The mushroom and compost production of the Veres agro-industrial group of companies in Kaniv (Cherkasy region) has ceased production since July 2023, with production processes suspended and equipment mothballed, the mushroom news agency UMDIS reports.
According to the agency, the company has recently tried to find a tenant and maintain production, but to no avail.
As noted, the lion’s share of the mushroom harvest was collected for the needs of its own canning shop – Veres pickled mushrooms are known to most Ukrainians.
The Veres mushroom farm consists of 36 mushroom growing chambers of 700 square meters each, making it the largest in Ukraine. In the best of times, production reached 450 tons of mushrooms per month. Compost production was up to 3,500 tons of F2 compost per month. The company had been operating since 2004.
The reason for its closure was recent losses.
Veres Group, part of the Smart-Holding industrial and investment group, is a vertically integrated FMCG business specializing in the production of food products, including canned goods and sauces. Prior to the Russian invasion, the group comprised two processing and two agricultural enterprises, a logistics center for storing products, and a farm for growing champignons. The group’s facilities processed up to 25 thousand tons of fruit and vegetable products annually.
Before the war, products under the Veres brand were supplied to more than 35 countries. The group was among the TOP-3 producers of canned vegetables in Ukraine.
“Smart-Holding is one of the largest industrial and investment groups in Ukraine. It invests in mining and metals, oil and gas, banking, agriculture, shipbuilding, real estate and energy.
Ukraine in January-June reduced imports of fresh, chilled and frozen pork by 5.5 times, to 5.7 thousand tons compared to the same period last year, the Association “Pig Breeders of Ukraine” (ASU) said with reference to customs statistics.
“Last year there were many incentives to revive import activity: at the beginning of the year – the divergence of domestic and European quotations for pork, in the second quarter – tax incentives for certain groups of importers. This was layered on top of problems related to the disruption of supply chains, in particular the occupation of a large part of the country,” ACU explained.
According to analysts, the current rate of pork imports is the lowest in the last 6 years, it is significantly behind the previous year. Thus, during the first half of 2023, Ukraine imported 5.7 thousand tons of pork from abroad against more than 31 thousand tons in the first half of 2022.
The main reason for the weakening of import activity in the industry association names the strengthening of prices for pork in Europe, which remains the main supplier of these products to Ukraine.
“Although the EU pork market occasionally experiences negative price fluctuations (in particular those recorded in May), they are not protracted and mostly remain at a high level. This significantly limits the capacity of Ukrainian importers and a list of commodity positions, “passable” for the domestic market of meat “- stated in the message.
It is noted that in June 2023, the price of an imported kilogram primarily ranged in the range $2.28-2.99, and the weighted average was 2.56 $ / kg, whereas a year ago the bulk of pork imports came at $ 1.89-2.55 $ / kg, or an average of $ 2.21 / kg.
“Recently, from abroad comes mostly “budget” raw materials, which almost does not compete with domestic chilled pork, while the volume of imports remain quite “modest”, despite their increase in June”, – summed up the association.
The largest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe Czech RegioJet in partnership with Ukrzaliznytsia plans to launch in 2023 a flight Prague-Chop, and in 2024 two flights to Germany – Kiev-Berlin and Kiev-Hanover via Leipzig and Dresden, said the owner of RegioJet Radim Jančura in an interview for “Forbes Ukraine”.
“Historically, the train from Kiev to Berlin ran until 2012 and was very successful. But the German railroad at one time imposed commercial conditions that increased the cost of the train on the territory of Germany. It made the route unprofitable and the trip was closed,” – he said.
The RegioJet head said the company has optimistic expectations for this project, as many more Ukrainians travel to Germany than to the Czech Republic.
Yanchura also underlined that RegioJet has a different business model from the state operators, so UZ will not have to share the revenues with the Polish and German railroads.
Speaking about the flight to Chop, the RegioJet head noted that the company has the largest share of transportation on the popular route Prague-Kosice.
