The weighted average price of land in Ukraine has increased by 10.4% to 38.5 thousand UAH/ha since the beginning of 2023, and the capitalization of the agricultural land market has increased by 115.1 billion UAH, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
“The second stage of the land reform will increase the value of privately owned land plots and landowners’ incomes. Revenues to local community budgets will also increase. In addition, Ukrainian agricultural producers will have access to bank lending secured by land,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy commented on the launch of the second stage of the land market in Ukraine on January 1, 2024.
The ministry drew the attention of communities to the fact that they now have the opportunity to lease communal agricultural land through Prozorro.
“The sale fills their budgets with UAH 355.2 million in revenue annually. And the turnover and use of agricultural land brings communities an average of 10%-12% of the total community budget,” the agriculture ministry said, adding that only 1% of land was sold in Ukraine during the market’s operation, of which 99.5% remained in agricultural production.
As reported, the land market in Ukraine was opened on July 1, 2021, after the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine No. 552-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions for the Turnover of Agricultural Land”.
The second phase of the implementation of the Land Market Law started in Ukraine on January 1, 2024: the market was opened to legal entities resident in Ukraine, and citizens were entitled to acquire up to 10 thousand hectares of land instead of 100 hectares in the first phase. The minimum purchase price of agricultural land should not be lower than the NMV (normative monetary value). Leaseholders retain the preemptive right to purchase the land. Foreigners have no right to sell or buy land. The sale of municipal and state land remains prohibited.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and part of Metinvest Group, has successfully passed a recertification audit of its compliance with the requirements of the international energy management standard ISO 50001:2018.
According to a press release on Wednesday, the audit was carried out at the coal preparation, coke and resin processing shops, as well as at the desulphurization and desulphurization shops and the chief power engineer department of the enterprise by specialists from the audit company Technical and Management Services, a corporate partner of the certification company TÜV AU.
During the audit, they analyzed internal documentation and compliance with the established rules in the work of the units. The auditors paid special attention to the development of new approaches to energy saving and the measures taken to strengthen the company’s energy independence.
The experts noted the high level of staff involvement in the process of energy saving and continuous improvement. Based on the results of the audit, Zaporizhkoks confirmed its compliance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 50001:2018 and recommended issuing an updated certificate of conformity.
It is noted that Zaporozhkoks has been certified since 2014 and regularly confirms its compliance with international standards of quality management system, environmental management, occupational health and safety management.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke production by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks has a full technological cycle of processing coke products.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
In 2023, the sugar plant of Cygnet Group in the village of Andrushky, Zhytomyr region, operated until December 22, a record period for the 160-year-old plant, and produced more than 32 thousand tons of sugar, the company reported in a video on Youtube.
According to the report, in 2023, the Cygnet group of companies sowed more than 4 thousand hectares of sugar beet. During the sugar production season, Cygnet processed more than 22 thousand tons of sugar beet. In addition, the company has changed the packaging for its products – now sugar is packed not only in 50 kg bags, but also in 1-ton big bags.
Cygnet cultivates about 29 thousand hectares in Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia regions, where it grows corn, soybeans, winter wheat, and sugar beets. The company’s assets include an elevator with a one-time storage capacity of 60 thousand tons and a sugar plant with a processing capacity of up to 2.8 thousand tons of beets per day (both in Zhytomyr region).
The company also has a dairy business (605 cows), which sells its products to local processors.
Benchmark crude oil prices continue to fall.
The market is under pressure from extremely uncertain forecasts for global demand amid an expected increase in supplies, especially from non-OPEC countries, Trading Economics reports.
The price of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:07 a.m. CT is $75.84 per barrel, which is $0.05 (0.07%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Tuesday, these contracts fell by $1.15 (1.5%) to $75.89 per barrel.
Quotations for February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) on Wednesday morning fell by $0.06 (0.09%) to $70.32 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $1.27 (1.8%) to $70.38 per barrel.
