The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade (ICIT) published its decision of April 23 this year in the Uriadovy Kurier newspaper on the application of a special duty on the import of wires to Ukraine, regardless of the country of origin for a period of three years: in the first year of the duty application it will be 23.5%, in the second – 22.3% and in the third – 21.2%. According to the announcement, the decision will take effect 30 days after publication. “This case is unprecedented, since the decision of the commission was not published for almost five months due to pressure from some MPs and officials who lobbied for the interests of importers,” Olena Omelchenko, a partner at Ilyashev & Partners, which represented the interests of Ukrainian manufacturers, said, commenting on this publication in a Tuesday release.
According to her, special duties will only apply to interchangeable goods to prevent problems with shortages.
According to the ICIT document, on July 28, 2020, at the initiative of the Odeskabel and Yuzhcable factories (in total, they produce over 50% of these products in Ukraine), the ICIT initiated a special investigation into the import of insulated wires, cables and other insulated electrical conductors to Ukraine, and also fiber optic cables. These are commodity codes according to Ukrainian foreign activity classifier 8544 49 20 00, 8544 49 91 00, 8544 60 10 10 8544 60 10 98, 8544 60 90 10 8544 60 90 90, 8544 70 00 10 8544 70 00 90.
During the investigation period – from the beginning of 2017 to the middle of 2020 – import volumes surged by 128.8%, the share of imports in total production – by 180.4%, in consumption – by 74.8%.
“The growth of imports of goods to Ukraine was due to such unforeseen circumstances as an increase in production, an increase in warehouse stocks and exports of goods from China, an exacerbation of trade tensions between China and the United States, a decline in demand in Belarus, global trends in the development of the renewable energy industry and the introduction of 4G technology,” the commission said.
According to the ICIT, as a result, with an increase in consumption by 30.9%, the volume of domestic production decreased 7.3%, sales fell by 8.6%, sales profit slid by 38.9%, while prices decreased 9.2%, and an increase in production costs by 3% was seen.
According to the State Customs Service, imports to Ukraine under code heading 8544 insulated wire, cable and other insulated electrical conductors, optical fibre cables in the first half of 2021 amounted to 30,200 tonnes by $310.95 million, having increased by 24.6% vs. 44.9%.
The export of these products in January-June-2021 amounted to 40,900 tonnes for $882.6 million, which, respectively, is 40.1% and 57.9% higher than in January-June 2020.
Among the countries from which most of the similar products are imported to Ukraine in monetary terms are Hungary (29.4%), Poland (17.2%), China (9.6%), Romania (11.4%), Czech Republic (7.7%) and Germany (7.4%), while the main countries of export of Ukrainian products are Germany (23.2%), Poland (19.7%), Romania (14.3%) and Hungary (13.8%).
The commission said that duties will not be applied to imports originating from a number of countries, including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic.
This list also includes Chad, the Union of the Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Republic of Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal , Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Timor Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Tanzania, Yemen, Zambia, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.
The introduction of duties was supported by the Ukrelektrokabel association, which unites 16 enterprises, including 12 manufacturers of cable products, three manufacturers of basic materials and Ukrainian Research Cable Industry Institute. More than 95% of cables and wires used in Ukraine are annually produced at the facilities of the enterprises belonging to the association, with a total value of more than UAH 3.9 billion per year.
At the same time, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine opposed it. “The potential introduction of additional import duties will actually be an additional tax for the telecommunications industry. This will negatively affect the investment ability of mobile network operators, since they will have to pay additional duties instead of investing in infrastructure,” the American Chamber of Commerce said.
Lithuania’s Alwark, the company involved in loading, warehousing, trade and lease of construction, communal and loading equipment, a representative of Linde Material Handling in Lithuania and Latvia – has acquired Linde Material Handling Ukraine LLC (LMH Ukraine), the subsidiary of Germany’s Linde Material Handling GmbH.
“Entering the Ukrainian market is a new business development opportunity for us,” Gediminas Šimkus, a shareholder of the Alwark group, said in a press release.
The cost of the deal was not disclosed.
In Ukraine, Alwark will represent Linde MH forklift trucks and warehousing equipment. The company hopes to cover up to 10% of the Ukrainian market in the next two or three years, and in the long run – 20% of the market share.
The Alwark group includes the eponymous companies in Latvia and Estonia, Pramoniniai sepeciai, Mobile Heavy Machinery in Lithuania and Ukraine. The consolidated turnover of the group in 2020 exceeded EUR 43 million, and profit before tax totaled EUR 2.7 million.
LMH Ukraine LLC in the first half of 2021 increased its revenue by 51%, to UAH 76.5 million, seeing a net profit of UAH 4.2 million compared to a net loss of UAH 0.7 million in the first half of last year.
In the public register of Ukraine, Lithuanian Alwark indicated as the owner of the limited liability company, and its beneficiary is the citizen of Finland Lauri Kustaa Äimä.
