The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” sold 2.39 million cubic meters of timber at auction in the fourth quarter of 2024, shipped 2.24 million cubic meters of timber at the end of the quarter and brought the percentage of contract fulfillment to 94%, said Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the state enterprise, on Facebook.
“The Ukrainian Energy Exchange (UEEX) announced a 90% level of contract fulfillment. In fact, this figure is even higher. After all, if the buyer refuses to buy the contracted products, we put the resource up for auction again. Therefore, the actual percentage of sales by the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” exceeds 94%,” he said.
Bolokhovets added, referring to the exchange’s data, that the figure for municipal forestries is 75%, and for other forest users – 41%.
He recalled that in 2023, the percentage of contract fulfillment by the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” was less than 90%.
According to him, out of 150 thousand cubic meters of the undelivered volume, 80 thousand cubic meters are military supplies. While the military used to choose mostly round timber of small diameters (15-19 cm, 20-24 cm), which is less popular with businesses, to cover dugouts, they have recently been actively ordering large diameter products (30-34 cm, 35-39 cm) for the manufacture of lumber for trench construction. Military orders are given top priority, the CEO explained.
He also emphasized that harvesters work in a shortage of personnel, crews are not booked, workers are mobilized, sometimes en masse, and therefore the contractor cannot always provide the required volume of harvesting in time for objective reasons. In addition, sanitary felling may not pass the approval procedure for one reason or another.
“Our regional branches are tasked with minimizing the negative consequences for customers in such cases. A hotline operates at the central office level: a solution must be found for each problem situation that will satisfy the company’s client,” the CEO summarized.
As reported, Ukraine launched a forestry reform in 2016. It has already introduced the sale of raw wood at electronic auctions. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency’s online map.
On June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber. In addition, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has launched a pilot project to procure timber harvesting services through the electronic platform Prozorro.
Change in prices of food raw materials from Ukraine (forecast up to 2025), %
Open4Business.com.ua
Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Northern GOK, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro region), a part of Metinvest Group, invested UAH 122 million in overhaul of railway equipment and machinery in 2024.
According to the plant, a new two-section 2TE10M mainline diesel locomotive has recently been put into operation at Pivdennyi GOK after overhaul. It transports rock mass in the Pervomaisky open pit.
The locomotive was overhauled for more than three years by specialists from Daugavpol Locomotive Repair Plant. All key components and assemblies in two sections were upgraded to meet the passport parameters. The performance characteristics and service life of all equipment units have been updated, which will extend the service life of the locomotives for another six years.
The repaired locomotive was tested for rock haulage. To date, the equipment has already transported 1.1 thousand tons of ore per trip.
“Given the numerous restrictions and challenges of the war, maintaining the equipment’s performance remains one of the company’s priorities. This is especially important as business plans are expanding. The plant continues to upgrade its rolling stock to ensure the reliability and efficiency of rock transportation. The experience of cooperation between the company’s enterprises and Latvian repairmen began in 2017 and continues due to the high quality of the work performed,” explains Vladimir Nazarenko, head of the Southern GOK’s maintenance department.
Yenakiieve Mining is part of Metinvest Group, whose main shareholders are System Capital Management (SCM, Donetsk) (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%). Metinvest Group’s management company is Metinvest Holding LLC.
Long-term mortgage rates in the U.S. continued to climb last week, reaching their highest level since July.
The average rate on thirty-year loans stood at 6.91% per annum on Thursday, up from 6.85% a week ago, government mortgage corporation Freddie Mac said. It was at 6.62% a year earlier.
“Mortgage rates hit their highest point in six months, a step away from 7%,” said Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater, quoted in the report. – Negative factors for the market persist.”
However, he noted that despite this, the index of pending home sales in the U.S. secondary market (pending home sales) in November rose.
The index is a leading indicator of activity in the real estate market . Pending sales are those for which a contract has been signed, but the transaction has not yet closed. It usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to close.
Fifteen-year mortgages now average 6.13% APR versus 6% a week ago and 5.89% a year ago.
