Hryvnia median price per sq.m. in new buildings rose by 38% in Kiev and by 33% – in the capital region for the year, according to a study of the portal of new buildings LUN. In the capital in January-2022 the median price rose from 34.7 thousand UAH / sq.m. to 48.2 thousand UAH / sq.m. in January-2023, in the region – from 20.9 thousand UAH / sq.m. to 28 thousand UAH / sq.m.
According to the LUN portal, in January-2023 in Odessa the median price of objects under construction increased by 48% – from 25.2 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 38.4 thousand UAH / sq. m, in the Odessa region by 68% – from 18.8 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 30.7 thousand UAH / sq. m.
The record price increase is in Lviv, where the median price for the year increased by 80% – from 25.5 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 46.7 thousand UAH / sq. m. In Lviv region real estate rose in price by 66% – from 17 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 28.9 thousand UAH / sq. m.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has lowered its forecast for global rice production in 2022-2023 due to deteriorating crop prospects in China and a number of other leading medium-grain rice-producing countries.
Global rice production is expected to be 502.97 million tons, lower than the December forecast (503.27 million tons) and previous years’ results (514.95 million tons in the 2021-2022 season), the agency said in a review.
Significant production declines in the 2022-2023 marketing year are expected in major medium-grain rice producing and exporting countries, including the United States, Australia, and the European Union.
In the U.S., due to drought weather in California, production of medium- and short-grain rice could drop 31% from the 2021-2022 crop year and be at a record low since the 1972-1973 season, the nation’s Agriculture Department forecasts. Rice prices on the domestic market have jumped 50% from last season’s level. Export prices are also on the rise, which could result in exports being the lowest on record since 1998-1999. Historically, the largest export markets for U.S. rice have been Japan and South Korea. They remain key markets as required under the WTO, but limited volumes have been tendered in recent tenders due to declining interest from suppliers, given reduced supply and rising U.S. prices.
The country’s rice production forecast was lowered to 5.09 million tons from the December estimate of 5.22 million tons, exports to 2.15 million tons from 2.25 million tons.
In the EU in the season 2022-2023 is expected to fall by 25% rice production, the figure may be the lowest since the season 1984-1985. The main producers of rice in the EU (80% of the volume) are Spain and Italy, and both countries have faced severe drought and lack of water for crops. Rice production in the EU is expected to be 1.29 million tons compared to 1.72 million tons last season, exports will decrease slightly (to 400 thousand tons from 440 thousand tons). At the same time, imports of rice to the EU may turn out to be a record, amounting to 2.7 million tons. Historically, long-grain rice has historically accounted for the bulk of supplies, but in recent years the share of medium-grain rice imports has been growing.
China, which is the world’s largest producer of medium-grain rice, could cut production to 145.95 million tons in the 2022-2023 crop year (the previous estimate was 147 million tons from 148.99 million tons last season. Despite some decrease in harvest, prices are likely to remain competitive in the world market, given the impressive stocks. The forecast for Chinese rice exports for the 2022-2023 season is 2.2 million tons (estimate unchanged). The main importers of Chinese rice are Asian and African countries.
The world’s largest rice exporter, India, could deliver 20.5 million tons to world markets this season, the forecast was raised from the December estimate of 20 million tons). Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its forecast for India’s rice production by 1 million tons to 125 million tons.
Rice export estimates from Thailand and Vietnam remained unchanged at 8.5 million tons and 7.4 million tons, respectively.
The forecast for global rice exports in 2022-2023 was raised to 54.38 million tons from 53.76 million tons.
Ukraine and Senegal will continue developing relations as regards supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products. Apart from the memorandum on mutual understanding in agriculture signed on January 9, the two countries have agreed on future high-level talks.
The results of the visit of the delegation of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine to Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria were explained by the Head of the Ministry Mykola Solsky at the briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
“The meetings took place in Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria, these countries constantly “take” a lot of food and especially wheat. These are big markets in terms of population compared to the European market or many other countries: not with the same purchasing power, but it’s big and developing, so it needs to be monitored,” the minister said.
He also noted that each of the countries he visited is interested in developing cooperation with Ukraine and is ready to expand their ports to intensify the unloading and storage of Ukrainian grain.
Solskyy said that after the visit of the delegation of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to Africa, the Ukrainian authorities will hold an additional meeting on the possibilities for the development of relations with the visited countries. According to him, joint projects are complicated by Russia’s traditional presence in the diplomatic field of Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.
