According to EastFruit analysts, the blueberry season in Ukraine in 2024 was unsuccessful for producers. The incredibly early flowering of blueberry plantations, followed by frosts, led to some yield reduction and damage to quality in some regions of the country, but in general, the harvest volume was higher than in 2023. And even though farmers had many problems with harvesting, the supply of berries on the market increased.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing military aggression against Ukraine, farmers also had a lot of problems with blueberry marketing. One of the main problems is the low capacity of the domestic market. Accordingly, domestic prices for blueberries largely depended on the efficiency of exports, which also had certain problems. After all, only a small number of blueberry producers can collect sufficient sales for direct export.
As a result, at the beginning of the season, blueberry prices plummeted to anti-record levels, as we wrote about in this article. We would like to remind you that in this article we will talk about prices only for blueberries of the highest quality, i.e. blueberries that can be sold both on the domestic and foreign markets. And even for these, as you can see in the graph below, prices were also extremely low.
It should be said that in the 2024 season, the early start of the harvest also led to an early end to the massive blueberry harvest. Therefore, for most farmers, the season was already over by mid-August, which allowed blueberry prices to recover somewhat and even exceed the levels of the 2022 season.
Read also: Blueberry sales season in Ukrainian farms will end earlier than usual
Nevertheless, if we take into account the average prices over the months, especially during the peak two months when up to 90% of the harvest is harvested, i.e. July and August, we see that the average price for blueberries in Ukraine in 2024 was the lowest for all years.
The following graph demonstrates the fall in blueberry prices in Ukraine
As you can see, the average wholesale price for premium blueberries in Ukraine during the peak months was 39% lower than the average for the six previous seasons (2018-2023) and 15% lower than in the not so successful season of 2023. At the same time, the sharpest drop in price to the average was observed in July, when the bulk of the blueberry harvest in Ukraine is harvested.
“To assess how significant the decline in blueberry prices is for farmers, several additional factors should be taken into account. Factor No. 1 is inflation, which was very significant even for the US dollar. Thus, every year the price reduction needs to be adjusted by another 4-5 percentage points to get a real comparable figure. The second factor is the growth of plantation productivity in most blueberry producers in Ukraine, which allows for a slight increase in production efficiency and partially compensates for the losses from lower prices. This is because most blueberry plantations in Ukraine are just entering full fruiting. However, it is already clear that a further decline in blueberry prices will make growing blueberries for small farms that do not have the ability to enter foreign markets directly far from as profitable as in 2018-2021, and some will even be at risk of loss,” says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Although the blueberry season cannot yet be considered completely over, as technically in certain seasons Ukraine continues to actively export and sell berries on the domestic market in September and even some volumes in October, in 2024 the situation is such that the interim results of the season will be very close to the final ones.
This year, prices in September and October may well be quite high, because despite the resumption of blueberry production in Peru, massive supplies of blueberries from this country will go to Europe late to the usual time. Nevertheless, blueberry production in Europe and competition in this market from third countries such as Morocco, Georgia and even African countries continue to grow, which will continue to put pressure on prices.
Metinvest Group, as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative, has built the country’s first underground hospital for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in coordination with the Vostok Medical Forces, to provide primary medical care and stabilize the condition of warriors after being wounded on the front line, having invested more than UAH 20 million, the group said in a press release on Tuesday
In turn, the Defense Ministry in a statement on its website indicated that the hospital was the first in a large-scale project implemented by the ministry in coordination with the Medical Forces Vostok, and in total it provides for the construction of more than two dozen underground stabpoints.
It is specified that the first facility is located near the front line and is designed to provide medical assistance to Ukrainian defenders in the safest possible conditions. The hospital is built on the basis of six enlarged steel bunkers-“kryivoks” developed by Metinvest, each of which is 7.6 meters long and 2.5 meters in diameter. Ventilation, water supply, drainage and alternative power supply systems have been installed to ensure the functioning of the facility.
Additional security measures have been taken during the installation of the underground hospital, in particular, it is additionally equipped with high-power REB systems and alternative power sources.
“Such underground stabpoints are critically important for preserving the lives of our military… This is the first step in a large-scale project that will strengthen our medical infrastructure and allow to support defenders on the front line even more effectively,” emphasized Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
“Metinvest” specified that the staffing of the hospital corresponds to the level of field hospitals of the second echelon (Role/Echelon 2) in accordance with NATO standards, and the investment included the cost of not only the construction of the hospital, but also the completion of its equipment.
