COVID-19 Bulletin: March 23
March 23, 2022 • Posted in Daily BulletinMore news relevant to the plastics industry:
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Supply
- Oil prices were flat Tuesday on fresh signs that the EU will not impose a blanket ban on Russian oil. In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 5.3% at $115.00/bbl, Brent was up 5.5% at $121.80/bbl and U.S. natural gas was up 1.8% at $5.28/MMBtu.
- U.S. oil demand rose slightly to 21.6 million bpd in February, the highest for the month since 1963 and the highest for any month since August 2005.
- While U.S. gas prices recently climbed to record highs in raw numbers, they have yet to reach inflation-adjusted levels last seen in 2014 and the 1980s. Prices surpassed $6 a gallon yesterday in Los Angeles, the highest in the nation.
- American budget airline JetBlue is cutting some international and domestic summer routes, citing rising fuel costs.
- U.S. diesel inventories are 21% lower than the pre-pandemic five-year average, contributing to a broader global shortage.
- More oil news related to the war in Europe:
- Following similar announcements by Halliburton and Schlumberger, oilfield services provider Baker Hughes said it would suspend all new investments in Russia.
- TotalEnergies is shifting gasoil and crude sourcing from Russia to Saudi Arabia and Poland for its 240,000-bpd German refinery.
- U.K. firms are calling on the government to draw up emergency backup plans in case Gazprom’s British retail unit, which supplies two-thirds of energy to the nation’s heaviest users, fails.
- Scottish Power will stop selling energy to British industrial and commercial customers, citing high wholesale prices.
- India is looking to weaken environmental rules so that it can quickly expand coal production to make up for a domestic energy shortage.
- Calls are growing for the U.S. to resume uranium production after prices for the fuel surged 30% since late February.
- Exports from the Black Sea-based Caspian Pipeline Consortium could fall up to 1 million bpd while it repairs two of three mooring points damaged by a recent storm.
- Production is dropping at a 50,000-bpd ConocoPhillips site in Alaska due to a gas leak, now in its second week.
- Occidental Petroleum plans to sell so-called “net-zero oil” to South Korea’s top refiner once it opens a new carbon capture facility in 2024.
Supply Chain
- One fatality has been reported last night from a major tornado that tore through Greater New Orleans, including St. Bernard Parish, home to several chemical plants.
- A summer-like heatwave is forecast to hit the U.S. West Coast in the coming days, sending temperatures to record-challenging levels for this time of year.
- Canadian Pacific Railway resumed normal operations Tuesday after reaching agreement with striking workers to arbitrate a contract dispute. The 2.5-day shutdown backed up shipments in Canada and the U.S., while the ports of Vancouver and Montreal are expected to see lingering congestion.
- Elevated container freight rates contributed 1.5% to consumer price inflation across the globe last year and could have an even greater impact this year amid high fuel costs and war-induced capacity constraints, according to the United Nations.
- Drewry’s World Container Index for average global shipping prices per FEU (40-foot container equivalent) dropped to $8,832 last week, the lowest level since July of last year.
- Shipping lines are increasingly moving Baltic-area container vessels to trans-Atlantic routes.
- The Federal Maritime Commission warned of regulatory action against ocean carriers that are not providing sufficient services to U.S. exporters and their overseas markets, an added layer of scrutiny after the agency began reviewing detention and demurrage policies last year.
- Texas officials unveiled plans for a new 2,000-acre multimodal logistics center at the Port of Victoria, some two hours from Houston, Austin and San Antonio.
- Chipmakers’ ambitious expansions plans could be delayed by several years as machinery suppliers struggle to meet surging demand.
- Volvo will struggle to meet sales and production forecasts this year due to continued chip shortages, the automaker warned.
- U.S. and Britain ended a four-year dispute over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs Tuesday in a deal that also removes retaliatory tariffs from U.S. motorcycles, whiskey and other products.
- Sri Lankan garment factories are struggling to keep operations running amid the country’s worst energy crisis in decades.
- A large Emirati container vessel sank in the Persian Gulf last week during a severe storm.
- More supply chain news related to the war in Europe:
- Maersk, which owns 30% of all shipping containers in Russia, will completely withdraw from the country and sell all its assets there.
- Global light-vehicle sales could fall as much as 2% this year due to supply fallout from the invasion, S&P Global predicts. The firm previously forecast sales to grow between 4%-6%.
- Prices for U.S. wheat-planting machinery are rising to unprecedented heights, signaling American farmers are eager to plant more grain as Eastern European exports fall.
- Ukraine could lose up to $6 billion in grain export revenue this year with its ports blocked by Russia.
- Washington state lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would expand truck drivers’ restroom access at seaports and mandate that all rest stops stay open through every season and maintenance period.
- DHL Express inked a five-year deal for sustainable aviation fuel from BP and Neste, a major step toward the shipper’s target of using sustainable fuels for 30% of its air transport by 2030.
