The average purchase price for pork in April amounted to 62.3 UAH/kg (including VAT), or $1.58 in foreign currency equivalent, which is 1.2%, or 0.75 UAH/kg, higher than in March, but 22.1%, or 17.7 UAH/kg, lower than the same period last year, the Ukrainian Pig Association reported.
“Quotes on the live market failed to maintain a positive direction of movement throughout April. Although at the beginning of the month the positive price dynamics provided a slight positive deviation from the average for April, two weeks before Easter prices fell off the upward trend,” the report says.
Analysts emphasized that the main reason for the atypical price dynamics, according to market operators, was the increased supply of live pigs on the eve of the holidays, in particular animals with a weight exceeding standard slaughter conditions. The supply of such animals far exceeds the needs and capacity to sell the relevant products at fairs, markets and bazaars. This forces producers to offer products at prices below market prices. In turn, the ability to purchase cheaper raw materials puts additional pressure on the price of conditioned pork.
According to preliminary data, the number of commercial pigs in early April amounted to 3.69 million heads, which is 16% higher than in the beginning of the second quarter of 2023 and accounts for 67.7% of the total number of pigs in Ukraine.
The volume of pork sold for slaughter in all categories of farms in January-March 2024 amounted to 243.8 thousand tons in live weight, which is 2% more than in the same period last year, of which 140.2 thousand tons by agricultural enterprises, which is 5.5% higher than in 2023, the industry association stated.
Ireland will this week consider making cuts to state support for asylum seekers and refugees, including those who arrived from Ukraine, in a bid to bring the system more in line with other European countries, Prime Minister Simon Harris said on Monday.
Just over 100,000 Ukrainians have fled to Ireland since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, while the number of asylum seekers from the rest of the world almost trebled from pre-pandemic levels to more than 13,000 in 2022 and 2023. So far this year, the number has jumped to 7,700.
That has made immigration a much bigger political issue in the country of 5.3 million people, which is struggling to house refugees in the middle of a housing supply crisis.
“It certainly is my intention that we will see changes in a number of areas that do inject what I think Irish people believe has been lacking, which is that common sense approach,” Harris told Newstalk radio ahead of Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
“We need to look at welfare consistency. We need to look at the contribution that people who have (refugee) status should make to accommodation. We need to look at making sure that anybody at work is working legally, that there are more workplace inspections.”
Harris said specifically that there should be a consistency of approach to people who come from Ukraine and that the support should not be based on when they arrived.
Ireland previously slashed the allowance for Ukrainian refugees using state accommodation who arrived after mid-March this year to 38.80 euros ($41.84) per week from 220 euros and put a 90-day limit on the time they can remain housed by the state.
The changes did not apply to the 70,000 Ukrainians who were already in some form of state accommodation.
($1 = 0.9273 euros)
Nova Poshta has opened a Nova Post postal and cargo office in London and launched courier delivery in the UK, the company’s press service said on Monday.
“Today we are celebrating the official start of work in the UK market. Along with the opening of branches, we have also launched courier delivery,” said Vyacheslav Klimov, co-owner of NOVA Group.
In its consolidated annual report for 2023, Nova Poshta indicated that in March 2023, UK Novapay LTD (London) was established. The company’s contribution at the time of establishment amounted to UAH 13.7 million, and additional contributions to the authorized capital during 2023 amounted to UAH 26.21 million. According to reports, Nova Poshta’s share in UK Novapay LTD was 75% at the end of last year.
According to Klymov, in the near future, Nova Poshta customers will also be able to send and receive parcels through the network of post offices of the company’s partner InPost.
According to the company’s press release, Nova Post’s post office in London accepts parcels up to 30 kg, while the freight office accepts parcels up to 1,000 kg.
The cost of delivery from Ukraine to the UK is UAH 900 for documents, UAH 950, UAH 1.5 thousand and UAH 2.5 thousand for parcels up to 2 kg, 10 kg and 30 kg, respectively.
