The value of Ukrainian exports in 2023 decreased by 18.7% compared to 2022 and amounted to $35.8 billion, which is one of the lowest figures in the last decade, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said on Facebook on Thursday.
“Logistics continues to be the key for Ukrainian exports. With all the problems and challenges, Ukraine exported 99.8 million tons of goods. This is 112 thousand tons more than in 2022,” – summed up the results of the year first Deputy Prime Minister.
According to her, the success of December should be noted: for the first time in the second half of the year exports by value exceeded $3 billion – $3.148 billion, and by weight for the first time since March became more than 10 million tons – 10.399 million tons.
Sviridenko specified that this was achieved due to the growth of exports by sea in December by 30.7% compared to November – up to 7.34 million tons, and in total for 2023 exports by sea increased by 1 million tons compared to the previous year.
According to her, since exports by the new Ukrainian sea corridor is available not only for grain, but for all goods, in December exports of metal and semi-finished products jumped by 40%, flat rolled products – by 45.3%.
At the same time, pointed out the head of the Ministry of Economy, due to the Polish blockade of borders and further reduced exports by road transport: 18.3% less in December compared to November, although the overall year-on-year reduction amounted to only 0.7%.
“The increase in exports by container transportation – 86% by rail and 36% by road – is very pleasing. This is the most efficient mode of transportation for value-added products,” Sviridenko added.
Separately, First Deputy Prime Minister emphasized the increase in exports of furniture in 2023 both in volume and in monetary terms – respectively by 11% and 7%, as well as the growth of sugar exports by 1.7 times.
At the same time, she said, there was a drop in the size of revenue of the most massive export commodity by volume – corn (26.2 million tons): with a physical growth of 5%, revenue fell by 16.8%. “The problem is not only the fall in the world price. The arithmetic average price of Ukrainian corn – $188 – was significantly less than the arithmetic average world price – $227. The $39 difference is a discount due to problems in logistics and the flow of profits to neighboring countries – Poland and Romania, from where most of our grain is resold,” – said Sviridenko.
As for imports, according to the head of the Ministry of Economy, they amounted to $62.2 billion. The top 10 goods imported to Ukraine included fuel – $7.8 billion, “miscellaneous (where not advertised)”” – $3.7 billion, medicines – $1.7 billion, UAVs – $681 million, cars and goods for agriculture (fertilizers and plant protection products).
Sviridenko added that the goods trade deficit is indeed significant at $26.4 billion, but such changes are logical given the logistical challenges and defense needs in 2023.
As for the goals for 2024, the first deputy prime minister expects to return export volumes to the level of 2021, strengthen export logistics with air defense systems, and develop more alternative logistics options so that there is a possibility to maneuver in case of difficulties.
She is confident that if the pace is kept up, the Economy Ministry predicts that exports of goods and services will generally grow in the following years: by 9% in 2024, 19.4% in 2025 and 20.6% in 2026.
“And, of course, I cannot fail to mention our trade agreements, which improve access of Ukrainian goods to foreign markets. In 2023, we signed a digital trade agreement with the UK. We are awaiting ratification of the agreement with Canada. At the finish line is the ratification of agreements with Turkey, for which we have done additional work to improve its provisions. And soon we are waiting for an official announcement on the successful conclusion of negotiations on the UAE,” Sviridenko added.
Kaan Terzioğlu, CEO of VEON Group, the parent company of Ukraine’s largest telecom operator Kyivstar, plans to return to Kyiv in late January to meet with his team and continue the dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities, he said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
“I hope that we will meet with many stakeholders, including the Ukrainian government, but not only,” Terzioglu said.
He added that during his first visit in October last year, he was unable to talk to Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Rostyslav Shurma, who has been publicly stating the possibility of nationalizing Kyivstar since July last year, and hopes that he will be able to do so during his upcoming visit.
“When the rumors emerged and Mr. Shurma gave his interviews, it had a significant impact on trading volumes and share prices. Now the shock has passed, but we lost almost 30% of the value of our shares during that period,” stated the CEO of VEON.
Commenting on the seizure of 47.85% of Kyivstar shares, which is comparable to Letter One’s stake in VEON, Terzioglu said that an appeal has been filed and expressed hope that the seizure will be lifted and this will help reassure international investors. He emphasized that VEON owns all 100% of Kyivstar’s shares, and Letter One, according to his information, has distanced itself from co-owners Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, who are subject to international sanctions, and is not subject to such international sanctions.
According to VEON’s CEO, the seizure of Kyivstar shares does not affect the company’s operations, ability to operate and maintain its networks. “The arrest only affects the ability to receive dividends or transfer shares from one owner to another,” Terizoglu explained.
Earlier it was reported that the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv reduced the package of seized shares of Kyivstar from 99.994654% to 47.85%, and the seized share of LifeSell LLC from 100% to 19.8% as part of interim measures in the case against Alfa Group co-owner Mikhail Fridman opened in late September. He made such changes to the earlier ruling of October 4 based on a motion filed by a prosecutor from the Prosecutor General’s Office due to a typo. As for the rest of the seized assets, the court confirmed the accuracy of their original description. In particular, 100% of the corporate rights of three Kyivstar-affiliated companies, including Kyivstar.Tech, Helsi, and the Ukrainian Tower Company, remain under arrest.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 04/01/24
www.bank.gov.ua
Oil prices are rising on Thursday morning after a sharp rise in the previous session.
