Record high temperatures were recorded globally last week, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday.
“According to preliminary data, the world recorded the hottest week on record. It followed the hottest June on record with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and a record small area of Antarctic sea ice,” the WMO said in a release on its website.
According to preliminary data, the average global temperature on July 7 was 17.24 degrees Celsius. This is 0.3 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record set on August 16, 2016, that year El Niño (a natural phenomenon strongly affecting the climate in a number of world regions – IF) was particularly active. The reanalysis data has not yet been confirmed.
According to Christopher Hewitt, director of WMO’s Climate Information Division, El Niño is expected to “further fuel heatwaves both on land and in the oceans and lead to more extreme temperatures and marine heatwaves.”
“We can expect to see more temperature records as El Niño develops, with the impact of this phenomenon continuing through 2024,” he said, calling such a scenario “troubling news for the planet.”
It emphasizes that record high temperatures on land and in the ocean can have “potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment.” The WMO notes that such phenomena are a consequence of climate change caused by human activity.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has allowed businessman Vadym Hryhoriev’s Zhytomyr Furniture Plant to buy real estate in Kiev, which was sold by the State Property Fund (SPF).
The corresponding decision of the AMCU approved July 6, reported on the website of the agency.
Earlier, Zhytomyr Furniture Works won the FGI auction on privatization of the historic building of the former Hermitage Hotel in Kiev on May 25. As reported by the FGI in June, the investor paid UAH 373 million to the state budget for the acquired asset.
The winner of the auction is obliged to apply to the relevant cultural heritage authority and conclude a protection agreement within a month after the registration of ownership of the privatization object.
Experts interviewed by Interfax-Ukraine estimated the necessary initial investments in the restoration of the buildings of the Hermitage Hotel at EUR8-10 mln.
The buildings were erected in 1902-1904 according to the project of Kiev architect Andrei Ferdinand Krauss – the author of many buildings constructed in the capital at that time. The house was one of the best hotels in the city “Hermitage”. The owner of the house was a millionaire and brick manufacturer Jacob Bernard. The end wall in the 1960s was decorated with a mosaic panel “Ukrainian Song” by Stepan Kirichenko.
These buildings have a protected status. In 1998 they were included in the list of historical and cultural monuments of local importance by the order of Kyiv City State Administration.
According to Opendatabot data, Zhytomyr Furniture Factory PJSC (ZhMK JSC), registered in 2003, authorized capital is UAH 4.9 mln. The ultimate beneficiary is Vadym Grigoriev.
At the end of 2021, the FGVFL sold the main office of VTB Bank, located at the intersection of Pushkinskaya Street and T. Shevchenko Boulevard in the center of Kiev, to Diprobudmashina PJSC of businessman Vadym Grigoriev for UAH 294.3 million at the auction “Prozorro.Sales”.
Previously, Grigoriev has already acquired part of VTB Bank’s assets: business center “Incom” for UAH 390 million and office center (6, Vatslav Havel Blvd., Kiev) for UAH 351 million, as well as Kiev business center “Renaissance” from Alfa Bank.
Grigoriev is also the owner of Merx Group after buying out Valeriy Khoroshkovskyy’s stake in 2004.
Ukraine in January-June this year increased exports of pig iron in physical terms by 26.1% compared to the same period last year – up to 799.692 thousand tons. According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Monday, during the period, pig iron exports in monetary terms amounted to $309.146 million (down 7.9%).
At the same time, exports were mainly to Poland (66.02% of shipments in monetary terms), Spain (15.82%) and the Czech Republic (8.13%).
For six months of 2023 Ukraine imported 37 tons of pig iron for $52 thousand from Germany (61.54%) and Brazil (38.46%), with no imports of pig iron in June.
As reported, Ukraine in 2022 reduced exports of pig iron in physical terms by 59% year-on-year to 1 million 325.275 thousand tons, in monetary terms by 61.1% to $638.774 million.
In 2022, Ukraine imported 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand, while in 2021 – 185 tons of pig iron worth $226 thousand.
Exports were mainly to the USA (38.47% of shipments in monetary terms), Poland (32.91%) and Turkey (8.12%), imports – from Germany (100%).
Some 62.8% of companies in the real estate market of Ukraine reported staff reductions from 10% to 50%, Olha Solovei, co-founder of the URE Club, has told Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on a survey of the professional business community.
According to the survey conducted by the URE Club in the spring of 2023, after the start of the war, 27.7% of respondents halved their staff, 35% did not change the number of employees, and only 2% of companies increased their staff.
“The staff of companies is the main asset. At the end of 2022, it became clear that the first market’s reaction and a substantial reduction in the number of employees or payments will become a critical factor in the recovery in the future,” Solovei said.
According to the study, after February 24, a large number of employees changed their permanent job to the territorial defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For example, in the Intergal-Bud company, according to rough estimates, almost half of the company’s employees (both general contractors and back office, etc.) somehow joined the defense of the country in 2022; over 60% of employees of Kyivmiskbud are in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense, including vice-presidents of the company. City One Development has an estimated share of employees entering the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense – 25%.
As for salaries, according to some non-public data, in addition to employees mobilized in 2022, since March 2022, almost 75% of industry workers have been sent on vacation without pay or their wages have been considerably reduced.
Solovei added that despite a slight recovery at the beginning of last summer and the resumption of work at some sites as early as the third quarter of 2022, the construction market has slowed down in anticipation of a tough winter. In general, the number of vacancies in the market of Kyiv in the third quarter was 82% lower than the pre-war figure for the same period. None of the leaders of the construction market in Kyiv has resumed recruiting new workers.
