U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday a ban on the import of Russian oil into the United States. In a press statement in Washington on Tuesday, he stated: “Today I am announcing new sanctions. We ban all oil imports. The measure has strong bipartisan support. We made this decision in close consultation with allies in Europe.”
At the same time, Biden noted that “our European allies may not be in a position to join us.”
The U.S. President called on Congress to pass a $12 billion aid package for Ukraine. He noted that the United States has already provided Ukraine with a $1 billion security assistance package and is coordinating actions in this area with European allies.
Speaking about the impact of sanctions on Russia, Biden noted that “the Russian economy has cracked.” “The Central Bank of Russia is trying to support the ruble, but cannot do it now. We are restricting Russians’ access to technology, which will weaken its military for many years to come.” “If we don’t confront Putin now, the situation will get even worse,” he said.
BAN, BIDEN, IMPORT, RUSSIAN OIL, US
On February 18, Ukraine imposed a ban on the import of poultry meat and by-products from the United States after an outbreak of avian flu on a turkey farm in Indiana on February 10.
As reported on the website of the Public Health Center (PHC), the ban applies to the import of hatching eggs, birds, products from it (with the exception of products that have been processed by a method that guarantees the destruction of the causative agent of the specified disease), feed, as well as by-products of the poultry industry.
According to the State Customs Service, in 2021 Ukraine imported $122,000 worth of poultry meat and offal from the United States, becoming Ukraine’s 15th trading partner in terms of imports, while Poland ($40.6 million) and Hungary became the largest ($10.3 million).
Avian influenza is an acute infectious viral disease of birds, characterized by damage to the digestive and respiratory organs and high mortality. Influenza affects birds of any age, and the mortality rate for the disease reaches 80-100%.
Last year, Ukraine increased the import of fish, crustaceans and shellfish by 28.6% compared to 2020, to $874 million, according to the website of the Institute for Agrarian Economics National Research Center on Monday.
According to the institute, Norway retained its status as the largest supplier of these products with a share of 35.2% ($307.6 million) of total imports. Norway has been holding a leading position in the import of fish and seafood to Ukraine for 15 years.
Other major suppliers of these products were Iceland with a market share of 13.2% ($113.6 million), the United States – 7.7% ($67.3), Canada – 5.6% ($49 million), Great Britain – 4.7% ($41.1 million) and Spain – 4.4% ($38.4 million). These six countries combined accounted for 71% of fish and seafood imports in 2021.
“Fish and seafood are traditionally in the top three main types of agricultural food imported to Ukraine. In 2021, the share of products of this group in the structure of foreign supplies of agricultural raw materials to Ukraine turned out to be the largest and amounted to about 11%,” expert Bohdan Dukhnitsky said.
The organization clarified that Ukraine buys mainly frozen, as well as fresh and chilled fish, fish fillets and crustaceans.
On the night of February 16-17, the Maran Excellence ship with 160,000 tonnes of Colombian coal for the needs of PJSC Centrenergo moored in the port of Pivdenny, unloading is underway at a deep-sea berth, the press service of the generating company reported.
“One of the largest bulk carriers (capesize), with a deadweight (maximum allowable load) of more than 180,000 tonnes, delivered 160,000 tonnes of high-quality Colombian coal to Ukraine for the needs of the Centrenergo generation,” the company said on its website on Thursday .
It notes that such a significant consignment of coal was delivered to Centrenergo for the first time by sea in accordance with contracts concluded with international traders.
“Despite the difficult situation that has developed in the Black Sea due to the training of the Russian Federation, the vessel successfully passed through a safe additional corridor to the Ukrainian port and arrived at its destination according to the schedule,” the generating company stressed.
Until the end of February this year, Centrenergo expects the next two ships with a total volume of coal of 214,000 tonnes.
The company assured that the replenishment of stocks at warehouses of thermal power plants due to the diversification of coal sources and the support of the Ministry of Energy and the State Property Fund of Ukraine will allow confidently going through the heating season and ensuring the reliable operation of the Ukrainian power system during peak hours.
Ukrainian coke and chemical plants in January of this year imported 860,000 tonnes of run-of-mine coking coal and coal concentrate for coking, which is 5.2% more than in the same period last year.
According to an information statement of the Ukrmetalurgprom association on Monday, the supply of Ukrainian coal for this period amounted to 280,000 tonnes, which is 11.6% lower than in January 2021.
In general, in January 2022, Ukrainian coke and chemical plants received 1.14 million tonnes of coal for coking, which is 0.5% more than in January 2021. At the same time, the share of imported coal in the total supply amounted to 75.5% in January 2022 versus 72.2% in January 2021.
Some 772,000 tonnes of coke (106% compared to January 2021), including 668,000 tonnes of Ukrainian origin (95%), and 104,000 tonnes of imported coal (4.16 times more) were supplied to Ukrainian steel enterprises in the specified period. The share of imported coke in the total supply amounted to 13.47% versus 3.43% in January 2021.
In addition, last month, 237,000 tonnes of scrap metal were collected (78.2% compared to January 2021), of which 231,000 tonnes (81.3%) were supplied to Ukrainian consumers as imported. Export of scrap metal in January amounted to 6,000 tonnes (31.6% compared to January 2021).
It is noted that the provision of steel enterprises with Ukrainian iron ore raw materials in January 2022 was carried out in accordance with the needs of metallurgical production. There were no imports of iron ore. Export of iron ore for the first month of the year amounted to 3.85 million tonnes (104.3% compared to January 2021).
According to updated data of Ukrmetalurgprom, in January 2022, plants produced some 2.785 million tonnes of sinter (101.3% compared to January-2021), 807,000 tonnes of 6% moisture gross coke (95.5%), 1.786 million tonnes of cast iron (98.2%), 1.851 million tonnes of steel (100.7%), 1.672 million tonnes of rolled products (100.6%), and 91,000 tonnes of pipe products (168.2%).
As of February 11, 2022, of the main operating production facilities, 17 out of 21 blast furnaces, seven out of eight open hearth furnaces, 13 out of 16 converters, five out of 15 electric furnaces and 16 out of 17 continuous casting machines were in operation.
