Number of unemployed people registered in public employment service as of 11/01/2022 (thush people)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The garment factories of the Textil-Contact group of companies (TK) during the war have either managed to maintain the output at the level of last year or increase their production, the company’s press service told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“TK Group has sewing production facilities in Chernihiv, Korosten and Lubny, which are actively working in spite of the war,” the press service said.
In particular, specializing in the tailoring of special clothing and uniforms for the Ukrainian power structures sewing factory “TK-Korosten”, starting from January 2022, monthly produced about 4 thousand items per month, as in the same months last year.
“The production has orders from government agencies, ministries and departments (AFU, State Border Service, Defense Ministry and National Guard of Ukraine),” the company notes.
At the same time, during the war the staff of the factory increased by 10%.
The press service noted that in spite of the difficulties because of the shelling of Chernihiv in the first months of the war, the TK-Style garment factory was able to resume its work in full, and the expected output by the end of 2022 is 94 thousand garments, as it was a year earlier.
At the same time, the factory, which works on give-and-take raw materials and produces men’s and women’s clothing, continues to cooperate with foreign customers.
“Much effort has been made to convince our partners to stay with us and attract new ones, to assure them that despite the war we want to and can work. The company has managed not only to maintain cooperation with our regular customers but also to start working with new ones,” the company says.
Among the customers of TK-Style factory in 2021 are Kate Spade, Wattana, De Fursac, Comma, and the list of clients in 2022 includes Isabel Marant, Faconnable, Lufthansa.
The company also added that the textile factory “TK-Domashnyi Textile – Chernigov”, which was destroyed during the enemy’s attacks and fire, after the reconstruction launched the production of fabric in June, by the end of the year reached the output of 10 thousand running meters per day.
“And the youngest enterprise – “TK-Lubny”, in January-November produced 38.88 thousand units of products – 43% more than in 2021. In Lubny we started 4 years ago with a rental house and 60 seamstresses. Now, the staff of the factory is more than 120 employees. At the end of last year we bought the room 2300 square meters in the property and in March we start reconstruction to create a full sewing factory “, – told the press service.
“TK-Lubny” works since 2019, specializes in sewing workwear and uniforms mainly for the domestic market.
The company noted that while “Textil-Contact” has not abandoned the idea of creating a clothing production in Western Ukraine, is actively working to attract investors in new projects (textile and clothing).
At the same time, the owner of the group of companies “TC” Alexander Sokolovsky among the problems faced by production enterprises of the group, which carry out, including orders of the Ministry of Defense, noted that in conditions of force majeure (power outage, alarm, etc.) they often run out of time to deliver products, and receive penalties.
“We have to collect a bunch of certificates and prove force majeure in the CCI, while such certificates are quite difficult to obtain – they are either not given, or with a long time to answer, because they are all flooded with requests. So we ask the authorities to adopt a unified resolution, eliminating the penalties in contracts with state agencies at least 35-40 days, or get rid of the need to collect certificates,” – said Sokolovsky at the round table organized by the Center for Economic Strategy with the business and government in late December.
“Textil-Contact” is one of the largest trade and production groups at the market of light industry in Ukraine, founded in 1995. At the present time represents the holding, which unites different directions of assets: wholesale and retail trade, import of fabrics, accessories and home textile, production of fabrics, threads, services of studio and dry-cleaning, and also tailoring of clothes and overalls (including military overalls).
According to Sokolovsky, who spoke at the annual Ukraine Economic Outlook conference last week, the group employs more than 1,500 people.
According to him, the group paid more than UAH 200 million in taxes in 2022 (in previous years about UAH 160-165 million).
The U.S. dollar is moderately depreciating against major world currencies on Monday morning as investors continue to assess the dynamics of U.S. inflation and the future trajectory of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
Meanwhile, trading volume in the foreign exchange market is lower than usual Monday as U.S. exchanges are closed in observance of Martin Luther King’s Day, Trading Economics noted.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows the U.S. dollar’s performance against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), is down 0.23%, trading at its lowest in more than seven months.
Last week it was reported that consumer prices (CPI) in the U.S. rose 6.5% in December relative to the same month last year, slowing down from 7.1% in November. Inflation fell to its lowest level since October 2021.
A weakening inflationary pressure in the United States could be the decisive argument for a further slowdown in monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $1.0859 at 7:42 kk against $1.0833 at the close of last Friday’s session, the euro is adding more than 0.2%.
The dollar/yen exchange rate is down 0.1% at 127.71 yen from 127.86 yen at the end of last session.
The pound sterling is up 0.2% to trade at $1.2262 versus $1.2234 at the end of last week.
Meanwhile, the yuan, which is traded in mainland China, is at 6.7007/$1, up from 6.7030/$1 at the close of the previous session.
As it was reported the People’s Bank of China (NBK, the country’s central bank) on Monday injected 779 billion yuan ($116.2 billion) into the financial system within the framework of medium-term lending program (MLF).
