Extremely high temperatures since the beginning of this week are again registered in the countries of southern Europe, including popular tourist destinations, European media reported on Monday.
Temperatures are expected to reach about 44 degrees Celsius in the Seville region of Spain this week. More wildfires are feared in the country.
In Cyprus, where a major fire is raging near Limassol, it is recorded at about 35 degrees, with strong winds likely to increase the burning area. There, local authorities have appealed for help from European and regional partners, Jordan and Greece have already sent firefighting aircraft to Cyprus.
In Greece, firefighters finally managed to bring about 70 fires under control over the weekend, but several regions of the country are still under the threat of fires due to increased winds. In July, severe fires led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists from the island of Rhodes.
Fire brigades are fighting fires on the Italian island of Sardinia. At least three people have been injured, about 600 had to be evacuated, two highways have been blocked. On Monday, the island declared the maximum, red level of danger.
At the same time, temperatures in central Europe and the northwest were below normal. It is expected that in London and Paris the temperature in the evening may fall to about +14 degrees Celsius.
Storm Hans has reached the north of Europe, causing widespread flooding in several countries, with warnings even issued in Sweden. Big delays are observed at Stockholm airport, ferry service to Poland has been interrupted.
The Norwegian Water and Energy Authority has raised the flood warning to the highest possible level.
Mining company Ferrexpo with assets in Ukraine in January-June this year due to the blockage of sea ports by Russia was able to supply pellets only to European countries and Turkey.
According to the semi-annual report of the company on Wednesday, Ferrexpo in the first half of the year-2023 all 100% of the realized products supplied to Europe, including Turkey, while in January-June-2022 this share was 92%, in the first half of the year-2022 – 79%.
Earlier it was noted that in H1-2022 the company increased the share of sales to Europe, including Turkey to 79% (in IH-2021 – 60%), Northeast Asia – to 5% (8%). Deliveries to the Middle East and North Africa were absent at that period (2%), as well as to North America (2%). Meanwhile, sales to Southeast Asia (SEA), including China, fell to 16% from 29%.
According to the report, the group was mainly limited to exports to Europe either by rail or inland waterways via the Danube River in the current year. It produced 1.967 million tons of pellets, operating one to two of four pelletizing lines, each capable of producing about 3 to 3.5 million tons of pellets per year, depending on the product types produced.
As at the end of July, the group operates one pelletizing line to reduce existing product inventories.
C1 production cost in H1-2023 was $71/tonne, down from H1-2022 ($85/tonne) due to the hryvnia devaluation in H2-2022 and lower prices for some consumables and the positive effect of energy savings. At the same time, iron ore prices in H1-2023 on the global market decreased by 5%, the outlook for the third quarter is slightly worse due to weak demand in Asia and increased iron ore supplies from Brazil and Australia.
Total selling and distribution costs in H1 2023 were $74 million (H1-22 – $147 million), mainly due to lower shipping volumes in the period due to the closure of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in February 2022 and higher alternative freight costs that followed access to European customers. C3 freight rates declined 26% year-on-year to average $20/tonne in 1H 2023 as a result of lower global energy prices and lack of demand from Brazilian miners.
It is also stated that previously the group’s maritime logistics routes represented the cheapest and most efficient way to deliver products to customers. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the group has had to adapt and establish new logistics corridors and relationships with logistics service providers and port operators. These routes rely heavily on rail, where capacity is limited and demand is high, including from businesses and industries, and transportation by barge is also limited and costly.
“The Group continues to explore its logistics options and has made progress in reducing transportation time and improving efficiency where possible,” the report said.
It also reminds that rail tariffs in July-2022 increased by 70% for 20 types of cargo, even when the group uses its own railcars.
During the first six months of 2023, the average monthly iron ore price remained in the range of $100 – $200/tonne, royalties for iron ore mining are charged to the group at a rate of 5% in this period.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of Poltava GOK PJSC, 100% of Yeristovskiy GOK LLC and 99.9% of Belanovskiy GOK LLC.
Countries in southern and central Europe are preparing for an abnormal heat wave expected to arrive there over the weekend due to the Cerberus anticyclone, the Associated Press reports.
“Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Poland are facing a powerful heatwave, with temperatures on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia potentially rising to 48 degrees Celsius – potentially the highest ever recorded in Europe,” the European Space Agency, which is tracking the Cerberus anticyclone that brought the abnormal heat to the region, said in a statement.
Temperatures across much of Italy are expected to exceed the 40 degrees Celsius mark over the weekend, with Spain expected to reach around 44 degrees Celsius.