In addition, customers can order delivery of parcels up to 100 kg by courier to any address in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. For parcels up to 30 kg, customers will have to pay an additional UAH 100, and for every 100 kg of parcel, UAH 250.
“Nova Poshta currently has more than 35,000 points of service for sending and receiving parcels in Europe, of which 90 are Nova Post’s own branches in 13 countries: Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary, Moldova, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
As reported, on April 30, Nova Poshta opened the first Nova Post office in Spain.
Over the past week, the prices for sunflower oil in Ukrainian ports increased by $5-10 per ton on CPT-port terms due to the shortage of the product both in Ukraine and on the world market, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“In Ukrainian ports, the demand prices for sunflower oil increased by $5-10/ton on CPT-port terms over the week, due to a small number of offers of this product and a similar trend in the global vegetable oil market,” the agency said in a statement.
As of May 10, the demand prices for sunflower oil were reported mainly in the range of $810-820/ton CPT-port, analysts said.
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has announced a new suspicion of oligarch Konstantin Zhevago and his three accomplices in the case of withdrawal of UAH 519 million from the Finance and Credit Bank.
“Employees of the GBR reported a new suspicion to the former shareholder of the bank JSC “Bank Finance and Credit” Konstantin Zhevago, the former chairman of the board of the bank and his two deputies,” – reported in the Telegram channel of the GBR on Thursday.
According to the Bureau’s information, in May 2007-October 2010, Mr. Zhevago formed a criminal organization. Zhevago formed a criminal organization, which included the chairman, members of the board of JSC Bank Finance and Credit and other persons close to him. “A Ukrainian company controlled by Zhevago received a loan from JSC Bank Finance and Credit, which was done in violation of lending rules. This money was withdrawn to other offshore companies of the oligarch”, – noted in the GBR.
To conceal the illegal origin of money participants of the scheme in 2010-2015. concluded a loan agreement and more than 100 additional agreements to it between the controlled company and the bank. “The additional agreements systematically and unreasonably allowed to increase the credit limit issued by the bank to the oligarch-controlled company without any liquid collateral. Thus, the group members withdrew UAH 519 million from the Bank, which were further legalized by the participants of the scheme”, – stated in the message.
Thus, summarized in the Department, the total loss of JSC “Bank Finance and Credit” due to lending to Zhevago’s company amounted to UAH 1.4 billion.
The GBI has notified Zhevago of suspicion of creation and management of a criminal organization, embezzlement and misappropriation of property, legalization of property obtained by criminal means in a particularly large amount as part of a criminal organization. The ex-chairman of the bank and his two deputies are suspected of participation in criminal organizations, embezzlement and misappropriation of property on a particularly large scale as part of a criminal organization.
Earlier, the GBR notified about suspicion of Zhevago and a number of bank managers on another fact – the organization of embezzlement of $113 million of the financial institution. To date, the property of the suspected oligarch, as well as legal entities associated with him, in particular, the shares of his companies for hundreds of millions of hryvnias – corporate rights of companies, 26 real estate. The property of other legal entities related to the former MP was also arrested. Among other things – 14 property complexes, 21 parts of property complexes, 30 non-residential premises, 10 apartments, a helicopter, a yacht.
Back in October 2020 arrested assets worth more than 300 million UAH were transferred to the National Agency for identification, search and management of assets (ARMA). These are assets in the form of corporate rights, funds and 26 real estate objects – recreational complexes, hotels, residential and commercial premises located in the central part of Kiev, Kharkiv, Poltava, Krivoy Rog with a total area of more than 22 thousand square meters. meters.
The GBI is actively cooperating with the justice, gendarmerie and police authorities of the French Republic in the investigation.
The official exchange rate of the national currency may weaken to the level of 40.00-40.50 UAH/$1 in the summer, said Nikita Mishakov, head of interbank operations at PrivatBank, while OTP Bank predicts that the hryvnia will not fall below 40.20 UAH/$1 in the summer.
“But I do not think that the National Bank, having substantially replenished foreign exchange reserves, will allow a rapid devaluation. Although the NBU plans to devalue the hryvnia gradually. As far as I remember, they promised to devalue up to 10% this year,” he said in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine.
