.2%, and Russia by 3.2%. Meanwhile, supplies from the European Union decreased by 4%, Japan – by 3.8%, the United Kingdom – by 2.1%, and the United States – remained unchanged.
China’s foreign trade surplus in August increased to $91.02 billion compared to $67.81 billion in the same month of 2023. The surplus in trade with the United States amounted to $33.81 billion.
In January-August, China’s exports rose by 4.6% year-on-year (to $2.31 trillion), while imports increased by 2.5% (to $1.71 trillion). The foreign trade surplus amounted to $608.49 billion, including $224.57 billion in trade with the United States.
The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will raise thorny issues like Taiwan and Russia with only months left before a new administration takes office.
Making another heavy push to work with China in the waning months of the Biden administration, Jake Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks aimed at showing that the United States and China can manage their differences.
The U.S. national security adviser began his fifth meeting in less than 18 months with China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, as the Biden administration seeks to reinforce its strategy on China despite uncertainty over the future of American foreign policy.
There is much to talk about — but probably little on which they will agree.
Mr. Sullivan plans to discuss working with China on limiting the spread of fentanyl and expanding high-level military contacts. He will also stress the United States’ position on Taiwan and its concerns about China’s support of Russia.
China indicated it would raise its own objections during the talks — including over America’s support for Taiwan, the island democracy Beijing claims, and U.S. controls on exports of technology to China.
Beijing wants the United States to ease its pressure on China, in the hope that it would set the tone for smoother relations with the next U.S. administration, analysts said.
“China’s priority is to maintain the stability of China-U.S. relations in the last several months of Biden’s presidency,” said Zhao Minghao, an expert on U.S.-China relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.
The prospect of a potential meeting between President Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, before Mr. Biden’s term ends, is likely to come up. (It was unclear if Mr. Sullivan would meet with Mr. Xi during his three-day visit.)
Here are some of the issues Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang are expected to broach:
Taiwan and Ukraine
Perhaps the biggest flash points in relations between China and the United States are Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing aggression toward Taiwan.
Mr. Sullivan is likely to urge China to reduce its support to Russia, which the United States and NATO say has helped sustain Russia’s war effort, now in its third year. China buys huge quantities of Russian oil and supplies Russia with dual-use technology that can be applied to the battlefield, U.S. officials say.
Beijing is unlikely to turn its back on Moscow, its only major-power partner in counterbalancing the United States.
Chinese officials will seek to criticize U.S. support for Taiwan, which Mr. Xi has threatened to take by force, if necessary. Beijing accuses Washington of promoting “Taiwan independence” by supplying the island with arms and allowing for exchanges between American and Taiwanese officials.
China said in a statement on Sunday that the United States needed to do more to repair relations. “The United States has kept containing and suppressing China,” a foreign ministry statement said. The relationship, it said, is “still at a critical juncture of being stabilized.”
Taiwan was “the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed,” the statement read.
Technology Controls
Mr. Sullivan has championed the Biden administration’s export controls designed to prevent China from getting its hands on advanced American semiconductors, or microchips, that can be used to develop weapons or computing power that could threaten U.S. national security.
That has frustrated China, which has struggled to catch up with the United States in designing advanced chips despite investing billions of dollars in research. Beijing says the export controls are aimed at stunting China’s rightful development.
The restrictions, which were first introduced in October 2022, have had far-reaching consequences by forcing countries to shift, or consider shifting, some production of semiconductors out of Asia back to North America and Europe.
It is unclear what the long-term implications of U.S. export controls will be. China has seized on the restrictions to redouble efforts to become more technologically self-sufficient. Brokers have also used proxies to smuggle banned chips into China.
Will Xi and Biden Meet Again?
Mr. Sullivan’s visit could lay the groundwork for one last summit between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden. Discussions between Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang were key to organizing last November’s meeting.
Though he will only serve one term, and one that was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, Mr. Biden could be the first president not to travel to China since President Carter.
Mr. Biden has visited China before, when he was vice president in 2011, a trip remembered for his stop at a local Beijing restaurant for noodles and dumplings. If a state visit is not possible, Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden could potentially meet at the APEC summit in Peru in November.
Of course, China may not be interested in Mr. Biden’s lame duck presidency and could be focused on how best to approach the next administration. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine this month, the Chinese international relations scholars Wang Jisi, Hu Ran and Zhao Jianwei said Beijing sees little difference between a Trump or Harris administration; they will both be driven by domestic pressure to be tough on China.
“Beijing is preparing itself for the outcome of the U.S. elections with great caution and limited hope,” they wrote.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/world/asia/sullivan-biden-china-xi.html
In September, Ukraine will cut barley exports by more than half due to a reduction in Chinese purchases of the crop, according to the analytical cooperative Pusk, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (AAC).
“The Ukrainian barley market is undergoing significant changes that affect export prospects. As of August 19, exports of this grain reached 315 thsd tonnes, but preliminary forecasts for September are worrying. The volume of contracts for August is 600 thousand tons, while only 280 thousand tons are contracted for September. This is almost half as much,” analysts said.
In their opinion, the main reason for the future decline in exports is the decrease in demand from China, which previously provided more than half of Ukraine’s barley exports.
“The Chinese factor plays a significant role here, as China used to account for 55-56% of the geographical structure of Ukrainian barley exports. China is not expected to return to the Ukrainian grain as actively, but will probably switch to Australian barley, which will be delivered in December-January. Without Chinese contracts, monthly exports of Ukrainian barley will not exceed 300 thousand tons,” the experts explained.
They pointed out that the decline in demand from China is already beginning to be felt in the domestic market. A number of traders stop accepting barley, switching to other crops such as corn.
At the same time, they point to a significant correlation between barley and wheat markets and predict that the expected rise in wheat prices will also contribute to the growth of barley prices.
“The notional barley prices are still in the range of $170-172 per ton. We can expect that the wheat market will pull up the barley market. So, by the end of August and beginning of September, there may be a certain increase in barley prices. But starting in September, barley may become a more niche crop,” Pusk summarized.
