Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises increased their production of rolled steel by 0.4% to 5.372 million tons in 2023, according to preliminary data, compared to 2022.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom on Wednesday, steel production decreased by 0.6% to 6.228 million tons last year.
Pig iron production for the period decreased by 6.1% to 6.003 million tons.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced production of total rolled products by 72% compared to 2021 – to 5.350 million tons, steel by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons, and pig iron by 69.8% to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of pig iron (103.6% compared to 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), and 19.079 million tons of rolled products (103.5%).
On Thursday, benchmark oil prices are rising after falling a day earlier due to data on the growth of oil and oil products stocks in the United States.
Quotations for March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:00 CET are $77.14 per barrel, which is $0.34 (0.44%) higher than the level at the close of the last trading session. On Wednesday, these contracts fell by $0.79 (1%) to $76.80 per barrel.
February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning rose in price by $0.27 (0.38%) to $71.64 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, their quotes decreased by $0.87 (by 1.2%) and ended the day at $71.37 per barrel.
Commercial oil inventories in the United States last week increased by 1.338 million barrels, the Energy Department reported. Analysts on average had forecast a decline of 675 thousand barrels, according to Trading Economics.
Gasoline reserves jumped by 8.03 million barrels, distillate reserves – by 6.53 million barrels. Experts expected an increase of 2.49 million and 2.38 million barrels, respectively.
S&P Global Commodity respondents predicted an average decrease in oil reserves by 900 thousand barrels, as well as an increase in gasoline reserves by 4.9 million barrels and distillate reserves by 3.7 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the oil market is supported by attacks by Yemeni Houthis on ships in the Red Sea, MarketWatch reports. The fact that the incidents continue despite the actions of the US and UK navies in the region increases fears of a protracted conflict, forcing transport companies to look for workarounds to transport goods.
Another factor that puts upward pressure on prices is the suspension of oil production at Libya’s largest field, Sharara, with a capacity of 300 thousand barrels per day, due to political protests.
In 2023, Ukrposhta JSC increased its revenues by UAH 1.9 billion to UAH 11.9 billion, exceeding the previous record level of UAH 11.1 billion in 2021, according to a report on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, citing the company’s CEO Ihor Smelyansky.
“In 2023, the number of parcels sent increased by 40%. It is also worth mentioning the 15 million parcels that Ukrposhta and Ukrzaliznytsia transported together – this is a convenient and effective collaboration between two state-owned companies,” Smelyansky said.
It is also noted that the number of money transfers has increased by 40%.
In 2022, Ukrposhta delivered 41.5 million parcels and paid out 9.3 million transfers.
Among other achievements of the past year, Smelyansky mentioned the establishment of air service with the United States. “This is important for our entrepreneurs. After all, even during a full-scale war, more than 1 million Ukrainian goods are successfully sold on American marketplaces,” he explained.
Separately, the Ukrposhta CEO emphasized the importance of loan agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development worth EUR 63 million and the European Investment Bank worth EUR 30 million.
According to the data presented, the company has increased the number of mobile branches to 1864 with 200 locations.
Smelyansky named digitalization as one of the main areas of work for 2024. According to him, the company plans to cover 100% of Ukrainian cities and villages with digital services, as well as increase the level of automatic parcel sorting to 100% through the introduction of 18 new sorting centers.
It is also indicated that, if permits are obtained, Ukrposhta intends to cover 100% of towns and villages with banking and drug delivery services.
JSC “Ukrposhta” (Kyiv) on January 10 announced a tender for real estate insurance services of mortgage objects.
As reported in the system of electronic public procurement “Prozorro”, the expected cost of UAH -2.744 million.
Documents are accepted until January 18
The number of Ukrainians who believe that the next year will be successful is 17.7% higher than the number of those who believe that the next year will be unsuccessful. While the number of those who rate the past year as more successful is only 1.7% higher than those who rate it as more unsuccessful. These are the results of a sociological survey conducted by Active Group on December 30, 2023, using the SunFlower Sociology online panel.
Answering the question “In which areas did the Ukrainian government work best in 2023?”, the highest rating was given to attracting international economic support, which was indicated by 44.5% of respondents. Attracting international political support came in second place, with 33.5% of respondents mentioning it. Attracting international military support was named by 32.7% of respondents as the third most successful area of work of the Ukrainian authorities. The three areas of work of the government that respondents mentioned the least were “Ensuring the safety of citizens in the government-controlled territory” (5.3%), providing support to socially vulnerable groups (5.0%), and ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens in the government-controlled territory (1.4%).
Next, respondents were asked to answer the question of how much they trust the following politicians. It turned out that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has the highest level of trust among the respondents. Thus, the number of those who trust Zelenskyy (fully or partially) exceeded the number of those who do not trust him by 48.9%. Mykhailo Fedorov is on the second place from the proposed list, who also has a positive balance of trust, amounting to 24.1%. The number of those who trust Vitali Klitschko is only 1.9% less than those who do not trust him. The rest of the politicians from the proposed list (Dmytro Razumkov, Volodymyr Groysman, Oleh Tyahnybok, Oleh Lyashko, Oleksiy Arestovych, Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko) have a negative balance of trust and distrust, with percentages ranging from -20.5% to -76.6%.