Freddie Mac calculates average rates based on data from about 80 mortgage loan originators nationwide. The rates do not take into account potential fees and other fees associated with mortgages.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Muthe Bowrup Egede has emphasized his desire for independence from Denmark, marking a significant change in the rhetoric surrounding the island’s future, Reuters reported.
“It is time for us to step up and shape our future ourselves, including in terms of who we will work closely with and who will be our trading partners,” Egede said in his New Year’s Day speech.
He noted that “our cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark has not resulted in full equality.” “Now it is time for our country to take the next step. Like other countries around the world, we must work to remove the obstacles to cooperation, which we can describe as the shackles of colonialism, and move forward,” the Greenlandic prime minister said.
Egede added that the decision on independence is up to the people of Greenland, but did not say when the vote might take place.
Greenland’s government has reportedly rejected US President-elect Donald Trump’s offers to buy the island twice, in 2019 and again in 2024, with Egede asserting that “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we will never be for sale.”
Parliamentary elections are due in Greenland by April 6.
Reuters writes that an independence movement has been gaining momentum in Greenland in recent years, in part because of revelations of Danish actions in the twentieth century. Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953, but is now a self-governing territory and was granted the right to declare independence by vote in 2009. In 2023, the Greenlandic government presented its first draft constitution.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law No. 4116-IX on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine to combat gambling addiction (ludomania) and improve state regulation of activities related to the organization and conduct of gambling and lotteries. According to the website of the Verkhovna Rada, the draft law was sent for signature by the President of Ukraine on December 9, 2024, and returned with his signature on January 3, 2025.
According to the law, by April 1, 2025, a new authorized body will be created instead of KRAIL and a ministry will be designated to formulate policy in the field of gambling and lotteries.
The law also introduces a mechanism for restricting access to illegal gambling websites/mobile applications, and prohibits gambling advertising (with the following exceptions: on TV and radio at night, in media for people over 21, on platforms and search engines with a target audience over 21).
In addition, it is prohibited to offer or reimburse expenses for participation in gambling, make phone calls, send messages to an indefinite number of people, and offer free bonuses instead of placing bets and accepting bets on credit or with subsequent payment.
The advertisement itself prohibits the participation of military personnel, volunteers, popular figures, as well as the use of war-related topics.
The law also prohibits persons who are owners or officials of gambling companies that have tax or license arrears, sponsorship, except for sports sponsorship, from obtaining a license.
According to the adopted law, payments for gambling will be made exclusively in cash through current bank accounts, and the use of other payment services is prohibited.
It is emphasized that the law makes lotteries subject to most of the restrictions on the gambling business: requirements for the reputation of officials, tax debt, relations with the aggressor country, and exclusively bank payments.
As for licenses for state lotteries, foreign entities with relevant experience are allowed to obtain them.
The law also clarifies the rules on the mandatory use of cash registers by gambling businesses, the rules on the impossibility of obtaining a license by persons associated with the aggressor country, namely, the use of their brands is prohibited, limits on expenses and game time, as well as mandatory breaks are set.
The law also introduces “control purchases” during video-recorded inspections.
As reported, on December 4, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law No. 9256d on strengthening control over the gambling market and liquidating the Commission for Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRGL) in the second reading and by 239 votes in total.
According to Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology and Minister of Digital Transformation, the essence of the law is to reorganize the CRGL and remove the human factor from the license issuance process. Further, to digitalize licenses so that they are issued automatically according to clear criteria and to start implementing an online monitoring system.
Prior to that, on March 29, 2024, Pavlo Petrychenko, a soldier of the 59th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, registered a petition asking the president to pay attention to the harm that online casinos and ludomania (gambling addiction) cause to the Ukrainian army and society. By the evening of the same day, the petition had gained over 26 thousand votes. The President of Ukraine instructed the heads of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Special Communications Service, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council to collect analytics on the operation of online casinos and propose their decision next week.
According to Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy, this situation is related to the inactivity of the CRGL, which was created three years ago. He believes that the regulator did not develop responsible gambling rules separately for both organizers and players and organized “selective control in the best corruption traditions” rather than total control over the organizers’ compliance with the requirements to restrict access to gambling for persons listed in the Register of Self-Restrictions.