Traders’ attention is focused on the prospects for global oil demand and whether the central banks of the world’s leading countries will be able to ensure a “soft landing” of their economies, said Craig Earlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, as quoted by MarketWatch.
Demand is expected to “remain low due to the global economic downturn and record oil production in the United States,” said Haralampos Pissouros, senior investment analyst at XM.
In 2023, Asket Shipping LLC increased its transshipment of agricultural products to 700 thousand tons, including 570 thousand tons in the Danube ports, the company reported on Facebook.
“The year was difficult for our industry. Attacks on the port infrastructure of Odesa region, the catastrophic consequences of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam blowing up, and the blockade on the Polish border. All of this not only caused losses and suffering to the country, but also significantly harmed farmers and complicated the logistics chains of Ukrainian grain exports. And I am very grateful to our team, partners and customers for holding the line together and meeting the challenges of the year,” the press service quoted Kateryna Rusina, the company’s director and owner, as saying.
According to her, 700,000 tons of transshipment, of which 570,000 tons in the Danube ports, is “no less significant for the company than the millions of tons when we worked at home, in the ports of our native Azov.”
Rusina said that in 2023, Ascet Shipping began loading ships in Chornomorsk, expanded its presence in all operating ports of Ukraine, and provided customers with 50 thousand tons of storage in warehouses in Odesa and Mykolaiv.
“We have introduced new services and received a quality certificate for our management system according to the international standard ISO 9001:2015. Such high results are now possible only through triple efforts, coordinated teamwork and trust,” she added.
In addition, Ascet Shipping is preparing an appeal to international courts to obtain compensation from the seized funds of those responsible for the theft of Ukrainian grain, property and infrastructure in occupied Berdiansk and Mariupol.
“Ascet Shipping specializes in providing logistics services for the export of grain and food cargo in seven ports of Ukraine: Berdiansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Mariupol, Kherson, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. At the beginning of the war, the company moved its production facilities to western Ukraine and established cooperation with elevators in the region and Europe. The company plans to ship cargo by rail and road to European ports.
As reported, Ascet Shipping LLC transshipped 500 thousand tons of grain in 2022. The company started operations in five new ports: Odesa, Izmail, Reni, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, and Kilia.
Kateryna Rusyna is the director and main beneficiary of the Asket Shipping group of companies, which includes First Fumigation Company, Asket Cargo, Azovalliance Group and others. She owns 60% of the shares. Four of her children are co-owners of the business and have 10% stakes each.
The State Tax Service (STS) has planned 3,242 inspections of businesses – both companies and individual entrepreneurs – for 2024. In more than half of the cases, documentary inspections of companies will take place. Most often, the tax authorities will visit businesses in Kyiv, and the most popular industry for company audits will be wholesale trade.
The State Tax Service has planned 2,328 inspections of companies and 914 inspections of sole proprietorships for 2024. This is 19% less than in 2023, when the tax authorities visited 2,551 companies and 1,461 individual entrepreneurs.
This is reported by Opendatabot, citing data from the State Tax Service.
In the vast majority of cases, 61.6%, tax authorities will check company documents. In 28% of cases, the State Tax Service will visit fops. At the same time, inspections of businesses that have questions about military duty and unified social tax will be halved by 2023, down to 156 companies. Inspections of non-resident financial companies account for only 5% of the plan.
Kyiv has the highest number of inspections – 590. Dnipropetrovs’k region is in second place with 205 inspections, followed by Lviv region with 156.
Businesses operating in the wholesale trade sector will be inspected most often – they account for 22% of the total number of company inspections. In 2024, businesses in the field of agriculture and hunting will also be the most frequently inspected by the tax authorities – 14.8% of inspections. The top is rounded out by inspections of retail businesses – 6.9%.
You can find out whether your business or partners are scheduled for inspections for free in the Opportunity Bot. To do this, send the bot the company code. If the business is on the tax plan, the relevant information will appear in the company card.
