Oil prices below $82

According to the latest data published by OilPrice.com on Thursday, Brent oil prices continued to fall and currently stand at $81.89, while Texas WTI crude is trading at $77.92.

On the London market, the price of a barrel on Wednesday was $1.34 lower than on Tuesday and amounted to $83.43. In comparison, on the American market, it fell by $1.28 to $79.58.

Moreover, on Wednesday, traders focused on the US monetary policy.

The head of the US central bank’s office in Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, said on Tuesday that they would likely raise interest rates once more to curb inflation. Markets speculate that the Fed will raise them by a quarter of a percentage point in May, putting the chances of such a move at 85 percent.

European Central Bank (ECB) officials are also closely monitoring inflation and signaling that they must continue raising interest rates in the eurozone.

The fear that higher borrowing costs will slow down the economy and demand for oil has been overshadowed by data on the strong growth of the Chinese economy in the first quarter, 4.5 percent compared to the same period last year, and record oil refining in March.

Bulgaria banned grain imports from Ukraine

On Wednesday, Bulgaria announced that it is banning the import of Ukrainian grains because it believes they destabilize the domestic market. Today Hungary also announced the expansion of the list of prohibited imports of dozens of food products from Ukraine.

Poland and Slovakia recently took similar steps to protect their farmers, which the European Commission condemned as “one-sided and unacceptable.”

Sofia said she had to take this “extreme measure,” which comes into effect on Monday, April 24, to prevent the diversion of Ukrainian goods through the Romania-Bulgaria humanitarian corridor. She hoped there would be joint EU decisions in the coming weeks.