Nova Posta Group of Companies has launched an opportunity to call a courier to the address in Lithuania to send documents and parcels up to 30 kilograms to Ukraine, the group’s press service said on Thursday.
According to the release, the courier can be called to any address throughout Lithuania: even in places where there are no Nova Post offices yet.
It is indicated that the call costs EUR3.5 to the cost of delivery to Ukraine, but until August 13, a 30% discount is given for delivery from Lithuania to Ukraine.
To call a courier in Lithuania, you need to prepare a parcel for shipment, fill out an application for courier call on the website, application or business cabinet, pay for the order and give it to the courier in closed form.
“Nova Posta” reminds that sending a parcel from Lithuania is subject to customs duty and 21% VAT if the value of the parcel exceeds EUR45. Therefore, in the application form you should fill in the contents of the shipment, the declared or market value of each item. If the real value will differ from the declared value, the customs service may revalue and charge additional customs payments to the recipient.
As reported, Nova Post opened the first NovaPost branch in Lithuania on March 20 this year. Outside Ukraine, the group also already operates in Poland, Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania and Germany.
At the beginning of July, the NovaPost network included more than 10 thousand outlets and over 14 thousand post offices.
According to Standard-Rating, Novaya Posta’s revenue in the first quarter of 2023 increased 2.1 times to UAH 8 billion 83.1 million, EBITDA – almost 4.4 times to UAH 1 billion 307.8 million, and net profit – almost eight times to UAH 1 billion 54.91 million.
Police investigators exposed the scheme of stealing budget funds during the repair work of a kindergarten in one of the cities of Kharkiv region, reports the press service of the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s office.
“This scam in 2021 was organized by the mayor of the locality…. Director of the firm (which carried out repairs) and two of his employees … All four perpetrators are reported on suspicion on the fact of seizure of other people’s property by abuse of their official position, committed on a large scale by an organized group (part 5 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and on the fact of official forgery, committed by an organized group (part 3 of article 28, part 1 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)”, – stated in the message.
The name of the city is not specified in the message.
According to the investigation, during the execution of works in the reporting documentation were entered false data regarding the cost of used construction materials and the volume of work. In particular, the documents included works that were actually performed by employees of the municipal utility company of the city Council.
Thus, the members of the group managed to seize almost UAH 400 thousand of budget funds.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UZA) has updated its estimate of the potential 2023 harvest, increasing it by 7.8 million tons to 76.8 million tons of grains and oilseeds, 3 million tons more than last year.
“The increase in this year’s crop forecast is due to favorable weather conditions and better-than-expected crop yields, although the area planted is 2.2 million hectares smaller than last year,” the association said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the updated forecast, exports from Ukraine in the new season 2023/2024 could potentially reach almost 48 million tons, while last season, which ended on June 30, according to UZA estimates, it reached 58 million tons worth about $20 billion.
It is specified that the 2023 wheat crop estimate has improved from 17.9 million tons to 20.2 million tons (2022 was 20.2 million tons and 2021 was a record 33 million tons). Potential wheat exports in MY 2023/2024 could be around 15 million tons, given the early season transitional residue of 4.3 million tons.
UZA also raised its 2023 barley crop forecast to 5.2 million tons from 4.4 million tons (10.1 million tons in 2021 and 5.8 million tons in 2022) and potential exports to 2.6 million tons.
Corn crop expectations for the new season have improved from 24.2 million tons to 26.9 million tons (2021 – 37.6 million tons, 2022 – 27.3 million tons), with potential exports of about 22 million tons, the report said.
According to it, the sunflower crop estimate for 2023 is raised from 12.7 to 13.9 million tons (2021 – 16.9 million tons, 2022 – 11.1 million tons), potential exports could be 1.1 million tons, and sunflower seed processing could be 12.5 million tons.
The UZA tentatively estimates the 2023 rapeseed harvest at 3.9 million tons and exports at 3.7 million tons, while the soybean harvest is expected to be larger – the estimate has increased from 4.4 to 4.8 million tons, and its potential 2023/2024 MY exports could reach 3.3 million tons.
UZA emphasizes that in general, grain and oilseed exports in the new 2023/2024 MY can be expected at the indicated level if Ukraine is able to export through its Black Sea ports and if logistics of alternative routes, including the Danube route, improve and become cheaper.