- Koch Industries, the influential energy-based conglomerate that has long opposed environmental regulation, is now among the U.S.’s largest and most diversified battery investors outside the auto industry.
Domestic Markets
- The U.S. reported 23,011 new COVID-19 infections and 555 virus fatalities Tuesday. A quarter of eligible Americans have not been vaccinated, while half have yet to get a booster.
- The latest government data shows the BA.2 “stealth” subvariant of Omicron now accounts for one-third of new U.S. infections, with the largest concentration in northeastern states.
- Dozens of states have pulled back on COVID-19 testing and reporting programs, potentially making new virus waves harder to spot. For example, while Florida does not report new virus data until March 25, CDC sewage analyses suggest new infections are already back on the rise.
- Total COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alabama fell to 156 yesterday, the lowest level of the pandemic.
- New York City plans to end its school mask mandate for children under age 5 at the start of April.
- The federal government does not have enough pandemic funds to supply fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses to all Americans for free, the White House said.
- A rising trend of mental health challenges in U.S. children was exacerbated by the stress and social disruption of the pandemic, new research shows.
- Additional studies are supporting the finding that Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine provides longer-lasting protection than those of Pfizer or Moderna.
- Regional Federal Reserve officials are making the case for more aggressive interest rate hikes this year and next.
- U.S. industrial production rose 0.7% in February, excluding a 3.5% decline in the automotive industry.
- The White House signed off on a new law yesterday that will require key businesses to report to the government when they have been hacked, a timely measure as cyberthreats from Russia become more frequent.
- U.S. firms will likely face higher compliance costs and new disclosure challenges stemming from an SEC proposal that requires emissions and climate-risk data to be reported in annual filings.
- Available office space in Manhattan rose to a record high 17.4% in February, as more companies shift to remote or hybrid work arrangements.
- A Starbucks store in Seattle voted to unionize Tuesday, the first such vote in the coffee chain’s hometown.
- Graphex Technologies is building one of the first large-scale graphite processing plants in the U.S. outside of Detroit, which will provide 15,000 metric tons per year of a key anode needed for most electric-vehicle batteries.
International Markets
- More news related to the war in Europe:
- U.S. and European allies are expected to announce new economic sanctions on Russia later this week alongside fresh measures to punish evasion efforts. Penalties also will be levied against hundreds of individual Russian lawmakers.
- The U.S. Senate is expected to vote this week on removing Russia and Belarus from their favored trade status with the U.S., opening the door to higher tariffs.
- France’s BNP Paribas, the world’s seventh-largest banking group, will stop doing new business in Russia.
- Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis suspended capital investments and other activities in Russia but said it would continue to supply medicines.
- Some of the world’s largest makers of consumer goods are continuing to sell many products in Russia despite pledges to limit sales to essential goods only.
- French carmaker Renault resumed operations at its Moscow plant yesterday.
- Luxury firms have taken a large upfront economic hit from their decision to close stores in Russia.
- Global COVID-19 cases increased 7% the past week, the second weekly rise in a row.
- Rising COVID-19 cases in Europe are due to countries lifting restrictions too quickly, the World Health Organization said.
- China reported 4,770 new COVID-19 infections Tuesday and locked down another city of some 9 million people. More than 60 makeshift hospitals will be erected to contain a surge of new virus patients.
- South Korean registered nearly 500,000 COVID-19 cases yesterday, lifting total infections to over 10 million, one fifth of the population.
- Hong Kong’s latest and most severe COVID-19 wave was worsened by extremely low vaccination rates in older adults.
- Hong Kong’s flagship airline plans to run just one inbound flight every two weeks when travel bans are lifted, a bid to calibrate with the strict two-week shutdown of airlines that inadvertently carry COVID-infected passengers.
- Spain will end quarantine requirements for COVID-19 positive travelers with mild or no symptoms starting next week.
- New Zealand dropped several pandemic restrictions yesterday, including mandatory use of vaccine passes and outdoor mask mandates.
- Pfizer is sending 4 million courses of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment to almost 100 low-income nations starting next month.
- China’s Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, delayed filing its annual results and said it would unveil a massive debt restructuring proposal by this summer, as banks took control of more than $2 billion held by one of its key subsidiaries yesterday.
- Tesla rolled out its first European-made vehicles from a new gigafactory in Germany Tuesday.
- Ryanair, Europe’s largest passenger airline, aims to reach at least one-third of its long-term emissions targets with the use of sustainable aviation fuel.
- Every country in the world is behind on meeting World Health Organization air quality standards, a new study shows.
- Canada has started taking orders for roughly $4 billion in green bonds to finance pollution reduction projects.
At M. Holland
- M. Holland’s 3D Printing group offers a rapid response alternative for producing selected parts where resin availability is tight. For more information, email our 3D Printing team.
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For all COVID-19 updates and notices, please refer to the M. Holland website.