In some countries, the authorities are taking measures to protect the population from the effects of abnormal heat. In particular, in Greece, the working hours of public institutions and the private sector have been changed. People are notified by SMS-messages about the danger of being on the street. The authorities of Cyprus urged the islanders to avoid forest areas because of the danger of fires.
At the same time, “Cerberus” is expected to soon hit the north of Europe. Thus, in the Arctic has already registered the day before the record high temperature in the history of observations – 28.8 degrees Celsius in the north of Norway. The previous record was recorded in 1964, when the thermometer reached 27.6 degrees Celsius.
The International Committee of the Red Cross urges tourists in Europe to exercise extreme caution and pay attention to the people around them, especially those who are most vulnerable to the effects of high temperatures, recalling that last summer Europe has already faced an abnormal heat wave, and then its victims for various reasons were about 60 thousand people.
Saudi Arabia will increase prices in August for all oil grades for US, Northwest Europe and Mediterranean customers as well as for some grades for Asian customers.Saudi Arabia raises oil prices slightly for US and Europe
The most significant price increases will be for customers from the Mediterranean (1-1.1%) and Northwest Europe (0.8%). For the US, Saudi oil will rise by 0.1%.
The cost of the main grade supplied to Asia, Arab Light, will increase by $0.2 per barrel next month. As a result, it will be $3.2 a barrel more expensive than the Oman and Dubai oil basket.
EUROPE, OIL, SAUDI ARABIA, US
The number of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Europe from January to April this year is unprecedented, much higher than during the same period in 2022, Le Figaro newspaper reported Friday.
From January to April, according to EU border agency Frontex, the number of illegal arrivals to the European Union through the central Mediterranean increased by almost 300 percent compared to last year, reaching a figure of 42,200.
This is slightly more than half of all illegal entries into the EU in all directions recorded this year.
Particularly many migrants arrived in Europe via Tunisia. Compared to 2022, their number increased by 1,100%.
The migrants cross the sea in small boats that are made for them right on shore at a cost of about 1,000 euros. Gangs of smugglers are becoming more and more organized, and this partly explains the increasing influx of illegals into the EU, Frontex said.
The European Commission is studying the situation on the poultry, egg and frozen fruit markets and is ready to return to tariff quotas if Ukraine maintains the current scale of their supplies to Europe, EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said.
During the session of parliamentary committee on agriculture, which took place on Monday, he said that at the moment there is no reason to prohibit import of any other goods, except wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower, from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. These goods are also allowed to transit the territory of these five countries, reports pap.pl.
According to Wojciechowski, market inspections, according to the current legal regime, will end in November, and according to the updated rules, if the procedure begins in June, they will end in September.
“The situation in the poultry market is not only local, but European-wide, and it is very likely that if imports do continue on this scale in the current months, there will be a return to the tariff quotas that were in place before liberalization,” he said.
As the commissioner said, the EC is monitoring the situation in the egg market. There is an increase in imports, and this is also covered by the excessive import procedure. “If this procedure shows excessive imports, there will be quotas or an import ban,” he added.
According to Wojciechowski, imports of frozen fruit from Ukraine to the EU reached 44,000 tons in 2022, an increase of 18.9 percent from 37,000 tons in 2021.
“This situation will be controlled. If during the season it becomes clear that there is a threat to Polish, European producers, the European Commission is ready to impose restrictions even in an emergency, express mode. It depends on the situation during the season, how the situation will develop in the coming months,” he stressed.
According to the Commissioner, since April 2022 until the end of March 2023, Ukraine exported 48 million tons of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, 24 million tons of which were sent to Africa and Asia, about 24 million tons – to the EU countries, 10.3 million tons of which – to the five frontline countries.
Voytsekhovskyy specified that 4.1 million tons of Ukrainian grain arrived in Poland, of which 3.3 million tons remained in the country, and 700 tons were in transit.
The largest transit country, through which the Ukrainian grain passed, was Romania, through which 9 million tons passed, of which 2.5 million tons remained in the country.
As Voytsekhovskyy stated, there was no uncontrolled import of grain from Ukraine to the EU. Because of the growing problem in the frontline countries, a temporary import ban was imposed on Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. “Existing restrictions are ‘likely’ to be extended,” wrote the Polish publication.
The European Commissioner recalled that free trade with Ukraine is very beneficial to the Polish economy. In 2022, almost 10 billion euros of goods were exported from Poland to Ukraine, and less than 6 billion zlotys (EUR 1.254 billion) were imported. At the same time, he noted that this is 1/3 of all EU exports, the value of which was EUR30 billion. In second place is Germany with exports of EUR4 billion.
“If someone asked me why I am in favor of liberalization of trade with Ukraine, it is only because not only political but also economic reasons demanded it,” the Polish edition quoted the European commissioner as saying.
