Largest shipowners are restricting the movement of vessels in the Red Sea, which will increase the cost of freight and oil prices

The largest sea carriers - the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the French CMA CGM, the Danish Maersk and the German transport company Hapag-Lloyd decided to limit the movement of ships in the Red Sea and direct them to bypass Africa, which will lead to an increase in the cost of freight.

After October 7, when Israel's struggle with Hamas intensified, at least 12 merchant ships were attacked by Iran-backed Houthi fighters in the Red Sea in the Yemen region. The American flotilla deployed in the region shot down 14 drones launched from Yemen, and another drone neutralized a British Royal Navy ship.

Since Tuesday, oil prices have risen 4.5% on a possible disruption in crude oil supplies caused by attacks on tankers in the Middle East. So, the February Brent oil futures on the London ICE Futures exchange, after 8 weeks of decline, rose on Tuesday by 4.6% to $76.96/barrel (+0.9% for the week), but remain at 7.3 % lower than a month ago.

Prices for vegetable oils, which usually react immediately to jumps in oil prices, have not changed much so far.

February palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia fell 1.1% for the week to 3,698 ringgit/t, or $792/t, unresponsive to rising oil prices and possible declines in December palm harvests in Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to surveyor Intertek Testing Services, palm oil exports from Malaysia for December 1-15 decreased compared to the same period in November by 13.6% to 591.5 thousand tons, which increases the pressure on quotations.

Sunflower oil prices stabilized at $830-840/t DAP/CIF Bulgaria and $860/t DAP/CIF Turkey, as a result of which prices for sunflower oil deliveries to the Danube and Black Sea ports in Ukraine fell to $750-780/t .

Purchase prices for sunflower in Ukraine remain at the level of UAH 14,000-14,500/t with VAT (or $330-350/t without VAT) with delivery to the factory, but export demand prices for deliveries to Bulgaria have fallen from $430-440/t to 410-415 $/t, which limits the growth of domestic prices.