Sweden’s IKEA company, the largest furniture and household goods retailer in the world, plans to open stores in Ukraine, including large ones (30,00 square meters) in the future shopping and entertainment centers of Mandarin Plaza, the founder of the company Vagif Aliyev has said. “We have been negotiating with H&M and with IKEA for 16 years… After [the store with an area of] 5,000 square meters [the opening in the Ocean Mall shopping center of which is scheduled for the end of 2019], we will open IKEA [stores with an area of] 30,000 square meters throughout Kyiv in our large shopping and entertainment centers,” Aliyev, who creates a network of 10 shopping and entertainment centers, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to him, after the construction of the Ocean Mall shopping center and the Blockbuster Mall shopping center is completed, the developer intends to start implementing the Lesnaya shopping mall (opening in 2020) and the Hippodrome (Yuzhny) shopping and entertainment center, where IKEA can also be opened.
Aliyev said that three or four stores of the Swedish retailer in his mall will have 5,000-7,000 square meters, another three – 30,000 square meters. At the same time, he said that IKEA will not be opened at the Lavina Mall shopping center and the Blockbuster Mall shopping center.
In turn, the representative of IKEA South-East Europe Vladyslav Lalich neither confirmed nor refuted the words of the developer, saying only that the company “really plans to stay in Ukraine for a long time, but develop step by step.”
“We want to combine the opening ceremony of our first IKEA store with the opening of the Ocean Mall shopping center at the end of summer next year. At the time of opening, the store will have 3,600 SKU (product names), but their number will double in half a year,” Lalich said.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine in monetary terms in January-August 2018 increased by 32% compared to the same period in 2017, to UAH 55.233 billion. Business Credit company told Interfax-Ukraine sales in natural terms for the specified period rose by 2%, to 1.005 million packages, while the weighted average price increased by 29%, to UAH 55 per unit of goods.
According to the company, retail sales of medicines in January-August in monetary terms grew by 34%, to UAH 45.42 billion, in natural terms by 13%, to 679.897 million packages.
As reported, in the first half of 2018 pharmacy sales in Ukraine in monetary terms were up by 36% compared to the same period in 2017 and amounted to UAH 43.011 billion, while sales in natural terms by 5%, to 780.737 million packs.
Retail sales of drugs in the first half of the year in money terms increased by 38%, to UAH 35.454 billion, in natural terms by 16%, to 530.846 million packs.
A store of Sweden’s retailer H&M, the first laser IMAX cinema and the Silpo food hypermarket will be leasers of the Ocean Mall, which opening is scheduled for late summer 2019, CEO of NAI Ukraine, the broker of the shopping center, Vitaliy Boiko has said. “The shopping center is a five-story building, where the Silpo food hypermarket and IKEA will be located at the first floor. Three floors will be retail galleries, where H&M and Inditex will be presented as well. The large entertainment zone will be over 30,000 square meters with virtual and expanded reality… The important element is the first laser IMAX cinema – the third in Europe, which will be opened jointly with Planeta Kino,” Boiko said at a press conference on Wednesday.
He said that the center with a gross area of 300,000 square meters will have 400 stores.
Boiko said that under the Ocean Mall project the investor is financing construction of an additional transport hub, which would allow unloading the Lybedska Square in Kyiv.
An electric train station will also appear near the Ocean Mall. Ocean Mall is part of the chain of shopping and entertainment centers of Vagif Aliyev. As of October 2018, he owns the following shopping centers in Kyiv: Mandarin Plaza, Lavina Mall and Blockbuster Mall, including those under construction Ocean Mall, Lesnaya Mall and Hippodrome Mall. Aliyev also owns Parus Business Center and the Diamond Hill residential complex.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Sugar production in Ukraine as of October 9, 2018 totaled 420,000 tonnes.
The Ukrtsukor national association of sugar producers said that 37 sugar refineries had been operating as of October 9, which refined 3.38 million tonnes of sugar beets.
As reported, Ukraine officially opened a new sugar refining season on August 31. This year, areas with sugar beet total 280,000 hectares, which is 13% less than last year.
Ukraine exported 560,400 tonnes of sugar in the 2017/18 agricultural year (September-August), which is 27.2% less than in the previous year.
Production of sugar in the 2017/2018 marketing year increased by 6.5%, to 2.14 million tonnes. Some 46 sugar refineries were in operation during that season.