At the same time, in 2023, the trend to restore activity intensified. According to the survey, half of the companies reported their intention to increase the number of employees by 10-30%, almost 8% of respondents plan to increase the number of employees by more than 30%, 31% want to keep the number of employees at the current level.
“It is too early to talk about the return of the amount of payments and the number of employees to the level of 2021. 10% of companies are still in the process of laying off staff. And the expediency of such decisions is obvious, both for companies in the construction industry, the market of which has decreased 90% in the volume, and for companies in the field of property management and service companies,” Solovei said.
Another important factor in the labor market is the proportion of full-time employees who are now either abroad or in other cities due to danger.
The survey results showed that 76% of companies have employees working remotely. Among the 23% of respondents who reported that they do not have remote employees, the majority represent companies where the work functionality requires a physical presence at the property.
Development and construction companies, project management companies, architectural and service companies took part in the survey of the URE Club.
Prices for motor fuel will stabilize in early August after new batches of fuel will enter the market, taking into account excise duty in the price structure, according to the director of consulting group “A-95” Sergei Kuyun.
“This will happen when the volume of fuel with a new tax burden, which began to be cleared from July 1, will fully replace the old stocks. According to our expectations, this will happen in early August,” the expert said at a briefing at Ukrinform on Monday.
According to Kuyun, the wholesale market, which reacts much faster to fiscal changes, can serve as a certain predictive indicator for future fuel prices on the retail market.
“The wholesale market is characterized by the fact that operators have no residuals there, they work very quickly and incorporate all new circumstances and factors into prices very quickly. The wholesale market began to grow back in late June and today we have the following picture: for gasoline A-95 prices have increased by 7.74 UAH/liter, for diesel fuel – by almost 7 UAH/liter. In this market new taxes are already in place and it can be projected on future retail prices,” – said the director of “A-95”.
In turn, according to the consulting group, for the first week of July in the retail price of A-95 in the first week of July on average rose by 3 UAH – to 47.90 UAH / l, diesel fuel – by 3.45 UAH, to 46.86 UAH / l, liquefied gas – by 1.47 UAH, to 23.39 UAH / l.
“The main factor in the price rise was VAT, as this tax is paid immediately at the time of sale and immediately automatically came into effect. Further we expect that the price will gradually increase already at the expense of excise duty, excise duty is paid at the time of crossing the border,” the expert explained.
As he recalled, the tax burden on motor fuels from July 1 increased on A-95 – by 11 UAH/liter, diesel fuel – by 8 UAH/liter, liquefied gas – by 3 UAH/liter.
According to the director of “A-95”, in June in Ukraine there was a record level of imported diesel fuel supplies since the beginning of full-scale Russian aggression at the level of 650 thousand tons.
“Accordingly, this indicates that traders were preparing for this, brought a lot of low-tax fuel. This stock will now be realized and gradually motor fuel with new taxes will come to the market. And when this stock rotation is completed, then we can talk about the full integration of new taxes into the price,” summarized the expert.
As reported, in mid-March 2022, the Rada adopted a law on additional tax incentives to support business during the war, aimed, among other things, at keeping fuel prices down. According to it, temporarily, for the period of martial law, zero excise tax and VAT of 7% instead of 20% were set on fuel.
On September 21, 2022, the Rada passed Bill No. 7668-d on the return of excise taxes on motor fuel, setting them at EUR100 for gasoline and diesel (hereinafter – per 1,000 liters), EUR52 for liquefied gas, butane and isobutane, and EUR100 for alternative motor fuel and biodiesel. VAT for all types of fuel remained at 7%.
However, according to this document, from July 1, 2023 the level of fuel taxes returned to the pre-war level: VAT – to 20%, excise duty on gasoline – to EUR213, on diesel – to EUR140 per 1,000 liters.
Nibulon JV LLC (Mykolaiv), one of the largest operators in the Ukrainian grain market, and Scania Ukraine LLC have signed an agreement to purchase 30 Scania R450 trucks, the grain trader’s press service reports.
“The renewal of the fleet is an integral part of ensuring stable exports of Nibulon. In this case, we are talking about increasing the logistics potential for the transportation of grain by land,” the company wrote on Facebook on Monday.
The grain trader noted that due to the reorientation of export chains during the war and the almost complete loss of river navigation, Nibulon’s logistics business is forced to use combined routes, including grain transportation by truck.
“Nibulon has promised to minimize the load on the roads and minimize its environmental impact. Therefore, the grain is transported by trucks on a short arm to elevators with existing rail shipment capacities.
“Nibulon and Scania Ukraine have been cooperating since 2012. In 2022, Scania Ukraine supplied the grain trader with 15 Scania G400 Euro 5 tractors under the Scania SilverLine program, which includes the purchase of equipment on lease, a service contract, driver training, and a fleet monitoring system. The financing was provided by Scania Credit Ukraine, a member of the Scania Group.
The distribution company Scania Ukraine has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1998 (before that, it had a representative office since 1993). It has nine service centers (including two of its own in Kyiv and Lviv region).
SCANIA is part of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses over 16 tons. The company employs 46 thousand people and sells its products in more than 100 countries.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. It is one of the largest operators in the country’s grain market. It has elevator facilities with a total capacity of about 2 million tons, as well as its own transshipment terminal in Mykolaiv with a capacity of 5 million tons.
