Ukraine’s pharmaceutical market in the first half of 2022 fell by 27% in volume and 20% in value due to the war compared to the same period last year, the relevant data are given in the report of the SMD company “Ukraine’s pharmaceutical market in the first half 2022. The market in the flames of war.”
At the same time, the company does not provide absolute indicators in the document.
According to the company, the main market drop during this period occurred in April and amounted to 50% in volume and 51% in value compared to April 2021.
At the same time, SMD experts note the significant impact of migration and population decline on the situation in the pharmaceutical market.
At the same time, the company pays attention to some stabilization of the situation in May, as well as to a slight market growth in monetary terms over the past months, which reflects the increase in drug prices.
In addition, the company’s experts emphasize that in the first half of this year, the actual consumption of medicines was higher than the monitoring showed due to the significant amount of humanitarian aid transferred.
At the same time, the share of public procurement was stable in terms of volume – 21% versus 20% in the first half of 2021, but increased from 25% to 30% in value terms due to a larger share of centralized purchases of high-priced products.
In addition, the company notes significant changes in the regional distribution. In particular, the largest reduction in consumption and market share is noted in Kharkiv, Kyiv region (without Kyiv city), as well as in Chernihiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Sumy regions.
The largest increase in market share during the war was demonstrated by Lviv region, Kyiv city, Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Zakarpattia, Ternopil and other western regions.
At the same time, in Odesa and central regions of Ukraine, there was a slight increase in market share (0.5-0.6%).
“The change in the share of regional markets was influenced not only by internal migration of the population, but also by the work of large military clinics that consumed a significant amount of drugs in certain regions,” the company emphasizes.
Experts also note an increase in the share of domestically produced drugs despite serious damage to some capacities – 38.4% in January-June of this year versus 37% in 2021 as a whole.
According to the study, Sinovac became the leader of the pharmaceutical market during the analyzed period thanks to the purchase of a vaccine against COVID-19.
Without taking this company into account, the position of the market leader, despite a significant reduction in sales, is maintained by Farmak, the second place is taken by the pharmaceutical company Darnitsa, and the third by Yuria-Pharm.
Sanofi and Arterium, respectively, took fourth and fifth positions in the ranking of pharmaceutical market leaders for the first half of the year.
Ukraine and the UK are planning to conclude an agreement on digital trade, which will remove barriers to trade and provide support to Ukrainian businesses, the UK has previously concluded such an agreement only with Singapore, the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Digital Transformation report.
The Ministry of Economy in a press release on Wednesday clarified that the day before, First Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov discussed this document – Digital Economy Agreement – with Secretary of State for International Trade of Great Britain Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
“The Digital Economy Agreement is a new type of trade agreement that will open up new opportunities for Ukrainian and British businesses through the use of modern technologies that will reduce bureaucratic procedures and promote the use of electronic payments, digital signatures and electronic contracts,” Svyrydenko said.
According to the release of the Ministry of Economy, the agreements involve the creation of digital infrastructure to level restrictions on cross-border data transfer, the opening of a single window for traders and government agencies, the growth of trade in services, proper protection of personal data and improved access to public resources.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation added that among the main areas of cooperation were financial technologies and payment systems, open digital markets and technical cooperation.
The Ministry of Economy clarified that the agreement on digital trade would supplement the agreement on political cooperation, free trade and strategic partnership between Ukraine and the UK, concluded on October 8, 2020.
President of the state enterprise NNEGC Energoatom Petr Kotin said that the company is preparing for corporatization and that the Ukrainian government has already submitted the relevant draft law on the specifics of the formation of the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom to the Parliament.
As reported in the Energoatom Telegram channel, he informed the ambassadors of the G7 countries and other officials of foreign diplomatic missions about this during a meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday, August 24.
In addition, Kotin outlined plans for the development of Energoatom and the state of implementation of joint projects with the American company Westinghouse.
“We have put an end to any dependence on Russia, first of all, it concerns the rejection of its nuclear fuel, technologies, services and components. At the same time, we are strengthening cooperation with our long-term partner Westinghouse: we will purchase nuclear fuel for all Ukrainian nuclear power plants and build 9 new power units based on AP1000 technology,” he said.
