Import of diesel fuel to Ukraine got up: tankers don't want to go

European companies do not offer new wholesale lots of diesel to Ukrainian companies and they have sold out the old ones. For example, suppliers do not want to send ships to the Black Sea, as there is a high risk of being hit by the Russian army.

"At the end of July, the wholesale diesel fuel market actually remained without offers. If it was still possible to find separate parties in the west, then the south has practically dried up. At the same time, all components of imports became more expensive — from premiums and freight to automobile and railway logistics, which creates the prerequisites for a new round of prices," writes the Ukrainian specialized publication enkorr.

According to him, during July 30-31, traders traded mainly in leftovers, and the new resource was almost not received. The main reasons range from the situation in the Black Sea and the record shallowing of the Danube to the physical shortage of offers throughout the Mediterranean region.

"Find a tanker that will agree to go to Ukraine, it's getting harder. Against the background of this and high demand from other countries, tanker freight is flying up. According to market participants, vessels from Greece is already worth $ 100/ton, although a few days ago they were talking about $65-70/ton. The Danube has become no less a problem. Due to the record shallowing, the loading of flat-bottomed barges has decreased to 30-50%... Against this background, the freight of barges has increased rapidly. If earlier the vessel could be chartered for € 45-60/ton ($ 50-70/ ton), then at the end of the month separate agreements were already concluded for $ 80/ton," the newspaper writes.

"The demand for barges is very high, but for $ 100/ton the shipowners are ready to refuse the client and give the ship to you," said one of the traders.

As enkorr notes, the shallowing of the Danube not only increased the cost of transportation, but also sharply slowed down the flow of resources from the Romanian Constanta, which remains the main source of diesel fuel supplies to the south. Ukraine.

"While Romanians have almost no diesel fuel. After August 5, the arrival of a hundred thousand is expected, and before that it is dry," said one of the interlocutors of the publication.

Due to problems with barges, traders began to look for an opportunity to reorient some of the future supplies to the railway, but here they also faced a shortage of tank cars.

Meanwhile, the supply of petroleum products to Ukraine and the pipeline from Slovakia.

"We have already been contacted by consumers of the Slovak resource, because in the first half of August there will be almost no supply through the pipe," said one of the traders.

"At the same time, shipments of automobile shipments from ORLEN Lietuva decreased. Last week, the Lithuanian manufacturer reported technical difficulties in production, which is why it shipped only previously agreed applications. By August 3, the situation had not changed," writes enkorr.

According to him, in August, quotas for Ukrainian importers were also cut by the main ORLEN — in Poland.

Enkorr notes that, despite the sufficient amount of contracted resources, August will not be easy: "And the first half of the month will obviously be very stressful. The problem remains not so much the availability of contracts as the speed of their execution. Even if the quotes go down and the manufacturers activate the shipment, as it was in the spring, the resource will not be able to physically get to Ukraine promptly. It is logistics that has become the main factor determining the situation on the diesel fuel market today."