“At the unofficial level, representatives of all the countries we talked to understand what is happening in Ukraine (full-scale war unleashed by Russia – IFU). Unfortunately, at the official level they are not always ready to declare it. Therefore, such visits lead to the development of relations and will gradually improve them,” said the Minister.
As reported, a delegation of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy during a trip to Africa signed a memorandum of cooperation with Senegal in the field of agriculture. In addition, Ukraine in the coming months will supply 25 thousand tons of grain to Nigeria in the framework of the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine.
Ukraine will receive the first EUR3 billion tranche in 2023 from the EU this week as part of a EUR18 billion macrofinancial assistance package, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.
“I have the honor to sign a memorandum of understanding with the EU to provide Ukraine with financing in 2023, up to EUR18 billion in loans. The first payment of EUR3 billion will follow later this week. This will allow Ukraine to cover its most urgent needs with a steady flow of funds throughout the year,” he wrote on Twitter.
Number of unemployed people registered in public employment service as of 11/01/2022 (thush people)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The garment factories of the Textil-Contact group of companies (TK) during the war have either managed to maintain the output at the level of last year or increase their production, the company’s press service told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“TK Group has sewing production facilities in Chernihiv, Korosten and Lubny, which are actively working in spite of the war,” the press service said.
In particular, specializing in the tailoring of special clothing and uniforms for the Ukrainian power structures sewing factory “TK-Korosten”, starting from January 2022, monthly produced about 4 thousand items per month, as in the same months last year.
“The production has orders from government agencies, ministries and departments (AFU, State Border Service, Defense Ministry and National Guard of Ukraine),” the company notes.
At the same time, during the war the staff of the factory increased by 10%.
The press service noted that in spite of the difficulties because of the shelling of Chernihiv in the first months of the war, the TK-Style garment factory was able to resume its work in full, and the expected output by the end of 2022 is 94 thousand garments, as it was a year earlier.
At the same time, the factory, which works on give-and-take raw materials and produces men’s and women’s clothing, continues to cooperate with foreign customers.
“Much effort has been made to convince our partners to stay with us and attract new ones, to assure them that despite the war we want to and can work. The company has managed not only to maintain cooperation with our regular customers but also to start working with new ones,” the company says.
Among the customers of TK-Style factory in 2021 are Kate Spade, Wattana, De Fursac, Comma, and the list of clients in 2022 includes Isabel Marant, Faconnable, Lufthansa.
The company also added that the textile factory “TK-Domashnyi Textile – Chernigov”, which was destroyed during the enemy’s attacks and fire, after the reconstruction launched the production of fabric in June, by the end of the year reached the output of 10 thousand running meters per day.
“And the youngest enterprise – “TK-Lubny”, in January-November produced 38.88 thousand units of products – 43% more than in 2021. In Lubny we started 4 years ago with a rental house and 60 seamstresses. Now, the staff of the factory is more than 120 employees. At the end of last year we bought the room 2300 square meters in the property and in March we start reconstruction to create a full sewing factory “, – told the press service.
“TK-Lubny” works since 2019, specializes in sewing workwear and uniforms mainly for the domestic market.
The company noted that while “Textil-Contact” has not abandoned the idea of creating a clothing production in Western Ukraine, is actively working to attract investors in new projects (textile and clothing).
At the same time, the owner of the group of companies “TC” Alexander Sokolovsky among the problems faced by production enterprises of the group, which carry out, including orders of the Ministry of Defense, noted that in conditions of force majeure (power outage, alarm, etc.) they often run out of time to deliver products, and receive penalties.
“We have to collect a bunch of certificates and prove force majeure in the CCI, while such certificates are quite difficult to obtain – they are either not given, or with a long time to answer, because they are all flooded with requests. So we ask the authorities to adopt a unified resolution, eliminating the penalties in contracts with state agencies at least 35-40 days, or get rid of the need to collect certificates,” – said Sokolovsky at the round table organized by the Center for Economic Strategy with the business and government in late December.
“Textil-Contact” is one of the largest trade and production groups at the market of light industry in Ukraine, founded in 1995. At the present time represents the holding, which unites different directions of assets: wholesale and retail trade, import of fabrics, accessories and home textile, production of fabrics, threads, services of studio and dry-cleaning, and also tailoring of clothes and overalls (including military overalls).
According to Sokolovsky, who spoke at the annual Ukraine Economic Outlook conference last week, the group employs more than 1,500 people.
According to him, the group paid more than UAH 200 million in taxes in 2022 (in previous years about UAH 160-165 million).