It is planned to create urban sports parks in all regional centers of Ukraine by 2023-2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“In 2022, such parks will be opened in Lviv, Kropyvnytsky, Kryvy Rih, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy, and in 2023 they are planned to open in many regional centers and several other large cities of Ukraine. After that, in 2023-2024, all regional cities and not only will see such clusters that, it seems to me, our Ukrainian citizens will like them,” Zelensky said while inspecting the urban park on the territory of the National Complex Expocentre of Ukraine (VDNG).
He stressed that this is necessary for the development of physical culture among Ukrainians. “We know that more than 60% of citizens are not yet engaged in physical activity. Because of this, there are certain diseases. I believe that it is with such sports, entertainment and modern ‘magnets’ that we will increase the number of people who must engage in various sports for their own health,” Zelensky added.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKY, REGIONAL CENTERS, URBAN PARKS, URBAN SPORTS PARKS
Prices in the Ukrainian industry in August 2021 increased by 5.4%, while in July – by 2.6%, in June – by 2.4%, in May – by 3.6%, in April – by 1.2%, in March – 1.6%, in February – 7.8%, and in January – 5.2%, the State Statistics Service reported on Friday.
According to it, in annual terms (in relation to the same month last year) in August 2021 prices in industry increased by 46.5%, in July – by 42.2%, in June – by 39.1%, in May – by 33.1%, in April – by 27.8%, in March – by 26.3%, in February – by 26.6%, and in January 2021 – by 17.6%.
Over eight months of 2021, the growth in prices of industrial producers amounted to 32.4% compared to the same period in 2020.
The State Statistics Service clarifies that within Ukraine, prices of industrial producers in August versus July 2021 increased by 8.2%, while for deliveries outside the country they decreased by 4.0%.
According to the statistics service, in the mining industry and quarrying in August this year, compared with the previous month, production fell by 2.2%. The growth in prices in the extraction of coal was 2.3%, in the extraction of crude oil and natural gas – 2.2%, while prices in the extraction of metal ores decreased by 7.4%.
Prices increased for the supply of electricity and gas – by 26.3%, in energy generation – by 19.3%, in production of chemical products – by 2.0%, in production of rubber and plastic products – by 1.6%, in production of investment goods – by 1.4%, in production of coke and petroleum products – by 1.2%, in production of electrical equipment – by 1.2%, durable goods – by 1.1%, in mechanical engineering – by 0.9%, and in production of wood products – by 0.6%. Prices for pharmaceutical products increased by 0.4%.
At the same time, prices fell in sugar production – by 3.3%, in metallurgy – by 3.2%, in production of intermediate consumption goods – by 2.1% and in production of non-durable goods – by 0.3%.
Ratio of fertility and mortality by region in Jan-June 2021
SSC of Ukraine
The solemn signing of the memorandum of cooperation between Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and International European University took place on September 15, 2021.
The signing of the document will ensure the establishment of interaction and fruitful cooperation between the two historically related institutions. And also, it will become the foundation for the establishment of close cooperation of the parties in the development of educational, career guidance and information activities, and will also become a platform for the implementation of individual educational, informational, cultural, artistic, sports and other projects.
It should be noted that President of International European University is Franz Volodymyr von Habsburg-Lothringen – Archduke of Austria, a descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph. The history of Chernivtsi National University began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, because its founder was Emperor Franz Joseph, the ancestor of Volodymyr Habsburg. Within the framework of the visit, flowers were laid at the monument to Franz Joseph.
The participants in the signing of the memorandum were:
1. Franz Volodymyr von Habsburg-Lothringen
President of International European University
2. Petrishin Roman Ivanovych
Rector of Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University
3. Huitor Mykola Mykolayovych
First Deputy Chairman of Chernivtsi Regional Council
4. Tolstoukhov Anatoliy Volodymyrovych
Chairman of the Development Assistance Council of International European University
5. Marusyk Tamara Volodymyrivna
Vice rector for scientific and pedagogical work on the educational process of Chernivtsi National University
6. Kulikov Oleksiy Petrovych
Advisor to the President of International European University on the development of the university
Franz Volodymyr, during his speech, repeatedly mentioned the President of the Pan-European Movement of Austria, Karl von Habsburg, who is directly related to the Blue Shield committee, which deals with the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts and natural disasters. In 2011, at the 35th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre committee in Paris, it was decided to include the former Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans in the World Heritage List.
During the ceremonial meeting, the descendant of the emperor presented the Museum of Chernivtsi National University with an original designed copy of the congratulatory letter of Franz Joseph on the occasion of the founding of an educational institution in Chernivtsi with his wishes and presented the unique things of Franz Joseph. Among them are the portraits of monarchs with original signatures, royal seals, the cane and the bowl of Franz Joseph.