“A medical hospital at a depth of many meters underground is the most ambitious and complex project we have had to implement since the beginning of the full-scale invasion within the framework of Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative,” said Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Mironenko.
It is noted that the steel underground hospital is not inferior to civilian hospitals in terms of medical equipment. In particular, Metinvest has equipped the hospital with oxygen concentrators, ventilator, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, operating equipment and lighting, sterilizers, patient heating systems, medical furniture for the total amount of more than UAH 7 million.
“This underground hospital is the best of stabilization points. It will allow to provide medical care to more than 100 patients per day, saving hundreds of lives of our heroes. I hope that the number of such facilities will grow,” said Roman Kuzev, acting commander of Medical Forces Vostok.
A new educational institution of the KAN Development educational network, Architectural and Engineering Collegium A+ (AIC+), opened in Kiev on Monday. The collegium is designed for 680 students, the company’s representatives said at the opening of AIC+. The area of the building is 13.1 thousand square meters, the total area of the training center is 3.30 hectares, of which 4 thousand sq. m. – shelter area. The training center is located on the territory of the residential neighborhood “Faina Town” in Kiev.
The company explained that the project is a conceptual educational complex that combines kindergarten, primary, secondary school, specialized lyceum and extracurricular activities in engineering, IT and architecture.
KAN added that $23 million was invested directly in the collegium, while the construction of each school shelter cost almost UAH 65 million.
As of today, KAN Development has invested over $100 million in educational institutions.
AIC+ became the 15th educational institution of the A+ network, where 3 thousand children study in full-day format and 700 teachers teach.
A+ activities began in 2005 at the initiative of Ivanna Nikonova. To date, the A+ educational network consists of three elementary school, two secondary schools, four kindergartens, three children’s clubs, a distance education center, a sports and music school and a wide range of extracurricular studios.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and grain market participants in addenda to the memorandum of understanding fixed in 2024/2025 marketing year the limit for export volume of 16.2 million tons of wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye (meslin) according to the code UKT VED 1001, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported.
“The purpose of signing the memorandum and its annex is to ensure food security, predictable, anticipated, flexible and stable grain export regime and sustainable functioning of the grain market in Ukraine,” the press service quoted Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky as saying.
The parties also agreed on monthly monitoring of the volume of grain exports and, if necessary, adjustment of the limit export volume in January 2025.
As reported, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and grain market participants in July 2024 signed a memorandum of understanding for 2024/25 MY. The parties agreed to cooperate on coordination of balance characteristics of the grain market of Ukraine to ensure food security, stabilization of the grain market, projected grain exports and receipt of foreign exchange earnings.
Turkey has officially applied to join BRICS, Bloomberg reports citing its sources.
The publication writes that such a decision is due to the fact that the country wants to strengthen its global influence, as well as to establish new ties outside the traditional Western allies.
BRICS is an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. This association is also called an analog of the G7 or G20 – a club for the interests of countries that are not satisfied with the “dominance” of the West. Earlier this year, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were joined by four new members – Iran, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia was invited to join, but has not yet done so.
Malaysia, Thailand and Azerbaijan have applied to join BRICS. The next BRICS summit to discuss its expansion will be held in Russia in late October 2024.
On August 30, 2024 PJSC Insurance Company “Columnaid Ukraine” has received from the new shareholder SCP Luxembourg S.A.R.L. the message about acquisition on August 27, 2024 of a significant block of shares exceeding the threshold value of 95% of voting shares of the company.
According to the message of the insurer in the information disclosure system of the NCSSM, SCP Luxembourg owns 100% of the authorized capital of IC “Columnaid Ukraine”.
The message indicates that the date of alienation of shares of IC “Colonnade Ukraine” by previous shareholders of the company – Colonnade Finance S.A R.L., Fairfax Financial (US) LLC and Fairfax Holdings Inc. – is August 27, 2024.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine on December 28, 2023 agreed SCP Luxembourg SARL direct ownership of 99.9833% of PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine.
PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine (until 2016 – PJSC IC QBE Ukraine) was founded in 1998 as the first international insurer in the Ukrainian market. In November 2015 the company Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg) has concentrated 99,9833% of the authorized capital of the insurer.
Earlier Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has concluded an agreement with QBE Management (Ireland) Limited and its Ukrainian partner on indirect acquisition of 100% of the Ukrainian IC through the companies Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg), Fairfax Holdings Inc. (Connecticut, USA), Fairfax Financial (US) LLS (Delaware, USA).
