The Council of the European Union has added Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru to the list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted. Ukraine also remained on the list of countries for whose residents the EU Council recommends gradually lifting travel restrictions at external borders.
“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru were added to the list,” the EU Council said in a statement on the website on Friday.
As stipulated in the Council’s recommendation, this list will continue to be reviewed every two weeks and updated as appropriate.
The spot price for gas in Europe again climbed above $1,000 per thousand cubic meters at opening of trading on Wednesday, following a correction on Tuesday afternoon.
The price of the nearest (October) TTF futures on the ICE Futures exchange on Wednesday morning reached 83.4 euros per MWh, or $1,007 per thousand cubic meters, according to exchange data.
On Tuesday, the price reached a historical record of $1,040, but corrected below $950 in the second half of the day.
This could have been prompted by the publication of Wednesday’s Yamal-Europe pipeline pumping nomination – it should have recovered almost to the maximum after dropping by 50% all at once. However, the evening came with an update on the pipeline’s pumping assignment – it had only partially recovered.
On Monday, the Yamal-Europe pipeline was pumping 3.4 million cubic meters per hour; on Tuesday, the flow dropped to 1.5 million cubic meters per hour (Gazprom commented that “this is a temporary situation connected to a request by one customer”), and on Wednesday, it only increased to 2.5 million cubic meters per hour.
The global driver of European gas prices – LNG prices in Asia – also continued to rise from Tuesday to Wednesday, forcing Europe to maintain a competitive price level.
DTEK Energy Holding has not abandoned plans to invest in the generation of electricity from renewable sources in Europe, and is now exploring opportunities for this in different countries, CEO of DTEK Renewables Maris Kuniсkis has said.
“Yes, this is in our focus. Plans to invest in Europe remain. As long as there is no stability in Ukraine, we focus on abroad,” he said during the 12th International Ukrainian Energy Forum of the Adam Smith Institute on Friday.
At the same time, he said that, since the market in Europe is also changing, the company has to reorient itself to other countries, abandoning the development of projects in those that were considered in 2020. In addition, Kuniсkis did not disclose the details of possible projects.
The volume of trade between Ukraine and Russia has dropped by nearly 84% over the past six years, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a joint press conference with European Commission Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maros Sefcovic in Kyiv.
“In fact, the volume of annual trade from Russia has dropped over the past six years by nearly 84%, from $37 billion to $7 billion. Trade turnover between Russia and Ukraine is gradually declining. At the same time, the volume of trade [between Ukraine and] Europe has grown to over 40%, which means it has grown by more than fivefold. The replacement of markets is underway, and Ukraine is learning to manufacture goods of higher quality, in line with European standards, which meets the course of our development,” Shmyhal said, when asked by Interfax-Ukraine what share of Ukrainian exports has been affected by Russia’s recently-introduced ban on imports of certain products from Ukraine and how the Ukrainian government would respond to it.
Shmyhal insisted that he was talking not about “trade wars” but about the Ukrainian market’s natural reorientation toward the European and other markets.
As was reported earlier, the Russian government extended a list of products that cannot be imported from Ukraine on June 28, 2021.
Belarusian Sea Shipping Company is planning to ship steel goods made by Belarus Steel Works (BSW) to Europe via Ukrainian and Serbian ports.
The shipping company is willing to organize “experimental shipments of metal goods to Europe via the ports of Odessa in Ukraine and Semderovo in Serbia with loading in Mozyr,” the Belarusian Transport Ministry said following a meeting between its head, Alexei Avramenko, and BSW management.
The ministry said the shipments would be a promising area for the shipping company’s development and make water transport more appealing or Belarusian industry in general.
OJSC Belarusian Sea Shipping Company was established in 2009 and carries export, import and transit cargo to and from CIS and non-CIS countries using river-sea ships.
Belarus is landlocked but most of its exports are carried out by sea, via the Baltic States. The shipping company had earlier been in favor of building a deep-water port on the Dnieper River in the Gomel region, 5 km from the border with Ukraine, then shipping cargo by sea from Odesa.
BSW produces steel, roll, tubular goods and hardware and exports to 66 countries.
BELARUSIAN SEA SHIPPING COMPANY, EUROPE, SERBIAN PORT, SHIP, STEEL
Ukraine may lift the ban on the import of unprocessed timber exclusively for the EU countries after it provides transparency in the domestic market, as it is suggested by bill No. 4197-1, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka has said. “We informed them with a note that we would pass the law in six months. The bill we are putting on is No. 4197-1. This is the bill on the timber market. The logic is very simple: first, we ensure transparency in the domestic market so that there are no grounds for manipulation. As part of this bill, we will also consider lifting the moratorium exclusively for the EU – we have no reason to lift it for the rest,” Kachka told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the Ukraine 30 forum.
He stressed that trade with the EU will be possible only with transparent mechanisms.
“Now in the EU there are two initiatives on forest control – corporate due diligence and a ban on the import of unprocessed raw materials is even possible. So they have the same process going on, we will actively synchronize,” Kachka said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on April 9, 2015 adopted a law, which banned the export of unprocessed timber and sawn timber (round timber) for 10 years.
In 2018, the parliament limited domestic consumption of unprocessed timber to 25 billion cubic meters per year for the duration of the export of round timber outside the customs territory of the country.
In January 2020, Ukraine and the EU created an arbitration group to consider a dispute over Ukraine’s ban on the export of raw timber. At the end of 2020, it issued a decision recognizing its right to restrict timber exports under certain circumstances, while at the same time recognizing the need to adjust the 2015 moratorium in cooperation with the EU.