“We would like to continue this route to the Ukrainian city of Chop in Transcarpathian region, and in the future to Mukachevo,” Jančura said.
According to him, the company now agrees with “Ukrzaliznytsia” schedules and conditions, so we plan to run a new train to Chop during 2023.
Yanchura added that launching a train to Mukachevo is more difficult.
“The main obstacle is the Chop-Mukachevo track section is not electrified: it used to have a contact network, but later part of it was dismantled,” the RegioJet owner noted and added: – We are ready to electrify this section at our own expense.
The head of RegioJet did not name the cost and timing of the project. According to him, they will be known after the Ukrainian authorities and UZ will approve the technical audit and determine the scope of work.
According to him, after Ukraine joins the EU, RegioJet will be able to operate trains itself in Ukraine, having received a license.
“This is how we work in all countries of the European Union. In the EU, anyone can get access to the railway infrastructure by paying a fixed tariff,” Yanchura explained.
The RegioJet owner noted that the company relies on residents of small towns rather than the population of large cities with well-developed airports.
In addition, according to Yanchura, the company is working on the possibility of RegioJet trains, still following only to the Polish Peremyshl, to the Ukrainian border station “Mostiska-2” and plans to implement this project by the end of 2023.
“For this purpose it is necessary to complete the passenger platform and the pedestrian bridge. We are ready to build it at our own expense, “- said the owner of the company.
He also said that he is ready to buy in Ukraine passenger railway cars in large quantities, but their price should be up to $ 1 million per piece.
RegioJet is the second biggest bus carrier in Europe after Flixbus and the biggest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe. The company has licenses to operate in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Poland. Last year, RegioJet carried 11 million passengers.
The state budget deficit of Ukraine in June 2023 increased to 135.1 billion UAH from 88.3 billion UAH in May and 32.6 billion UAH in April, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.
It specified that the general fund deficit increased to 130.8 billion UAH from 91.6 billion UAH in May and 65.6 billion UAH in April.
The Ministry of Finance, referring to the operational data of the State Treasury, said that the cash expenditures of the state budget in June increased slightly – to 376.4 billion UAH from 364.7 billion UAH in May and 295.8 billion UAH in April.
They even slightly decreased to 264.7 billion UAH from 277.7 billion UAH in May, which, however, is more than 229.7 billion UAH in April.
As pointed out by the Ministry of Finance, in June 2023 the receipts to the general fund of the state budget decreased to 133.7 billion UAH from 184 billion UAH in May and 162.8 billion UAH in April.
At the same time, international grant aid provided by the USA amounted to 44.4 billion UAH, approximately the same as in the previous two months.
In general, in January-June this year, cash expenditures of the state budget reached UAH 1 trillion 784.3 billion, including general fund – UAH 1 trillion 407.6 billion, or 93.5% of budget expenditures against 95% in May, while state budget revenue was UAH 1302.2 billion, of which UAH 269.4 billion was grant international aid.
During those six months, the state budget was executed with a deficit of UAH 476.3 billion, including the general fund deficit of UAH 532.7 billion against the planned schedule of the general fund deficit of UAH 931.8 billion.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on March 21, 2023 increased the state budget expenditures by 487 billion UAH, revenues – by 61 billion UAH, which led to an increase in the deficit by 419 billion UAH.
Now the state budget revenues are set at 1 trillion 390.4 billion UAH, including the general fund – 1 trillion 233.8 billion UAH, while the expenditures – respectively 3 trillion 75.9 billion UAH and 2 trillion 783.4 billion UAH.
The limit of the state budget deficit measures is set at 1 trillion 719.7 billion UAH, including the general fund – 1 trillion 543.9 billion UAH. It is assumed that it will be financed almost entirely by foreign borrowing of $42 billion.
The Ministry of Finance specified that the value added tax (VAT) from goods produced in Ukraine in June brought 17.5 billion UAH compared to 17.3 billion UAH in May, while VAT refund increased from 9.9 billion UAH to 10.3 billion UAH.