Meanwhile, the rate on one-year loans under the MLF was kept at 2.75% per year, the NBK said in a statement. It remains unchanged for the fifth month in a row.
Oil prices are declining Monday morning after a significant rebound last week, driven by optimism over the impact of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in China on fuel demand in the country and the world.
The value of March futures for Brent at London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $84.66 a barrel by 7:10 a.m. Kk, down $0.62 (0.73%) from the close of the previous session. At the close of trading last Friday those contracts grew by $1.25 (1.5%) to $85.28 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $79.35 per barrel by that time, which is $0.51 (0.64%) lower than the final value of the previous session. The contract rose by $1.47 (1.9%) to $79.86 per barrel at the end of last session.
Brent gained 8.3% and WTI gained 8.5%. Both contracts ended trading at the highest levels since the beginning of the year.
The opening of the Chinese economy “was the most important factor behind the growth in oil prices last week”, and data on declining inflation in the U.S. also added to investors’ optimism about the American economy, the president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research Michael Lynch said.
In addition, prices were supported by the weakening of the dollar, the expert added.
This week, traders’ attention will focus on the monthly reports of OPEC and the International Energy Agency, which will be released on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, Trading Econimics noted.
Meanwhile, the number of active oil rigs in the U.S. rose by five last week to 623, oil services company Baker Hughes said. The number of gas rigs dropped by two, to 150.
The German government has allocated funds for eco-modernization of Ukrainian enterprises under the Best Available Technologies and Management Methods (BATM) for Ukraine program, which provides for co-financing of several BATM implementation projects by businesses up to EUR2 million each, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilec said.
“We understand that we must make considerable efforts to obtain financial instruments to restore our economic sustainability. And it is important to carry out this renewal with technologies that will be less harmful to the environment,” said Strilets, who was quoted in a release from the ministry with reference to his speech at a national telethon on Thursday.
He specified that the documents for participation in the program are open and the projects will be selected till February 28, 2023.
At the same time, the minister noted that the Ministry of Environment together with the people’s deputies finalized the necessary framework law № 6004-d, which would outline the framework of ecomodernization and reconstruction of enterprises on the best available technologies and enable to attract funds of international technical assistance for the realization of such projects.
The minister expressed confidence that the experience of implementation of this program would be a qualitative beginning of cooperation with other European partners.
He cited data from the Kiev School of Economics, according to which since the war in Ukraine at least 412 enterprises have been damaged or destroyed, of which 64 are large and medium-sized.
As for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine as a whole, according to Strilz, there is indeed a clear understanding at the highest political level of Ukraine that its reconstruction should be green and using the best available technologies, and the European Green Deal, which Ukraine joined back in 2020, could be the basis for the post-war “green” development of the country.
In his opinion, this is not only an opportunity for Ukraine to contribute to the global fight against climate change, but also to solve the problems that arose after February 24, 2022.
“After all, no one will argue that it is important for us to develop green energy, because our energy security and the energy security of Europe depend on it. It is important for us that every destroyed house is rebuilt according to new standards, and every kindergarten, school and other social facility is built according to modern energy-saving technologies. Today we are taking steps to attract investment in such projects, “- said the head of the Ministry of Environment.
According to information on the site of German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), it implements the project “The best available technologies and methods of management (LDTIM) for Ukraine” on the behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection of Germany (BMUV) and will help Ukrainian enterprises to implement these technologies and reduce industrial emissions. The political partner of the LDTIM project in the implementation of industrial pollution reform is the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Ukraine.
According to the conditions of participation in the project, grants in the amount of 20% of total costs for implementation of the LDTIM project are provided as co-funding, but no more than EUR2 million for one project, within the limits of available funds of the program.
80% of the grant is to be paid in installments according to the enterprise’s equipment/services procurement plan, and 20% is to be paid after the final audit.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi will visit several nuclear power plants in Ukraine next week.
“Grossi will be in Ukraine next week to establish a permanent presence of nuclear safety experts at all nuclear power facilities in the country,” the IAEA said in a statement.
“The director general will visit the Pivdeno-Ukrainian NPP, the Rivne NPP, and the Chernobyl NPP to launch missions, which will include two experts at each site,” the document stresses.
It is noted that two experts will also be deployed at the Khmelnytskyy nuclear power plant.
The IAEA reminds that the agency has already ensured the permanent presence of four experts at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which is currently located in the territory occupied by the Russian aggressor.
“We must continue to do everything possible to prevent the risk of a serious nuclear accident,” Grossi said in a statement.
In addition, during his visit to Kiev, the director general will meet with senior representatives of the Ukrainian government and discuss proposals concerning the creation of a safety zone around the ZNPP.
Earlier, the head of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation (SNRIU, Gosatomregulirovanie), Oleg Korikov, said that an IAEA mission would soon arrive at all three nuclear power plants located in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
