The European Union (EU) is extending trade protection measures for Ukrainian exports to the EU, known as autonomous trade measures, for another year.
“In solidarity with Ukraine, we have proposed extending the suspension of import duties, quotas and trade protection measures on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year. And we are working to deepen Ukraine’s integration into the EU single market,” European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Tuesday at the end of a meeting of the EU Economic and Financial Ministers Council (Ecofin).
There are also plans to send Kiev a second tranche of emergency financial aid at the end of March.
“As for the EU emergency financial support for Ukraine, the second disbursement under the macrofinancial aid plus instrument, 1.5 billion euros, should be made at the end of this month,” Dombrovskis said, adding that the total financial support for Ukraine’s budget in the first quarter of this year will result in a total of 4.5 billion euros.
According to him, at the Ecofin meeting he briefed on the status of implementation in Ukraine of reforms necessary to pay the second tranche. The EC is “at the final stage of assessing the conditions for making a decision,” Dombrovskis specified.
In April 2022, the European Commission proposed that import duties on all Ukrainian exports to the EU be suspended for one year.
Last December, the EU Council approved a decision on macrofinancial assistance to Ukraine for the year 2023 in the amount of EUR 18 billion, the loan is provided with a 10-year grace period. In January, Kiev received the first tranche of €3bn. Subsequent payments will be made on a monthly basis starting from March at 1.5bn euros.
The EC believes that with these funds Ukraine will be able to continue paying salaries, pensions, support the functioning of key public institutions, including hospitals, schools and housing for displaced people. In addition, the EU assistance should allow the country to rebuild its infrastructure and maintain macroeconomic stability.
International rating agency Moody’s Investors Service has changed its outlook for the U.S. banking system to “negative” from “stable,” the agency said in a statement.
The decision follows “a rapidly deteriorating operating environment” following the bankruptcies of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank.
“Although the Treasury Department, the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have announced that all SVB and Signature Bank depositors will receive full compensation, the rapid and significant decline in depositor and investor confidence underscores the asset-liability management risks among U.S. banks, which are exacerbated by rising interest rates,” the press release said.
The Lenten menu was made taking into account the preferences of guests who adhere to dietary restrictions due to religious beliefs. As well as for those who prefer plant-based foods in their diet.
“When preparing the Lenten menu, we paid a lot of attention to the products. Our main goal is to make our meals tasty, nutritious and with the necessary amount of micronutrients, which the body lacks at the beginning of spring” – chef of BEEF restaurant.
The first dishes of the Lenten menu are familiar to us from our childhood – Lenten borscht with prunes and smoked pears and mushroom soup.
The appetizers are a vegetable terrine of grilled bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes, and a salad with baked beets, granola, and tofu mayonnaise. For the salad, the chef bakes the beets in salt and serves them in raspberry sauce, adds rosemary granola and tofu mayonnaise. Mayonnaise has the right to live when it is really healthy.
The main dishes are baked cauliflower with coconut milk polenta, tagliatelle with tomatoes, and green risotto with pickled tomatoes. BEYOND MEAT meatballs with Jerusalem artichoke cream are a tasty alternative for those who don’t eat meat but miss its taste.
It’s worth a try, because we’re expecting even more premieres on the menu in the spring!
In January-February, Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Mill-Ukraine (PCPM-Ukraine, Khmelnytsky region), a major Ukrainian corrugated cardboard producer, increased its output of corrugated packaging by almost 30% compared to the same period in 2022, to 12.41 million square meters.
According to Ukrpapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, the mill is still among the top three producers of corrugated packaging after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill and Trypillia Packaging Mill, and is still the fastest growing.
As reported, according to data collected by the association from the industry’s major enterprises, a total of 78.5 million square meters of cardboard boxes were produced in Ukraine over two months, down only 0.6% from the almost pre-war January-February period last year.
According to UkrPapir, Poninkivska KBF-Ukraine produced a total of UAH 417.44 million worth of products in two months, up 27.9% year-on-year.
In physical terms, paper production also increased by 21.6% to 107 tons and production of containerboard by 12.4% to 11.54 thousand tons.
Poninkivske Mill (formerly Poninkivske Cardboard and Paper Mill), once the largest producer of school notebooks, now has one main production line – paper and cardboard, producing mainly corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging, as well as wrapping and waste paper.
The mill is part of the United Cardboard Company-Ukraine (UCC, Lutsk), whose production assets include, among others, Lutsk KBF-Ukraine (Volyn region), which produced 8.8 thousand tons of cardboard in January-February (according to Ukrpapir), up 18.7%, including 5.76 thousand tons of containerboard (+8.2%).
As reported, in 2022, Poninkivska KBF-Ukraine produced products worth UAH 2 billion 446 million, up 6.5% year-on-year.
In January-February of the current year Kokhavynska Paper Factory (KPF, Lviv region), which produces hygienic paper products (TM “Kokhavinka”), increased its production volume by 47% in comparison with the same period of 2022 – up to 183,7 million UAH.
According to statistical data of UkrPapir Association, provided to Interfax-Ukraine Agency, the production of paper-base for sanitary products in physical terms increased by 4.7% – to 6.8 thousand tons.
In the meantime, production of toilet paper rolls increased by 21.6% up to 22.56 million pieces, so CBF confidently retains its second place in output after Kyiv PMC (32.25 million pieces), which in January-February reduced output by 46.2%.
In total, according to the Association, in January-February, production of toilet paper in Ukraine by major manufacturers of the industry decreased by a quarter compared to January-February 2022 – almost prewar – up to 80.78 million pieces.
Kokhavinsk Paper Mill, which has been in operation since 1939, produces base paper for sanitary and hygienic goods, as well as toilet paper and paper towels. The capacity of the paper machines is 19 thousand tons per year, the processing equipment is 90 million rolls per year.
The factory has barely stopped production since early 2022.
As reported, last year KBF produced 975.3 million UAH – 44.8% more than the year before.
PJSC Yuzhkoks (Kamenskoye, Dnipropetrovsk oblast) in January has reduced the output of metallurgical coke by 15.9% year-on-year, to 53 thousand tons.
A company representative told Interfax-Ukraine that in December the company produced 46,000 tonnes of metallurgical coke.
He added that in January-2023 the gross coke output at 6% moisture amounted to 60,000 tons, while in the previous month it was 53,000 tons.
As it was reported, in 2022 the plant reduced metallurgical coke output by 18.7% year-on-year to 573,000 tons. In 2022, gross coke output at 6% moisture was 662 thousand tons.
In 2022, the company was supplied with a total of 924 thousand tons of coal, including 825 thousand tons of domestic production, 54 thousand tons from the Russian Federation (before the war) and 45 thousand tons from the United States.
Ukraine’s coke plants in 2022 reduced gross coke production of 6% moisture by 59% compared to the previous year to 3.91 million tons, including 3.354 million tons of metallurgical coke. In 2022, 4.594 million tons of coal concentrate were supplied to the domestic coke plants, including 3.158 million tons produced in Ukraine.
The registered capital of PJSC Yuzhkoks is UAH 171.918 mln, and the par value of the share is UAH 0.25.
