U.S. Businessmen and former diplomat Amos J. Hochstein has notified NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy that he leaves the company as independent director in the supervisory board of the company and among the reasons behind his decision to leave the supervisory board, Amos Hochstein mentioned growing opposition to gas market reforms and the transformation of Naftogaz into an independent and efficient company, Naftogaz said on Monday.
“Naftogaz faces increasing sabotage from corrupt forces,” Hochstein said in his column in KyivPost publication.
Ukraine in January-September 2020 imported 5.793 million tonnes of petroleum products (according to foreign trade activity code 2710, petrol, diesel fuel, fuel oil, jet fuel, etc.), which is 4.3% less than in the same period of 2019.
According to the State Fiscal Service, petroleum products were imported in the amount of $2.5 billion, which is 34.6% less than in January-September 2019.
Fuel imports from Russia amounted to $940.081 million (a share of 37.6%), Belarus to $842.578 million (33.7%), Lithuania to $302.246 million (12.09%), from other countries to $415.427 million (16.61%).
In addition, in January-September 2020, Ukraine exported 258,880 tonnes (42.5% less compared to January-September 2019) of petroleum products for a total amount of $105.332 million (51.2% less). The cost of fuel delivered to contractors from Latvia amounted to $20.289 million, Hungary some $10.165 million, Romania some $9.008 million, and from other countries some $65.859 million.
Kyivstar, the mobile network operator, has announced the launch of the Open Telecom Platform, an online platform for interaction with IT grocery companies, which allows connecting to the operator’s services and using its data sets for product development and testing.
“Tomorrow we will take the first step. We will present a kind of portal of data versions for our potential partners – Open Telecom Platform from Kyivstar. It will give them the opportunity to connect to us, integrate with us and use some of the more popular service options that we are selling right now as a kind of trial version for creating own products, ideas or applications,” Kyivstar President of Alexander Komarov said during the online forum Lviv IT Arena on Friday.
According to him, the available options for using the portal are largely related to the capabilities and data available to Kyivstar as the largest Ukrainian operator.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of Poland Andrzej Duda will hold a meeting in Kyiv on October 12, the presidential press service of Ukraine said.
“On October 12, a meeting will take place between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, who will be in Ukraine on an official visit,” the service said in the statement.
According to the presidential website, the official meeting ceremony will take place at Mariyinsky Palace, where the signing of Ukrainian-Polish bilateral documents will also take place.
In addition, on October 13, Zelensky and Duda will visit Odesa, take part in the work of the Ukrainian-Polish economic forum.
Ukrainian enterprises reduced the import of copper and copper products in value terms by 7.4% in January-September 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to $81.317 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, export of copper and copper products decreased 12.7%, to $55.083 million in the first nine months of 2020.
In September, copper and copper products were imported in the tune of $10.739 million, exported to the tune of $7.397 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-September reduced the import of nickel and nickel products by 11.8% compared to the same period in 2019, to $55.25 million (in September amounted to $8.149 million), aluminum and aluminum products by 4.3%, to $283.561 million ($34.997 million). At the same time, the import of lead and lead products decreased 42.7%, to $6.05 million ($1.691 million), tin and tin products decreased 39.8%, to $1.713 million ($292,000), zinc and zinc products decreased by 33.6%, to $37.289 million ($5.795 million).
In January-September 2020, export of aluminum and aluminum products increased 0.1% compared with January-September 2019, to $77.049 million (in September amounted to $10.303 million), lead and lead products fell by 6.1%, to $18.007 million ($2.782 million), nickel and nickel products decreased by 49.3%, to $1.966 million ($296,000). Zinc exports in January-September 2020 amounted to $68,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $463,000 ($12,000 in September). The export of tin and tin products in January-September 2020 amounted to $92,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $33,000 (the export amounted to $3,000 in September).
Ukraine exported 4,060 tonnes of cheese in January-September 2020, which is 21.1% less than in the same period in 2019.
According to the State Customs Service, in monetary terms, exports decreased by 16.3% and amounted to $15.61 million.
At the same time, import of cheese in the first nine months of 2020 increased by 2.3 times, to 33,740 tonnes, in monetary terms by 2.2 times, to $148.86 million.
Exports of Ukrainian butter decreased 43.7%, to 8,540 tonnes, and in monetary terms 40.5%, to $37.43 million. Import of this product in the reporting period amounted to 9,010 tonnes ($35.38 million) against 1,330 tonnes ($7.19 million) in January-September 2019.
According to the ministry, export of milk and cream (condensed) in the first nine months of 2020 decreased 30.3%, to 21,540 tonnes. Ukraine supplied condensed milk and cream for a total of $43.6 million, which is 33.5% less than in January-September last year. Import of this group of goods increased 3.2-fold, to 4,870 tonnes, in monetary terms by 3.3 times, to $10.95 million.