Import VAT added another 28.7 billion UAH to the budget (28.5 billion UAH in May), personal income tax and military levy 15 billion UAH (14.1 billion UAH), royalties for using mineral resources 4.5 billion UAH (4.5 billion UAH) and corporate income tax 2.3 billion UAH (28.5 billion UAH). Excise tax brought another 8.8 billion UAH (9.5 billion UAH) to the state budget, and import and export duties 2.6 billion UAH (2.5 billion UAH).
It is specified that the tax authorities exceeded the budget by 1.1%, or 8.4 billion UAH, while the State Customs Service – by 6.8%, or 2 billion UAH.
Receipts of ERUs to the Pension Fund and social insurance funds in June 2023 rose to 42.6 billion UAH from 38.5 billion UAH in May, added the Ministry of Finance.
According to him, the actual state borrowing in the general fund of the state budget in June 2023 decreased slightly – to 140.2 billion UAH from 142 billion UAH in May and 193.4 billion UAH in April, and a total of 879.1 billion UAH for six months, or 82.9% of the plan.
Particularly, UAH 285.7 billion (UAH 45.4 billion in June) were received from placement of government bonds, including UAH 97.4 billion (UAH 17.1 billion) in foreign currency, or $1963.8 million and EUR640.9 million (June – $319.7 million and EUR136 million).
Credit proceeds from external sources for six months amounted to UAH 593.4 billion, including UAH 94.8 billion in June (EUR 73.4 billion in May). The main volume was provided by EU macrofinancial aid – UAH 357 billion and IMF loan – UAH 131.4 billion.
Payments for redemption of public debt in June 2023 decreased to 48.3 billion UAH from 55.1 billion UAH in May, while the service – to 33 billion UAH from 45.7 billion UAH.
The Ministry of Finance stressed that the rollover of OVDPs in five months was full: the funds raised from OVDPs allowed to fully cover the needs for payments on them.
Poland is studying the possibility of creating an experimental checkpoint that would speed up the passage of trucks by joint cargo control by Polish and Ukrainian border guards, said Grzegorz Ostasz, a board member of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIT), during a conference on the development of transport communication between Ukraine and Poland.
“Poland has become a hub for the supply of important goods for Ukraine. The authorities can increase the capacity of border crossings. We proposed such a solution – to make an experimental checkpoint at which Polish and Ukrainian border guards would jointly check trucks,” the PAIT press service quoted Ostash in a release to Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to Ostash, 870 Polish companies now do business in Ukraine, and Poland is interested in developing cooperation with Ukrainian business. “We are collecting suggestions and comments from Polish business on how we could simplify doing business in Ukraine. All proposals will be transmitted to the Ukrainian authorities by the government commissioner for the development of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation Jadwiga Emilewicz,” said Ostash.
According to a press release PAIT, the agency created a register of Polish companies that plan to enter the Ukrainian market and participate in programs to restore the country – today more than 2500 companies and organizations have expressed interest in cooperation with Ukrainian business.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed on Tuesday that the alliance countries have decided to extend his term for another year, until October 2024.
“I am honored that NATO allies have decided to extend my term as secretary general until Oct. 1, 2024,” Stoltenberg tweeted.
The Associated Press reported last week that NATO nations had given a tentative agreement to extend Stoltenberg’s term for another year.
Earlier it became known that none of Stoltenberg’s possible successors as head of the alliance, such as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, had gained overwhelming support among the North Atlantic Alliance’s 31 member states. At the same time, Stoltenberg assured in June that he was not seeking an extension of his term in office.
Stoltenberg has been secretary general of the alliance since 2014. His term has already been extended twice. Again it expired in 2022, but because of the Ukrainian crisis he kept the post until the end of September 2023.
There is no official election of the NATO Secretary General; the Alliance appoints him based on the consensus of all member countries of the alliance.
