Oil prices surged past $100 (£74) a barrel to hit their highest level for more than seven years after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is the second biggest exporter of crude oil, and is also the world’s largest natural gas exporter.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could spell trouble for the U.S. economy, fuelling higher gasoline prices and hampering the post-coronavirus recovery.
Europe gets nearly a third of its oil and around 40% of its gas from Russia, much of it flowing through pipelines across Ukrainian territory. Small wonder then that prices are shooting up.
Brent crude oil has gone above $100 a barrel, while prices for gas on wholesale markets – where domestic suppliers buy what they need – are up sharply as well.
Supplies from Russia do not appear to have been affected – yet. But the fear that they will be, and that there could be a scramble for other resources, is pushing up costs.
Stock markets across Europe are tumbling, as investors fret about the potential economic impact of high energy prices and the potential for much wider sanctions as well.
According to market watchers, higher crude oil prices are major headwinds for a couple of sectors including aviation, paint, tyres and oil marketing companies. Brent crude oil has jumped over 30 per cent to $101.40 on a year-to-date basis till February 24. The commodity was at $77.78 per barrel on December 31, 2021.
While e-commerce has fuelled demand for packaging, pandemic-related labour shortages and shipping constraints are also making it harder to make and deliver the boxes used to carry everything from food to consumer goods.
Reference:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60502451
In the second half of 2022, China unveiled the details of its data export regulations, providing further explanations to its existing laws and regulations on data.
The current energy crisis has reached an unsustainable level for the European chemical industry. For the first time ever, the EU imports more chemicals than it exports, both in volume and value, resulting in a trade deficit of € 5.6 bn for the first half of 2022.
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (also referred to as hormone disruptors or EDCs) are synthetic chemicals that are not produced by the human body and that disrupt the normal functioning of humans and animals.
The shipping industry is now returning to normality and is in a downward spiral. The cost of shipping goods from China has slumped to the lowest level in more than two years as the world economy stumbles, dimming prospects for container carriers that turned in record profits during the pandemic.
No precipitous plunge in container shipping rates, just ‘orderly’ decline.
The global food and beverage market size is expected to grow from $5.8 trillion in 2021 to $6.4 trillion in 2022 at a growth rate of 9.7%. The food and beverage market size is expected to grow to $8.9 trillion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of 8.7%.
The amendment makes QR codes mandatory on every active pharmaceutical ingredient. The Amendment Rules will come into force from January 01, 2023.
On June 22, 2022, the Commission adopted pioneering proposals to restore damaged ecosystems and bring nature back across Europe, from agricultural land and seas, to forests and urban environments. The Commission also proposes to reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030.
According to New York Times, in a small clinical trial, 18 patients took a drug called Dostarlimab for around six months, and in the end, every one of them saw their tumours disappear.