In China, the loading of another plane with medical supplies designed to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine has been completed, the Ukraine’s Embassy in China said.
“Today, on April 2, at the international airport in Xiamen (Fujian province), the loading of another plane with medical supplies for Ukraine has been completed. About 109 m3 of medical protective equipment for Ukrainian citizens were loaded on board the aircraft,” the Ukrainian Embassy in China said on Facebook on Thursday.
In addition, the preparation of several more aircraft with a similar mission is currently being agreed with the PRC authorities.
Ukrainian diplomats explained that the flight is carried out within the framework of an air bridge between Ukraine and China, which was built with the aim of delivering the most necessary medical supplies to Ukraine as quickly as possible to counter the spread of COVID-19.
The Embassy also provides support for this campaign in the PRC in cooperation with the Coordination Council on countering the spread of COVID-19 under the President of Ukraine and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Shanghai. The Ukrainian participants of the campaign are assisted in communication with Chinese partners.
PJSC Donbasenergo plans to increase the consumption of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk thermal power plant (TPP) from 55% to 70%, Donbasenergo Board Chairman, CEO Eduard Bondarenko has said.
“To date, we use 55% of grade G domestic coal at Sloviansk TPP, the rest is imported anthracite. However, we are working to increase the burning of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk TPP to 70%,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the CEO of Donbasenergo, the company has been actively working over the past few years to reduce the dependence of Sloviansk TPP on imported anthracite, but cannot switch to grade G domestic coal completely due to the design specifics of the plant.
“There is a separate dust factory on the territory of Sloviansk TPP, which delivers coal dust to the boilers through pipes. At other plants, coal dust is produced directly under the boilers, and here it is almost one kilometer of distance. The gas group of coal is unsafe and it is hard to completely switch to grade G. This requires a long closure of the plant and a very large investment that will never recover the costs. This is confirmed by all design institutes, both national and foreign, which we turned to for examination,” Bondarenko said.
In addition, the project for the construction of a new sixth unit at Sloviansk TPP is based on the circulating fluidized layer technology, which will allow the burning of low-grade and low-calorie grade G coal, as well as waste coal without natural gas.
“This coal is available to us in the territory of Donbas controlled by Ukraine,” the CEO of Donbasenergo said.
According to him, in the case of obtaining a government guarantee and involving financing from the Bank of China, the construction of the sixth power unit with a total capacity of 600 MW will take 48 months. The commissioning of power unit No. 6 A is planned in 43 months, and power unit No. 6 B in another five months.
Donbasenergo owns Starobesheve (located in the occupied territory) and Sloviansk TPPs with the total installed capacity of 2,880 MW, in particular the capacity of Sloviansk TPP is 880 MW. At the end of March 2017, the generation company announced the loss of control over Starobesheve TPP, as well as part of structural units located in the temporarily government uncontrolled territory.
PJSC Energoinvest Holding owns 60.86% of the shares of Donbasenergo, another 25% of the shares of the generating company are owned by the state. Currently, Maksym Efimov is the head of the company.
The Ukrainian SkyUp Airlines company (Kyiv) does not plan on April 3 to carry out special flights to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from abroad.
“On April 3, we will not operate flights,” the airline’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Earlier, head of the Ukrainian Hospitality Industry Association Oleksandr Liyev said that the Ukrainian airline on Friday, April 3, would carry out six special flights to evacuate Ukrainians home, but he did not specify the name of the carrier.
In turn, a source on the market told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian company SkyUp would be the carrier of the flights announced by Liyev.
Domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers have proposed creating a coordination group under the president of Ukraine with the participation of central executive authorities, industry associations and drug manufacturers to quickly resolve the issues of providing medicines during the spread of coronavirus infection.
Pharmaceutical companies that are members of the Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine Association said this at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
According to association president Petro Bahriy, the working group, in particular, could quickly resolve the problems associated with the increased demand for certain groups of drugs, a shortage of a number of active pharmaceutical ingredients, interruptions in the logistics of medicines, as well as the issues of patent law.
“Today, the enterprises involved in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients have been stopped, there are problems with the supply of substances, packaging materials, problems with the logistics of medicines, so today it would be very good to form a headquarters and plan our work in the government and the president’s office in such a way as to help domestic manufacturers cope with these challenges and provide the population of Ukraine with medicines,” he said.
The chairperson of the board of PJSC Indar, Liubov Vyshnevska, in turn, noted that the pharmaceutical companies faced a number of problems, including quotas for alcohol without excise taxes.
“Quotas, not even during the epidemic, but in ordinary life, are the Stone Age. Pharmaceutical manufacturers with production licenses should get enough alcohol,” she said.
The strengthening of e-commerce under quarantine conditions will stimulate the demand for warehouse space within the city in 2020, according to a study by CBRE Ukraine (Kyiv), an international consulting company. “As in the past ten years, e-commerce will again become a catalyst for demand and will lead to shifts and changes in the warehouse real estate market in the next cycle. E-commerce will stimulate demand for the format of so-called warehouses within the city (incity warehouses, urban warehouses). In 2020, transactions may be signed for the acquisition of former industrial facilities in the city for conversion into storage facilities,” CBRE said.
At the same time, the worsening of the economic situation could facilitate the acquisition by the market players of land plots for the development of built-to-suit projects at reduced prices. However, the launch of new projects may be suspended due to the limited work of government agencies and delays in processing permits.
“A large number of representatives of industrial real estate took a wait-and-see position, which most likely means a reduction in rental activity and vacancy in 2020. However, the likelihood of negative absorption in the industrial market is minimal. Warehouse services are currently in a great demand, more than ever before, which will allow most of logistics and warehouse services operators to stay ‘afloat’ throughout the crisis period,” CBRE predicts.
According to the consulting company, pharmaceutical distribution, food retail and its logistics are experiencing a peak in sales under quarantine conditions in the amount of 40-50% higher than in the New Year season.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) in the April report updated its forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds in the 2020/2021 marketing year (MY) compared to March, to 94 million tonnes from 92.6 million tonnes.
According to the association’s Thursday press release, the forecast for grain and oilseeds exports for next season is also increased from 55.6 million tonnes to 57.2 million tonnes.
According to the association, in the current marketing year, Ukraine produced 98 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, exports can reach 60 million tonnes.
The association said that a slightly decrease in the forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds in 2020 does not change the upward trend of the last three years, when Ukraine harvested more than 90 million tonnes. In the medium term, gross harvest in the country will approach 100 million tonnes and will continue growing.
The forecast for the harvest and export of wheat in the next marketing year has not changed compared to the March report and will reach 25.8 million tonnes and 18 million tonnes, respectively.
The association said that in 2019, Ukraine had a record-hitting wheat harvest of 28.2 million tonnes, and exports, according to its estimates, will reach 20.2 million tonnes in the 2019/2020 marketing year.
The forecast for corn harvest in the April report of the association increased from 34.3 million tonnes to 36.8 million tonnes, and export for the next season from 27.5 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes. Thus, Ukraine in the 2020/2021 marketing year may break its own record for the current marketing year, when 35.2 million tonnes were harvested with an expected export of about 28.5 million tonnes, the association said.
At the same time, the association decreased the forecast for barley harvest compared to the previous month forecast from 7.96 million tonnes to 6.8 million tonnes, and export for the next season from 4.5 million tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes.
According to its estimates, in the current marketing year in Ukraine, some 9 million tonnes of barley were grown with the planned export of about 4.6 million tonnes.
The Ukrainian Grain Association is an association of producers, processors and large exporters of grain, which annually export about 90% of Ukrainian grain products.
