Agroholding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, is investing $15 million in the construction of a new silo in the city of Chernihiv. The decision of the board of directors of the group of companies was published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Wednesday evening.
According to Astarta, the construction of this facility will will further strengthen the company’s network of seven grain and oilseeds handling facilities and expand its reach to Chernihiv region.
The total capacity of simultaneous storage of grain and oilseeds will be 70,000 tonnes. Commissioning of the first stage of the silo with a capacity of 58,000 tonnes is scheduled for July 2022.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden called on all Americans who remain in Ukraine to leave the country.
“American citizens should leave now,” Biden said in an interview with NBC News.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a terrorist organization. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world,” he said.
“It’s a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly,” Biden said.
However, he noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens.”
At the same time, Biden said that Washington would not send its troops to Ukraine, as this could become a pretext for unleashing a world war.
Earlier, the Department of State issued a recommendation to its citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately.
Head of Dragon Capital Tomas Fiala predicts the growth of Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 3% in 2022.
“Our forecast for GDP growth in 2022 remains unchanged, we expect growth at the level of 3%,” he said during the European Business Association (EBA) “Global Outlook: Reality Check” conference.
According to him, the exchange rate of the national currency during the year will be at the level of UAH 29-30/$1. At the same time, the hryvnia exchange rate will be stable in the first half of the year, while its volatility may begin in the second half of the year, since Ukraine will have to import a significant amount of energy resources.
The head of Dragon Capital added that currently his company continues to invest.
“We continue to invest in our investment projects, we continue to build industrial parks in Kyiv and Lviv,” Fiala said.
Nova Poshta Global, a member of the Nova Poshta group of companies, has begun delivering goods from online stores in Spain and France, you can now order them through the NP Shopping website, the company’s press service said.
“Our customers got direct access to some of the best products in terms of quality and range. Spain is a country of shopping for your favorite brands, where you can buy products from the first collections much cheaper than ours. And in French online stores it’s easy to find exclusive goods and please yourself what you can’t find in our stores, or buy a third cheaper than in Ukraine. Our goal is for everyone to be able to buy goods around the world as easily and with pleasure as in Ukrainian stores,” Olha Volodina, the deputy director for products development and marketing of Nova Poshta Global, said.
The company notes that the cost of delivery of the order depends on the weight of the package: 0-1 kg – from $5, 1-5 kg – from $4; 5-30 kg – from $3.5.
Currently, online stores from nine countries are already available for ordering through the NP Shopping website: the United States, Italy, Turkey, China, UK, Germany, Poland, France and Spain.
Nova Poshta Global has been providing international express delivery services since 2015. In 2021, the company delivered over 9.3 million international parcels, up 32% from 2020 volumes.
The debt of the population of Ukraine for payment of housing and utilities services in December 2021 increased by 12% compared to November and amounted to UAH 73.7 billion (excluding electricity).
According to the State Statistics Service, in general, in December 2021 Ukrainians paid UAH 21.6 billion for housing and utilities services, which amounted to 71.1% of the amount accrued for this month.
The debt for the supplied electricity in September amounted to UAH 7.7 billion.
The highest level of payment for housing and communal services in December 2021 was recorded in Kirovohrad (82.3% of the amount of charges), Odesa (81%), Cherkasy (77.2%) regions.
The lowest level of payment is in Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Chernivtsi regions (66.9% of the amount of charges). In Kyiv, the level of payment was 68%.
According to the State Statistics Service, since the beginning of 2021, some 58,300 agreements have been concluded with the population on the repayment of restructured debt for housing and communal services for a total amount of UAH 531 million. The amount of payments made, taking into account long-term contracts, was UAH 312 million.
The data are given without taking into account the annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as parts of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Prices of industrial producers of Ukraine in January 2022 increased by 9.6%, while in December 2021 – by 2.7%, in November – by 4.3%, in October – by 12.5%, the State Statistics Service said.
In annual terms (in relation to the same month last year), in January 2022 prices in industry increased by 69.1%, in December 2021 – by 62.2%, in November – by 60.7%, in October – by 57.2%, September – by 45.1%.
The State Statistics Service clarifies that within Ukraine the prices of industrial producers in January 2022 compared to December 2021 increased by 10.5%, while for deliveries outside the country prices grew by 6.3%.
According to the agency, in mining industry and quarrying in January of this year compared to December 2021 prices increased by 6.4%. Prices in extraction of crude oil and natural gas decreased by 0.1%, while prices in extraction of metal ores rose by 17.4%.
Prices in the supply of electricity and gas increased by 26.8%, in production of energy – by 18%, in production of intermediate consumption goods – by 4.7%, in production of chemicals – by 4%, in mechanical engineering – by 3.7%, in production of rubber and plastic products – by 3.1%, in the production of investment goods – by 3.1%, in the production of non-durable goods – by 2%, in the production of durable goods – by 1.9%, in food production – by 1.8%, in metallurgy – by 1.7%, in processing industry – by 1.6%, in the production of electrical equipment – by 1.6%, in the production of basic pharmaceutical products – by 1.5%, in the production of computers – by 1.1%.
Prices in the production of coke and refined petroleum products decreased by 6.7%.