Mishakov believes that the package of currency restrictions easing announced by the NBU on May 3 will put some pressure on the national currency starting from the end of last week or this week.
“My personal opinion is that I see the exchange rate in June at around 40.00 UAH/$1, 40.50 UAH/$1, maybe. But I think that over time, as the harvest season begins, with exports threatened, I think it will adjust to 39.50 UAH/$1,” the head of the interbank operations department shared his expectations.
Mishakov noted that, in his opinion, the exchange rate corridor will be within the current level, close to 40.00 UAH/$1, with fluctuations in both directions of about 50 kopecks.
“Liberalization will result in the need to increase the NBU’s foreign exchange interventions to maintain the stability of the hryvnia exchange rate, but this will not cause additional threats to macro-financial stability,” said Inna Provotar, head of management accounting and business analysis at OTP Bank.
“Exchange rate fluctuations are possible, but within acceptable limits. In summer, we do not expect the official exchange rate to exceed 40.2 UAH/$1. At the same time, there is a high probability that the rate will rise to 40.7 UAH/$1 by the end of the year. That is, to the level that the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has included in the budget for 2024,” she said.
Sergiy Kolodiy, Chief Macroeconomic Analysis Officer at Raiffeisen Bank, noted that the package of currency restrictions easing will increase the structural deficit in the interbank market in the short term, but at the same time improve the business environment and solve problems with servicing external loans. The announced currency liberalization measures may increase the inflow of foreign currency in the medium term, the banker believes.
However, unlike his colleagues who expect the national currency to devalue, Kolodiy admits that the foreign exchange market will see a seasonal strengthening of the hryvnia due to the central bank’s wide scope for intervention, given the rather high level of international reserves.
“The NBU has enough reserves to cover the structural deficit and will use them for this purpose. Therefore, we will not be surprised by the slow seasonal revaluation of the hryvnia as a clear signal to the market about the ability to maintain currency stability,” he emphasized.
The banker also said that, according to Raiffeisen Bank’s estimates, currency liberalization was included in the regulator’s January macroeconomic forecast, which corresponded to an additional $5.6 billion of currency outflow.
“The estimate of $5.5 billion recently announced by the regulator’s representatives is very close to our calculations,” he summarized.
“Currency easing is aimed at revitalizing and stimulating business, which should ultimately lead to an increase in business activity and, consequently, GDP. The dynamics of the exchange rate will continue to depend on the assistance of international partners, the situation at the front, business activity and public sentiment,” informed Serhii Kucheriavyi, Director of Liquidity and Securities Control Department of Kredobank.
All the bankers emphasized that the level of international reserves is sufficient for a more “soft” monetary policy and do not see any significant risks to exchange rate stability.
As reported, on May 3, the NBU announced the largest package of currency restrictions easing for businesses since the beginning of the full-scale war, which includes the abolition of all currency restrictions on imports of works and services, the ability of businesses to repatriate “new” dividends, and the ability to transfer funds abroad under leasing and rent.
In addition, new steps in currency liberalization include easing restrictions on the repayment of new foreign loans and interest on “old” foreign loans, as well as easing restrictions on the transfer of foreign currency from representative offices to their parent companies.
On May 7, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine repealed Resolution No. 153, which restricted payments for imports of goods and services, and on May 8, the official hryvnia exchange rate began to gradually decline.
In total, it weakened by 37 kopeks over the past week, including a 17 kopek drop to 39.7206 UAH/$1 last Friday. In the cash market, the dollar also rose in price last week: by about 12 kopecks to 39.95 UAH/$1, including 6 kopecks on Friday.
The National Bank’s net sales of dollars increased to $533.4 million from $507.8 million last week.
In April, Ukraine’s international reserves decreased by 3.1%, or $1.4 billion, to $42 billion 399.5 million. On April 25, the NBU raised its forecast for reserves at the end of this year to $43.4 billion from $40.4 billion and to $44.3 billion from $42.1 billion at the end of next year.
