Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Agro-Region saved 15% of cost of logistics by rail

In the 2023-2024 marketing year (MY, July 2023 – June 2024), Agro-Region Agricultural Group refused to use freight forwarders, which allowed it to save 15% of the cost of railroad logistics, said Mykola Muravyov, Deputy Director of Logistics.
“Refusing to use freight forwarders and organizing rail transportation professionally on our own is a strategically sound decision. Of course, there are contracts on a “today-tomorrow” basis that are profitable to fulfill with freight forwarders when our own railcars are fully utilized, but these are isolated cases that we try to avoid,” the company’s press service quoted him as saying.
According to Muravyov, Agro-Region currently operates 100 railcars, of which 25 hopper cars were received by the company as part of the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine grant program.
At the peak of the 2023/2024 MY season, Agro-Region had up to 500 wagons under its operational control, as large volumes of corn harvest and uncertainty about whether the grain corridor and Black Sea logistics would work stably forced the company to make sales more concentrated in certain months to minimize risks, the deputy director explained.
He added that in the 2024/2025 season, the plan is more balanced and sales are planned in equal parts throughout the year, which significantly reduces the need for the number of wagons.
“The main indicator of the economic efficiency of railcar use is railcar turnover. It is important to organize the work so that the cars stand as little as possible and move as much as possible, i.e. make the maximum possible number of turns during the reporting period. The more turns a railcar makes, the more grain will be transported,” said the Deputy Director for Logistics.
Regarding railcar rental, he clarified that its cost is charged on a daily basis and does not depend on whether the railcar is idle or in constant motion.
Agro-Region is a group of agricultural companies that cultivate 40 thousand hectares of agricultural land in Chernihiv, Khmelnytsky, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions. It has three elevators in Boryspil, Myropil and Zavorychi with a total storage capacity of about 160 thousand tons. The agricultural holding grows corn, wheat, rapeseed, soybeans, barley, sunflower and oats. In 2022, Agro-Region exported an average of 250-300 thousand tons of grain per year and is trying to increase its exports through its own and farmers’ grain.

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Forecast of dynamics of changes in ukrainian GDP in % for 2022-2025 in relation to previous period

Forecast of dynamics of changes in ukrainian GDP in % for 2022-2025 in relation to previous period

Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news

Hackers stole nearly $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency in first half of year

Hackers stole more than twice as much cryptocurrency in the first half of 2024 as they did a year earlier, according to a report by analytics firm TRM Labs.

The size of thefts in January-June amounted to $1.38 billion compared to $657 million in the same period last year.

As a year earlier, the bulk of the volume was stolen in a small number of attacks. Five hacks allowed hackers to steal 70% of the total semiannual volume.

The largest of these was the hack of Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin, in which attackers stole more than $300 million worth of bitcoins.

That said, there were no fundamental changes in the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem that could have contributed to the increase in thefts, TRM notes. The number of attacks has also not changed significantly over the year.

However, the average value of cryptocurrencies rose in the first half of the year, which may have affected the dollar valuation of thefts.

 

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Ukraine in January-June this year significantly increased export of steel semi-finished products

Ukraine in January-June this year increased exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 61.6% compared to the same period last year – up to 888.016 thousand tons.

According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, in monetary terms, exports of semi-finished carbon steel products increased by 47.3% to $439.909 million.

The main exports were to Bulgaria (35.49% of shipments in monetary terms), Poland (11.74%) and Italy (8.56%).

In January-June 2024 Ukraine imported from Egypt 5 tons of semi-finished products worth $5 thousand, while in January-June 2023 it imported from China 72 tons of semi-finished products worth $133 thousand.

As reported, Ukraine in 2023 reduced exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 36.7% compared to 2022 – to 1 million 203.454 thousand tons, exports in monetary terms decreased by 48.9% to $608.516 million. The main exports were to Bulgaria (36.66% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (23.01%) and Italy (9.60%).

In addition, in 2023 Ukraine imported 96 tons of semi-finished steel products from China (98.26%) and Turkey (1.74%) for the amount of $172 thousand.

 

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Ukraine exported 57.5 million tons of grains and oilseeds in 2023-2024 marketing year

Ukraine in the 2023-2024 marketing year, ending June 30, 2024, exported 57.5 million tons of grains and oilseeds from a harvest of 82.8 million tons, with transitional stocks of about 7 million tons, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) said.

“Last season, the most important factor for Ukrainian grain exports was the opening of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Corridor, which allowed exports by sea from the deep-water ports of Odessa. The second most important factor was the introduction by Ukraine together with international partners of a working mechanism of insurance of ships entering Ukrainian ports, which reduced the cost of exporters and, accordingly, Ukrainian agricultural producers on export logistics”, – said the association.

According to UZA analysts with reference to the information of the State Customs Service, in monetary terms exports of grains and oilseeds in 2023/2024 MY amounted to $10.76 billion, and exports including products from them, including sunflower oil and other oils, cakes and meal, amounted to $17.86 billion.

Wheat exports totaled 18.4 million tons worth $3 billion, with production of about 22 million tons. The top 3 importing countries of Ukrainian wheat included Spain, which purchased 5.899 million tons, Egypt – 1.721 million tons, Indonesia – 1.515 million tons.

Barley Ukraine supplied abroad almost 2.5 million tons for $376 million, with production of 5.8 million tons. The most active buyers were China – 702 thousand tons, Indonesia – 460 thousand tons, Cyprus – 221 thousand tons.

Last season Ukraine exported 29.3 million tons of corn worth $4.7 billion, while last year’s production was 29.6 million tons. Its main buyers were Spain – 6.011 million tons, China – 4.832 million tons, Egypt – 3.874 million tons.

Nearly 3 million tons of soybeans were sold to other countries for the amount of $1.1 billion, with a harvest of 4.9 million tons. The top 3 buyers were Egypt – 956 thousand tons, Turkey – 674 thousand tons, Germany – 235 thousand tons.

 

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ADONIS Medical Group estimates losses of destroyed clinic at $3 mln

The ADONIS Medical Group (Kyiv) estimates the damage caused by the aggressor’s missile attack on Monday at almost $3 million, Vitaliy Girin, co-owner of the medical group, told Interfax-Ukraine.

He specified that the shelling damaged a branch of the clinic in the Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv near the Livoberezhna metro station.

Fundraising for the families of the killed employees is currently underway.

link to the bank https://send.monobank.ua/jar/bdmPmH8ua

Bank card number 5375 4112 2005 6423

As reported, seven people – five doctors and two patients – were killed in a missile attack by the aggressor on Monday in the ADONIS clinic department. The same building houses a branch of another private clinic, where no one was injured.

The department that was hit is now closed, and patients’ visits are being transferred to other centers of the medical group.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, a shell of the Russian aggressor hit a private maternity hospital of the ADONIS clinic in Kyiv region.

ADONIS is a network of private medical centers for adults and children. ADONIS Private Clinic was founded over 25 years ago. Its network includes 7 branches in Kyiv and the region, including a rehabilitation center and a stem cell laboratory. In the branches of the clinic, doctors treat patients in 75 medical areas. In times of war, ADONIS branches with surgical units provide quality medical care to military and civilians.