Thus, the leaders of trust are Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mykhailo Fedorov, who are trusted (partially or fully) by 71.3% and 56.1% respectively. And the leaders of distrust are Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, who are distrusted (partially or completely) by 75.7% and 84.1% respectively.
Respondents also assessed the usefulness of the work of the top three politicians – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Petro Poroshenko, and Yulia Tymoshenko Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the highest score. 20.9% of respondents consider his activities “extremely useful” and 38.1% consider them “more useful.” The overall balance of usefulness and harmfulness for Zelenskyy is 31.5%.
Petro Poroshenko has a much more negative perception. Only 5.0% of respondents consider his activities “extremely useful,” and 15.3% – “more useful.” Instead, 22.5% consider his activities “more harmful” and 47.5% – “exclusively harmful”. His overall balance is -49.7%.
Yulia Tymoshenko also has mostly negative assessments. Only 1.7% of respondents consider her activities “exceptionally useful,” and 5.9% – “more useful.” However, 29.4% consider her activities “more harmful,” and 34.7% – “exclusively harmful.” The overall balance of usefulness and harmfulness for Tymoshenko is -56.5%.
Answering a couple of questions “Which of these politicians has done the most/least for the development of Ukraine?” Only Volodymyr Zelenskyi (48.4%) and Mykhailo Fedorov (9.8%) received a positive balance of answers. The rest of the politicians received a negative balance. The worst performers were Oleh Lyashko, Petro Poroshenko, and Yulia Tymoshenko with results of -38.4%, -39.0%, and -45.3%, respectively.
Next, respondents were asked to give their assessment of politicians’ openness to people, their ability to represent Ukraine in the international arena, and their moral and professional qualities.
Openness to people:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considered the most open (45.2%), but 14.5% consider him the least open, with a difference of 30.7%.
Vitali Klitschko has a positive balance (10.6% vs. 8.7%), with a difference of 1.9%.
Yulia Tymoshenko has the worst balance (-27.4%), with 2.1% against 29.5%.
Representation of Ukraine in the international arena:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy leads (56.7% vs. 11.7%), with a difference of 45.0%.
Mykhailo Fedorov has a positive balance (10.3% vs. 4.3%), with a difference of 6.0%.
Petro Poroshenko has a significant negative balance (-29.0%), with 9.0% vs. 38.0%.
Moral qualities:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also leads (44.2% vs. 13.4%), with a difference of 30.8%.
Mykhailo Fedorov has a positive balance (11.3% vs. 4.7%), with a difference of 6.6%.
Yulia Tymoshenko has the worst balance (-37.4%), with 2.5% vs. 39.9%.
Professional qualities:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is again the leader (40.4% vs. 15.0%), with a difference of 25.4%.
Mykhailo Fedorov has a positive balance (16.8% vs. 4.4%), with a difference of 12.4%.
Yulia Tymoshenko has a significant negative balance (-31.7%), with 5.0% against 36.7%.
Summing up the assessments of individual qualities, we can conclude that Volodymyr Zelenskyi with an average score of 48.4% and Mykhailo Fedorov with an average score of 13.1% are perceived most positively among the above-mentioned candidates. The most negatively perceived are Petro Poroshenko, with an average negative rating of 38.4%, and Yulia Tymoshenko, with an average negative rating of 37.6%.
The study was conducted by Active Group with the help of the SunFlower Sociology online panel. Method: Self-completion of questionnaires by Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. Sample: 2000 questionnaires (representative by age, gender and region of Ukraine). Data collection period: December 30, 2023. The theoretical error of the study does not exceed 2.2% (for results close to 50% with a confidence level of 0.95).
You can join the SunFlower Sociology online panel and receive a monetary reward for completing surveys by following the link.
Lithuania will send M577 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine in February, and a package of long-term military assistance worth 200 million euros has been approved, President Gitanas Nausėda said.
“At a meeting of the State Defense Council, we approved a package of long-term military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 200 million euros. In January, we will send ammunition, generators, detonation systems to Ukraine again, and in February – M577 armored personnel carriers, we will train the Ukrainian military,” Nausėda said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Vilnius on Wednesday.
Lithuania will transfer to Ukraine in 2024 vehicles purchased in 2023, including trucks, pickups, ambulances, various trailers and forklifts, the republic’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. Unmanned aerial vehicles, antidrones, remote detonation systems, ammunition and magazines, warm clothing sets, and various winter equipment will also be transferred.
According to the ministry, most of the aid is aimed at the needs of the coalition for demining Ukraine, which is being formed by Lithuania, and will include the purchase of various demining equipment, forklifts, trucks, as well as ammunition and dry rations. This assistance will be delivered to Ukraine in 2024-2025.
By the end of this year, it is planned to train approximately 3,000 Ukrainian military personnel.
