Ukraine and Turkey are at the final stage of negotiations on a free trade area (FTA) after large moves made in the negotiation process, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Oleksiy Liubchenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“By the way, negotiations on an agreement on FTA with Turkey are now almost on completing. There have been significant positive moves in the negotiations,” he said.
Liubchenko also said that Ukraine had carried out preparatory work for negotiations with Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
Speaking about other areas of work of the Ministry of Economy in terms of international trade, he noted the unblocking of the work of the interdepartmental commission with Kazakhstan, following the meeting of which the ministry receives feedback from the parties.
“We are also systematically working with China, coordinated by Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. We have begun a joint study of the possibility of a free trade area agreement. The results will be known next year. On this basis, a political decision will be made whether to start negotiations. We are also actively working on preparations for negotiations with Indonesia and Vietnam,” he said.
Ukrainian enterprises in January-July of this year increased imports of copper and copper products in value terms by 60.9% compared to the same period last year, to $ 93.883 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, export of copper and copper products in January-July 2021 increased by 3.2 times compared to January-July 2020, to $ 126.782 million.
In July, copper and copper products were imported for $ 14.791 million, exported – for $ 18.178 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-July 2021 increased imports of nickel and products made of it by 56.7% compared to the same period in 2020, to $ 67.028 million (in July – $ 8.814 million), aluminum and products made of it – by 18%, to $ 248.677 million ($ 43.020 million). At the same time, it increased import of lead and products made of it by 52.5%, to $ 5.459 million ($ 604,000), increased import of tin and products made of it by 66.7%, to $ 2.189 million ($ 624,000), and also increased import of zinc and zinc products by 84.6%, to $ 51.145 million ($ 8.551 million).
Export of aluminum and products made of it in the seven months of 2021 grew by 53% compared to the same period in 2020, to $ 89.410 million (in July – $ 12.782 million), lead and products made of it by 58.9%, to $ 20.608 million ($ 3.231 million), nickel and products – by 97.7%, to $ 3.01 million ($ 620,000).
Zinc export in January-July 2021 amounted to $ 54,000 (in July – $ 5,000), while in January-July 2020 it amounted to $ 55,000. Export of tin and products in January-July 2021 amounted to $ 15,000 (in July – $ 1,000) against $ 83,000 for the seven months of 2020.
Ukraine in January-July this year reduced imports of manganese ore and concentrate in quantity terms by 38% compared to the same period last year, to 207,225 tonnes.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service, in monetary terms, imports of manganese ore and concentrate decreased by 43.7% over the period, to $25.139 million.
At the same time, manganese ore and concentrate were imported from Ghana (99.85% of supplies in monetary terms), Belgium (0.11%) and the Netherlands (0.02%).
In January-July 2021, Ukraine exported 434 tonnes of manganese ore and concentrate to Poland (90.2%) and Russia (9.8%) for $51,000, while in the same period last year it exported 23,846 tonnes of manganese ore and concentrate for $3.447 million.
In January-July of this year, enterprises engaged in operations with ferrous scrap increased the procurement of scrap metal by 43.1% compared to the same period last year, to 2.35 million tonnes.
As reported in the operational information of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (UAVtormet), the export of scrap metal for the specified reporting period amounted to 334,600 tonnes, which is 19.5 times more compared to the same period in 2020 (17,200 tonnes).
At the same time, the import of scrap in January-July amounted to 14,800 tonnes, which is 39.1% higher than in January-July-2020 (10,600 tonnes).
In January-July 2021, the supply of scrap to the country’s metallurgical enterprises increased by 23.1% compared to the same period last year, to 1.904 million tonnes. The level of stocks of scrap metal at metallurgical enterprises as of August 1, 2021 was estimated at 100,000-110,000 tonnes.
Representatives of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, the China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine during a meeting on August 9 reached an agreement on the export of one million tonnes of grain to China by the end of this year, the state corporation wrote on Facebook.
“We plan to carry out purchases at our own elevators and use our own logistics and port facilities in order to make our partners the most profitable price offer,” the company quotes the acting chairman of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, Andriy Vlasenko.
The corporation also cites data from CCEC President Yang Jing, who noted that the Chinese side is interested in developing cooperation, strives to fulfill the conditions of the existing contract for the 2021/2022 marketing year (MG, July-June) and is waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side.
In turn, the Ministry of Economy proposed to hold weekly negotiations on the supply of grain between the Grain Corporation and CCEC.
As reported, in June 2021, the Grain Corporation discussed with CCEC representatives a possible delivery in the 2021/2022 MY of 2 million tonnes of early grain and 3 million tonnes of corn. The corporation clarified that it has completed a complex of preparatory work at the port facilities in Odesa and Mykolaiv, and also, at the request of the Chinese side, reached agreements with partners on the possibility of transshipment of an additional one million tonnes of grain at Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region).
Vostok Capital LLC (Kyiv), the main shareholder of which is Fozzy Group, has announced its intention to acquire 4.762 million shares (with a par value of UAH 47.620 million) of Arsenal Insurance Company (Odesa), which is 80.741% of the charter capital of the insurer.
According to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, at the time of submission and publication of this report, Vostok Capital and its affiliates do not own shares of Arsenal insurer.
according to the data of the unified state register of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, the founders of Vostok Capital are PrJSC Fozzy Group, whose contribution is UAH 214.014 million, and Vermont closed non-diversified venture capital investment fund with UAH 214.014 million.
The charter capital of Vostok Capital is UAH 428.028 million.
Arsenal insurer was registered in 2005.
Fozzy Group is one of the largest Ukrainian retailers with nearly 690 points of sale throughout the country. As of 2019, the total area of its stores exceeded 1 million square meters. The company develops retail chains of various formats: Silpo supermarkets, Fozzy Cash & Carry wholesale hypermarkets, Fora convenience stores, Thrash! discounters, Bila Romashka pharmaceutical supermarkets, Ringoo personal electronics stores.
