On the margins of the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the Republic of Palau Surangel Whipps Jr.
According to the President’s Office, in the presence of the leaders, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Palau Secretary of State Gustav Aitaro signed a Joint Communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the states.
The meeting between the presidents was the first high-level contact between Ukraine and Pacific Palau.
Zelensky thanked Surangel Whipps Jr. for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and invited Palau to join the implementation of the “Environmental Security” clause of the Peace Formula. “It is very important that you have found the opportunity to come to the Peace Summit. Thank you for your clear position. The issues being discussed at the Summit are important not only for Europe, but for the whole world,” the Ukrainian head of state said.
In January-May this year, DTEK Energo’s machine builders manufactured and repaired 606 units of mining equipment, including seven new roadheaders and shearers.
“Machine-builders also provided miners with 450 thousand spare parts and components,” the energy holding company said in a press release on Friday.
As the company noted, such volumes of necessary manufactured equipment allow it to continue laying a stronger foundation for the thermal generation to pass the next heating season.
“Debris removal and restoration work at thermal power plants damaged by the attacks continues 24/7. Everyone is working in their place. Miners and machine builders are also in their places. Miners – to extract enough coal for reliable operation of thermal power plants. And machine builders – to make sure that miners always have everything they need,” said Ildar Saleev, CEO of DTEK Energy, quoted in the press release.
As reported, in 2023, the company’s investments in Ukrainian coal mining amounted to about UAH 7 billion, which is almost twice as much as in 2022.
“DTEK Energo” provides a closed cycle of electricity production from coal. As of January 2022, the company’s installed capacity in thermal generation amounted to 13.3 GW. A full production cycle has been created in coal mining: coal extraction and preparation, machine building and servicing of mining equipment.
Innovative pharmaceutical companies remain in the top 15 leaders of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market due to budget procurement.
According to the presentation of SMD analytical company, presented during the joint seminar with Arzinger law firm “Participation in budget procurement brings multinational pharmaceutical companies good results”.
In particular, budget purchases account for 68% of sales in Ukraine of Roche, 54% of Boehringer and 46% of Pfizer. At the same time, Yuria Pharm is the leader among domestic pharmaceutical companies in budget purchases, budget purchases from which account for 68% of total sales.
At the same time, the reimbursement program “Affordable Medicines” provides a significant volume of sales to such companies as Kyiv Vitamin Plant (KVZ), Astra Zeneca, KRKA and TEVA.
In general, Pharmak with a 6.1% share, Darnitsa (4.6%) and Yuria-Pharm (4.1%) remained the leaders of the pharmaceutical market in terms of sales in 2024.
Among foreign pharmaceutical companies, the leaders were Sanofi and Teva, which at the end of 2023 held 2.7% of the market each, as well as AstraZeneca with a 2.1% share.
In Ukraine on Sunday, June 16, is expected to worsen weather conditions, reports Ukrhydrometcenter.
“In most southern, central and Kharkiv regions heavy rains, in the afternoon in some areas hail and squalls 15-20 m/s (I level of danger, yellow),” – stated in the message.
Profitability of the main types of agricultural crops has been steadily improving since 2023, but the production of cereals has not yet reached break-even, and the profitability of oilseeds remains minimal, in 2024 the profitability of oilseeds will be higher than previously predicted, and the production of cereals will remain unprofitable. The corresponding forecast is contained in the study of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB).
“The improvement in the level of profitability compared to the previous period is due to the restoration of export sea routes. This reduced the cost of logistics and allowed to increase purchase prices in the domestic market, even despite the decline in world prices for all types of grains and oilseeds,” the analysts said.
According to their information, over the past six months, prices at elevators have increased by 38% for grain crops and 14% for oilseeds compared to the same period last year. Prices in Ukrainian ports have also increased, but not so significantly, as the cost of logistics remains quite high. At the same time, purchase prices in the Ukrainian market are still far behind the world market.
Since the beginning of 2024, the structure of export routes has changed. Logistics of agro-products through the Danube river ports played an important role for Ukraine when the deep-water ports of Odessa did not work. But today the potential of the Danube export route is not fully utilized due to the higher cost of logistics in this direction compared to the deep-water ports of Odessa, the experts reminded.
The trend towards lower average fertilizer application rates in the industry continues. Although an increase in fertilizer application rates for winter crops was recorded in the autumn of 2023, in the spring of 2024 application rates decreased again – on average by 5% compared to the same period last year. The main reasons for the decrease in fertilizer application rates are the lack of working capital and rising cost of fertilizers due to changes in the Customs Code and the general situation of uncertainty in the industry due to the war.
Analysts noted that large producers practically did not reduce fertilizer application rates, while small farmers were forced to reduce them by an average of 10-15%. Application rates of plant protection products remained at the same level, because a reduction in the use of crop protection products can lead to deterioration in yields and quality of grain and oilseed crops.
According to the results of 2024, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and UCAB forecast a higher level of profitability of crop production compared to the previous forecast. Sunflower profitability is expected at $45/t (-$4/t in 2023), soybeans at $83/t ($69), and rapeseed at $78/t ($5/t). Grain production, on the other hand, will remain unprofitable.
“The results of crop production this year will be most influenced by such factors as reduction of fertilizer application rates and, as a consequence, a slight decrease in yields, as well as reducing the cost of export logistics, reducing the price gap between prices at elevators and Ukrainian ports due to the establishment of export shipments, which will contribute to a more active recovery of domestic purchase prices”, – stated analysts.
The situation in the Ukrainian energy system next week will be perceptibly more difficult compared to the current week, said the Chairman of the Board of the NEC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyy.
“Next week will be more difficult for the energy system, because the heat wave will return and we will have a reduced capacity of nuclear power plants, if compared to the current week,” he said in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda on Friday.
According to the NEC head, due to the massive shelling, the energy system has lost its reserve of strength and has become dependent on sudden changes in electricity consumption and weather, forcing it to balance by shutting down consumers.
“Our energy system, having lost more than 9 GW of capacity due to shelling, now has no reserve of strength. If earlier we had additional power plants that could be switched on promptly, we would overlap by switching on some hydro units or TPP units, now we simply do not have such a maneuver,” – explained Kudrytskyy.”
As previously reported, Energoatom announced that it would put a 1000 MW nuclear power plant unit under repair as part of a planned repair campaign in 2024. The company pointed out that, given this and the increase in electricity consumption in July, the generation deficit in the power system may increase.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal noted that saving e/e will be part of Ukraine’s daily life in the coming years due to Russian attacks on the country’s energy sector.