The price of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:06 a.m. was $78.61 per barrel, which is $0.36 (0.46%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Wednesday, these contracts jumped in price by $2.36 (3.1%) to $78.25 per barrel.
Quotations for February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.49 (0.67%) to $73.19 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $2.32 (3.3%) to $72.70 per barrel.
Oil jumped in price on the news of the deaths of more than a hundred people in explosions near the grave of General Qasem Soleimani in Iran on the anniversary of his death. Soleimani was the commander of the Al-Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s intelligence services called the explosions a targeted terrorist attack.
Meanwhile, oil production at Libya’s largest oil field, al-Sharara, has been suspended due to protests. The field produces about 300 thousand barrels of oil per day.
In addition, investors are assessing signals about changes in energy reserves in the United States. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), in the week to December 29, US oil reserves fell by 7.42 million barrels, while the expected decline was 2.97 million barrels.
Official data from the US Department of Energy will be published at 18:00 on Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Trading Economics expect, on average, that these data will indicate a decrease in oil reserves by 3.73 million barrels.
In 2023, Epicenter Agro Holding, a member of the Epicenter K group of companies, began construction of a plant for the production of urea-ammonia mixture (UAN) and liquid complex fertilizers (LCF) in Vinnytsia region, according to the official website of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, the fertilizers are to be used during the 2024 sowing campaign.
“We have very ambitious goals for 2024. Changing the sowing structure, further testing of the No-till system, our own fertilizer production, and a number of other projects are just a small part of the challenges we have set for ourselves. In addition, we are confidently moving towards the introduction of processing of our products. This means that we firmly believe in ourselves as a team of professionals, our company Epicenter Agro, and the peaceful future of Ukraine,” said Svitlana Nikitiuk, Head of the Central Office of the Agricultural Department of Epicenter Agro.
Epicenter K LLC was established in 2003 and opened its first hypermarket in Kyiv in December of the same year. It has a network of shopping centers of the same name in Ukraine. It has also been developing its agricultural business since 2016. It cultivates more than 160 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions. The group includes 20 livestock farms and 15 elevator complexes with a total storage capacity of 1.5 million tons.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the shareholders of Epicenter K LLC are Oleksandr Gerega (51.3%), Galyna Gerega (47.97%) and Tetiana Surzhyk (0.73%).
Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works of Zaporizhzhia has re-commissioned a pulverized coal injection (PCI) unit to reduce the cost of pig iron production.
According to the company’s Facebook post, the equipment was temporarily suspended due to unstable power supply and logistical constraints associated with the full-scale war.
“Now, thanks to the team of #Zaporizhstal blast furnace workers, the equipment is back in operation and operates by blowing pulverized coal into the blast furnaces. The use of pulverized coal technology reduces the cost of pig iron without affecting its quality and increases the productivity of Zaporizhstal’s blast furnaces,” the plant said in a statement.
As reported earlier, Zaporizhstal switched to the use of energy-efficient PCI technology in blast furnace production in October 2011: the project was launched in the first quarter of 2008, and the contract for the supply of technology and equipment was signed in 2006 with the German company Küttner.
The plant became the third steelmaker in Ukraine to implement PCI technology, following Donetsk Iron and Steel Works (DMZ) and Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works (Luhansk Oblast). The technology involves feeding wet PCI coke to grinding mills, where the coal is ground to dust, or particles smaller than 90 microns. It is then dried and blown into the combustion chamber – the blast furnace furnace.
“Zaporizhstal recouped the cost of constructing the pulverized coal plant worth about UAH 1 billion, including UAH 350 million for the construction of the basic coal storage facility (BCF), in 1.5 years after commissioning. The use of the PCI technology made it possible to increase the productivity of blast furnaces by an average of 10-15%.
“In the first nine months of 2023, Zaporizhstal reduced its net loss by 91.8% compared to the same period in 2022, to UAH 236.623 million from UAH 2 billion 883.850 million, while its net income for the period increased by 9.2% to UAH 41 billion 329.014 million. Retained earnings as of the end of September 2023 amounted to UAH 28 billion 961.786 million.
“Zaporizhstal ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 4 billion 864 million 684.828 thousand, while in 2021 it made a net profit of UAH 16 billion 809 million 158.412 thousand.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are widely known and in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
According to the NDU for the third quarter of 2023, Kyiv Securities Group LLC owns 24.5003% of Zaporizhstal shares, Midland Capital Management LLC (both Kyiv, registered at the same address) owns 11.2224%, Global Steel Investments Limited (UK) owns 12.3466%, and Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owns 47.0032%.
Earlier it was reported that Metinvest Group’s effective shareholding in Zaporizhstal remains at 49.9%.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
