Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

MOLDOVA STOPPED EXPORT OF WHEAT, FLOUR AND SUGAR

The temporary suspension of exports of wheat, flour and sugar will ensure Moldova’s food security until the next harvest, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Viorel Gerciu said Thursday in parliament.
The minister did not predict the price of bread in autumn, but said that this year’s wheat harvest will be less than last year’s (900,000 tons instead of 1.7 million tons). But even this will be enough to cover domestic demand, which is estimated at 660,000 tons per year.
Referring to the supply of fertilizers in Moldova, disrupted due to hostilities in Ukraine, the minister said that the country consumes 270,000 tons of fertilizers annually. Until the end of February, the cost of this volume of fertilizers was estimated at $80 million, but now the price has risen to $220 million. “129,000 tons of fertilizers have already been imported to Moldova this year, which is enough to meet the needs of agricultural producers today,” Gerciu added.

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COST OF HOUSING CONSTRUCTION UNDER ‘BIDEN’ PROJECT WILL BE $750/SQ M – ACADEMY OF CONSTRUCTION

The cost of construction of low-rise eight-apartment buildings under the Biden project will be $750/sq m, a plot has already been allocated in Bucha district for the pilot implementation of two houses.

 

“The cost of the house, including construction, engineering, exterior and interior decoration, furniture, household appliances and climate engineering equipment, will not exceed $750 per square meter. This is an ambitious figure and difficult to achieve, but we have confidence in our suppliers, thanks to whom we can count on such a prime cost,” Ivan Perehynets, an academician of the Academy of Construction of Ukraine, the director of the scientific and technical center, said during a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday.

According to the academician, the Soniachne garden partnership in Bucha district of Kyiv region decided to allocate a land plot of 0.1 hectares for the pilot construction of two houses of the Biden project. The sites already have engineering and transport infrastructure. Construction is scheduled to begin before July 1.

According to the project, the area of one apartment in such a house is 60 square meters. The cost of such an apartment, including a parking space, will be about $45,000.

The International Construction Fund of Ukraine special fund was created to finance the project.

Perehynets noted that both local governments and cooperatives and other self-organizing bodies of the population can buy housing. In addition, he allows the purchase of such housing by businesses for further commercial use.

As reported, the Academy of Construction of Ukraine plans to implement a project for the rapid construction of housing in the format of eight-apartment houses for Ukrainians who have lost their homes. The construction of such housing takes about 60 days.

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UKRAINE WORKING ON TRADE LIBERALIZATION WITH CANADA, AUSTRALIA, SWITZERLAND, NORWAY, ICELAND, LIECHTENSTEIN

The Ukrainian delegation during the WTO ministerial conference held about two dozen bilateral talks on possible trade liberalization and removal of existing barriers, in particular, in trade in agricultural products, Deputy Economy Minister – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“The main conclusion is that the world believes in Ukraine and is ready to open markets for Ukrainian products. This means that the world believes in our victory over the aggressor,” he wrote on Facebook after the conference.
Kachka also said that Ukraine has sent a request to the European Free Trade Association (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) to update the free trade agreement, and it will be considered next week within the framework of the EFTA institute.
According to the trade representative, he discussed further steps to liberalize trade, having carried out preparatory work right at the conference, with Canadian Minister of International Trade Mary Ng.
Kachka added that he agreed with the Minister of Trade of Australia in a few days after the conference to discuss in detail the possibilities of liberalizing bilateral trade (GSP and FTA).
The Ukrainian trade representative also said that he had discussed the conclusion of an agreement on digital trade with UK Secretary for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
“The same issue – trade liberalization and digital trade – were relevant in a conversation with the Minister of Trade of Singapore. Singapore is ready to become a hub for trade in Ukrainian products in Asia,” Kachka added.
According to him, at a meeting with the Minister of Trade of Senegal, he emphasized that Ukraine is doing everything to increase exports and feed Africa.
“Senegal is chairing the African Union this year and their understanding of the true causes of food problems is very important,” the Ukrainian trade representative said.

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SITUATION WITH REINSURANCE OF UKRAINIAN RISKS WORSENS – EXPERT

The situation with the reinsurance of Ukrainian risks in international markets has worsened since the beginning of the war, and a rather small circle of reinsurers who worked with Ukrainian companies has also narrowed, the director of the representative office of Oakeshott Insurance Consultants Ltd. (Britain) in Ukraine, Tetiana Babko, told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, many reinsurers are not ready to see the risks due to the war and the fall of the economy, since in such cases the quality of the risks themselves is sharply reduced. Others see a danger to themselves in compliance, which is very complicated due to restrictions and sanctions, so they simply exclude not only Belarus and the Russian Federation, but also Ukraine from their business. Some reinsurers prolong old contracts, but do not write new business.
In addition, there were also difficulties for obligators with a renewal date of April 1. Few insurance companies in Ukraine managed to get a renewal for a year, more often reinsurers offered to prolong the current contract for two or three months.
“It is difficult for obligators to adequately assess the situation and their ability to continue working in Ukraine. Now, on July 1, the situation will be even more aggravated, as forecasts about the duration of the war are getting worse, the volume of premiums in obligators is declining, and there is little economic sense for reinsurers. And this is against the backdrop of a lack of insurers’ and brokers’ opportunity to buy foreign currency and pay reinsurance premiums,” Babko said.
The purchase of currency for reinsurance, in accordance with resolution No. 81 of the National Bank of Ukraine dated April 22, 2022 on amendments to resolution No. 18 of the NBU board dated February 24, 2022 is limited to a small list of risks. This has an extremely negative impact on the willingness of reinsurers to cooperate with the Ukrainian market.
According to Babko, the insurance business, primarily various associations, is actively coming up with their proposals and interacting with the authorities. However, the insurance market has not developed a unified position for discussion with the regulator.

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PRIME MINISTER OF ITALY: EUROPE MUST UNITE EFFORTS TO SOLVE PROBLEM OF UKRAINIAN GRAIN TRANSPORTATION

Whole Europe must unite its efforts and act boldly in order to solve the problem of safe transportation and shipment or Ukrainian grain, Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi has said.
“We must do everything possible to not let the situation become dramatic… To avoid… a serious crisis, we must ensure safe transportation of grain. This must not cause a global disaster. For this we must focus on how to organize grain transportation through the Black Sea. Russia, unfortunately, does not make advances. We must fight against this problem bravely and boldly, just like President Zelensky. And we, the Europeans, must act together,” Draghi said during a press conference following a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania in Kyiv on Thursday.
He added that there is some time to solve this problem as “the harvest will be ready mainly in September.”

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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES CONTINUATION OF TREND TOWARDS DECREASE IN INCIDENCE OF COVID IN WORLD

The incidence of coronavirus in the world over the past week continued to decline, while mortality increased by 4%, follows from the weekly epidemiological bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Between June 6 and 12, the incidence of coronavirus decreased in all regions except the Eastern Mediterranean region, where the incidence increased by 58%, America (by 13%) and Southeast Asia (by 33%). The largest decline in cases was seen in the Western Pacific and Europe, at 8%.
In just a week, more than 3.2 million cases of COVID-19 were detected worldwide. Coronavirus deaths have decreased or remained unchanged in all regions except the Western Pacific, where deaths rose by 17%, and the Americas (21%). Mortality fell the most in the Eastern Mediterranean (by 35%). In general, more than 8.7 thousand deaths caused by COVID-19 were recorded worldwide during the week.
Over the entire period of the pandemic, about 535 million cases of coronavirus infection and more than 6.3 million deaths from the consequences of the disease have been detected in the world.

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