As reported, in September 2021, Energoatom and Westinghouse signed a memorandum on the construction of five nuclear power units in Ukraine. At the beginning of June 2022, the companies signed agreements to increase the number of nuclear power units to be built using AP 1000 technology in Ukraine from five to nine units, and to establish the Westinghouse Engineering and Technology Center in the country.
Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. Operates Zaporozhye, South-Ukrainian, Rivne and Khmelnytsky stations with 15 power units equipped with water-cooled power reactors, with a total installed electrical capacity of 13.8 GW.
A number of EU regions will experience an unprecedented drought for another three months, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing an EU report.
Drought and high air temperatures are expected in the western Mediterranean until November 2022, the report says.
It is noted that in particular this will affect Portugal and Spain.
Nearly half of the EU countries currently have a drought warning in place. In addition, the deterioration of the situation is observed in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg and others.
Earlier it was reported that, according to the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, the current drought seems to be perhaps the worst in the last 500 years. Final data at the end of the season may confirm this preliminary estimate.
The countries of Europe, which this summer are suffering from wildfires associated with abnormal heat and drought, broke a sad record in 2022: 662.8 thousand hectares were devastated by fire.
Among the states most affected by fires this year are Spain (246 thousand hectares of burned forests), Romania (150 thousand hectares), Portugal (75 thousand hectares) and France (61 thousand hectares).
Shareholders of the VUSO insurance company completed the purchase of UASK ASKA (operating under the ASKA brand) in order to create a major player in the insurance market with Ukrainian capital.
“Despite the war and what seems like a bad time to invest, we are determined to see our goal of merging the two companies through. We believe in the victory of Ukraine and its future! We hope that Ukrainians and Ukrainian enterprises will continue to use the services of VUSO as a large Ukrainian company. It is symbolic for us that the date of the transaction, as well as the date of the beginning of the association, is August 24 – the Independence Day of our country!
After the transaction is completed, it is planned to merge UASK ASKA and IC VUSO under a single VUSO brand by the end of 2022.
The future merger will increase VUSO’s presence in the corporate insurance segment through ASKA’s longstanding relationships with large corporate clients.
The amount and terms of the deal were not disclosed.
VUSO insurance company has been operating on the Ukrainian market since 2001. According to Insurance TOP, its assets as of December 31, 2022 amounted to UAH 940.5 million, insurance premiums for 12 months of 2021 – UAH 1.719 billion (8th place in the ranking of insurers). Holds 50 licenses: 33 for voluntary and 17 for compulsory types of insurance. The company specializes in motor, medical and travel insurance for private and corporate clients, has more than 30 representative offices throughout Ukraine. He is a Member of the ITIBU (since 07/01/22 – Full Member), the Nuclear Pool, a participant in the Direct Settlement project. Member of the National Association of Insurers of Ukraine. The company has been assigned a financial stability (reliability) rating of uaАА. The shareholders of VUSO are the Altitude Fund, the ultimate beneficiaries are Mikhail Nazarchuk and Alexey Shuba.
UASK ASKA is the first private insurance company that appeared in independent Ukraine and has been operating for over 30 years. It was included in the portfolio of the international investment company SCM.
At the beginning of 2022, ASKA had 2,900 corporate and more than 200,000 private clients throughout Ukraine. He is a member of MTIBU, one of the founders of the Nuclear Pool. The insurer has a license to carry out insurance activities for compulsory insurance of civil liability of car owners (including the Green Card). During its work, ASKA has repeatedly made the largest payments in the history of Ukrainian insurance.
The state will partially compensate exporters for interest accrued and paid this year on loans insured by the Export Credit Agency (ECA), the website of the Ministry of Economy reported on Wednesday.
The corresponding decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on August 23.
It is indicated that the state will partially compensate the rate on export credits, which are taken for a period of two to 12 years and amount to no more than 85% of the amount of the foreign economic contract.
Such loans should be used to replenish working capital, purchase equipment, fulfill the terms of a foreign economic contract, and build and reconstruct production facilities.
It is noted that the borrower must be a FOP or a legal entity registered on the territory of Ukraine (except for the temporarily occupied territories), not have open bankruptcy cases and not be in the process of liquidation.
The Ministry clarified that if the borrower violates the terms of interest payment for more than 15 days, compensation will be temporarily suspended.