“Further impediments to grain exports from Ukraine will have a negative impact on the availability of grain on the world market and will lead to higher prices and, consequently, increased food inflation in the world. Moreover, in case of impossibility to export products, Ukrainian farmers may reorient their production and refuse to grow grain, which will further aggravate the crisis in the world food market in the medium term,” UZA said.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UZA) is an association of grain producers, processors and major exporters of grain, which annually export about 90 percent of Ukrainian grain products.
Areas planted with spring grains and pulses crops in 2021-2023, mln. ha
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Transit of Ukrainian grain through Poland is steadily growing: if in February it was 114 thousand tons, in June it exceeded 260 thousand tons, Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Robert Telusz said after online talks on Wednesday with Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskiy.
“This is very good news for agrarians, because grain from Ukraine does not enter the Polish market,” the Polish minister was quoted as saying in a tweet and on the ministry’s website.
At the same time, he said he saw a chance for the European Commission to extend the decision to ban Ukrainian grain exports to Poland after September 15, blaming both those in power in the EU and the Polish opposition for trying to destabilize Poland.
“It is in our interest to protect the Polish farmer. That is why a clear statement was made by Prime Minister Morawiecki that Ukrainian grain will not enter Poland after September 15,” Telusz reiterated.
According to him, the Polish side wants the so-called “solidarity corridors” to work effectively, which would allow for efficient transportation of Ukrainian goods without harming the Polish agricultural sector.
A press release from the Polish ministry indicates that to this end Telusz proposed measures to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to seaports in various EU countries, in which Solsky was interested, but no other details are available and the Ukrainian ministry has not officially commented on the talks.
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture said that the Ukrainian side will also present a draft of detailed solutions in the near future. “He (Solsky – IF-U) explained that Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s port infrastructure have put Ukrainian exporters in a very difficult situation. Now they will have to organize grain exports via other routes,” the release said.
Telush informed about ongoing negotiations with Lithuania and Latvia on the use of their ports for grain exports from Ukraine. “These negotiations are going in the right direction,” the minister added.
According to him, Poland has managed to significantly increase grain exports through its four main ports this year. In particular, if in January it amounted to 299 thousand tons, in February – 539 thousand tons, in March – 628 thousand tons, in April – 704 thousand tons, in May – 882 thousand tons, and in June – almost 940 thousand tons.
Poland exported more than 4.5 million tons of crops in 4 months of this year, stated Telusz.
It is noted that the ministers also raised the issue of access of Polish poultry products and eggs to the Ukrainian market, and currently the veterinary services of both countries are working intensively to resolve this issue.
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that Ukraine is an important partner of Poland in agri-food trade. In 2022, an increase in agricultural exports to the Ukrainian market by 16% to $945.3 million was recorded. The main export items were: cheese and cottage cheese, products used for animal feed, and coffee. In April 2023, exports of agricultural products to the Ukrainian market increased by more than 35% compared to the same period in 2022, the release added.
Prices for oil of benchmark grades are rising weakly in trading on Thursday.
A day earlier, the market showed the most significant decline in more than a month, despite a record reduction in fuel inventories in the U.S. last week.
Quotes for October Brent crude futures on the London-based ICE Futures exchange as of 7:58 KV are at $83.26 per barrel, up $0.06 (0.07%) from the previous session’s closing price. On Wednesday, these contracts fell $1.71 (2%) to $83.2 per barrel.
The price of WTI crude oil futures for September at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning rose by $0.04 (0.05%) to $79.53 per barrel. At the end of the previous session they fell in price by $1.88 (by 2.3%) – to $79.49 per barrel.
Oil reserves in the U.S. last week decreased by 17.049 million barrels – to 439.77 million barrels, reported the country’s Department of Energy. Gasoline reserves increased by 1.48 million barrels, distillates – decreased by 796 thousand barrels.
Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights on average had forecast a 3.7 million barrel decline in oil reserves, a 1 million barrel decline in gasoline and a 400,000 barrel decline in distillates.
“Oil prices have fallen as the macroeconomic backdrop is killing sentiment,” believes Edward Moya, senior analyst at Oanda, implying, among other things, a downgrade of the US credit rating by Fitch. Also weighing on the oil market is the strong dollar, he told MarketWatch.
According to Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler, the combination of robust oil exports and refinery activity has led to the sharpest decline in U.S. oil inventories on record, he said. “The peak of summer refining coincided with very strong exports at the end of the month, and we shouldn’t expect such large” changes in reserves in the future, he believes.
