Polish farmers who have been blocking the Ukrainian-Polish border are ready to resume their protest on January 2-3 if they do not receive written assurances from the Polish government that their demands will be met, the Polish TV channel TVP Info reports, citing a statement by the head of the National Council of Agrarian Chambers, Viktor Shmulevych.
“The Minister of Agriculture of Poland, after consultations with the government, must satisfy the demands of the farmers who suspended the protest on the Polish-Ukrainian border on Christmas Eve. The resumption of their activities depends on a written statement on the fulfillment of their basic requirements,” the Polish politician said.
The publication reminded that the picketers, who are associated, in particular, with the Podkarpackie Oszukanej Wsi (Deceived All), demand the abolition of the increase in agricultural tax, easier access to soft loans to maintain liquidity of their farms, as well as subsidies for corn in the amount of 1000 zlotys per hectare.
In an interview with TVP Info on Tuesday, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekerski said that work in this area is ongoing.
“I was at the border where I talked to the protesters. But legislative decisions are needed to prepare solutions. We are waiting for the #UE to agree to subsidize corn. We want to preserve low-interest loans. We also want local governments to be able to exempt farmers from agricultural tax increases without losing themselves,” the Polish Ministry of Agriculture quoted Sekerski as saying on Twitter.
Commenting on the demand of the protesting farmers, who insist on regulating the conditions of food imports from Ukraine, Sekerski explained that a trilateral agreement between Warsaw, Kyiv and Brussels is needed.
“Until it is lifted, the embargo on grain imports will remain in place. We have to keep the embargo in place until the conditions that would replace this situation are determined, i.e. limiting the volume of possible inflow of specific agricultural goods. There is some experience that Ukraine has already gained in its relations with Romania and Bulgaria when it comes to restrictions. This will allow us to control these processes,” the minister was quoted as saying by polskieradio24.pl.
Commenting on Sekersky’s interview on TVP Info, the head of the National Council of Agrarian Chambers, Shmulevych, said that the minister is a member of the government and is responsible for the sector that falls within his competence.
“Therefore, if the minister makes such statements, his words are sacred, and I think he has the approval of the government and there should be no problems in this matter,” Shmulevich assessed the situation.
The Polish edition emphasized that a group of Polish farmers is ready to resume the protest on January 2 or 3 in the absence of a written statement from the Polish government on the satisfaction of their demands.
The capacity of the Ukrainian gasoline market increased by 8% in 2023, LPG – by 18%, diesel fuel – by 25%, said Sergiy Yun, Director of the consulting group A-95 Sergiy Kuyun on Facebook.
“We have pushed off from the bottom-22. Preliminary growth in gasoline supplies is 8%, diesel – 25%, gas – 18%,” he wrote.
At the same time, according to the expert, this year’s gasoline balances have lost 16%, diesel – 17%, and autogas – 34% compared to 2021.
According to Kuyun, the collapse of the fuel market in Ukraine occurred in 2022 with the beginning of Russian aggression.
“In 2022, the market lost almost 2.5 million tons of diesel, almost a third of gasoline, and liquefied gas almost halved,” the expert said during a presentation of the results of the oil products market at the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center on December 21.
According to the preliminary data on oil product balances in Ukraine in 2021-2023, released by A-95 during the presentation, the forecast volume of the LPG market in 2023 was to be 1.283 million tons, gasoline – 2.275 million tons, and diesel fuel – 6.685 million tons.
On January 3, snow and rain are expected in the western regions and throughout Ukraine during the day, according to the Ukrainian Weather Center.
Also on Wednesday, there will be icy conditions on the roads throughout Ukraine, except for most of the western and southern regions.
The wind will be mostly southeast, 5-10 m/s, with gusts of 20-25 m/s in the highlands of the Carpathians.
The temperature in the western and southern regions at night will be from 2° below zero to 3° above zero, during the day 4-9° above zero, in the rest of the territory at night 3-8° below zero, during the day 0-5° below zero, in Chernihiv and Sumy regions at night 10-15°, in some places up to 18° below zero, during the day 5-10° below zero.
In Kyiv on January 3, no precipitation at night, snow during the day. There will be ice on the roads in some places. The wind will be mostly southeast, 5-10 m/s. The temperature will be 5-7° below zero at night and 1-3° below zero during the day.
According to the Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory in Kyiv, since the beginning of meteorological observations on January 3, the highest temperature was +10.7° in 2023, the lowest at night was -27.7° in 1908.
On Thursday, January 4, there will be moderate snow throughout Ukraine at night, light sleet during the day, rain in the central regions, mostly rain in the Carpathian region, Transcarpathia and southern part of the country.
Southwest wind with a shift to northwest, 5-10 m/s.
The temperature in the northern part at night and during the day (on January 4 and in the eastern regions) will be 0-5° below zero; in the rest of the country at night and during the day 1-6° above zero, in the southern part during the day up to 10° above zero.
In the Carpathians, wet snow; temperature at night will be 1-6° below zero, during the day around 0°.
In Kyiv, on January 4, moderate snow at night, light sleet during the day. The temperature will be 1-3° below zero at night and during the day.
JSB “UKRGASBANK” sold the building of the Institute in Kyiv on Kurenivskyi Lane via OpenMarket electronic auction (SE “SETAM” of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine). The sale price amounted to UAH 64,944,207.
The building of the Institute is located in the Obolon district of Kyiv, close to a park, post offices, public transport stops, the Pochayna metro station, shops, cafes and much more.
This is the 24th lot sold by the bank at the OpenMarket auction since the beginning of martial law, and the total amount of sales for this period was over UAH 142 million.
“Despite the difficult economic situation caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the real estate market is active in the segment of banking assets. Due to JSB “UKRGASBANK” flexible approach to real estate sales, as well as taking into account the “Dutch auctions” system introduced in 2021, the demand for JSB “UKRGASBANK” assets is at a consistently high level. JSB “UKRGASBANK” expresses its gratitude to SE “SETAM” for assistance in organizing sales, active support and effective cooperation, as the success in selling the Bank’s property directly depends on the quality of the auction organizer’s work,” said Daria Musych, Head of the Debt Settlement Department of Ukrgasbank.
“I would like to thank Ukrgasbank for their trust in our electronic auction. The bank is our constant and long-standing partner. Since the beginning of our cooperation, we have already sold the bank’s assets for over UAH 2.1 billion. The bank is one of our three most successful sellers,” said Oleksandr Mamro, CEO of SE SETAM.
The auction is available at the link: setam.net.ua/auction/539330
The OpenMarket auction (SE SETAM of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine) is a simple and effective means of selling and purchasing property via the Internet. The online auction has been operating throughout Ukraine since 2014. The total amount of sales since its launch is UAH 21.6 billion.
Daria Musych, OPENMARKET, UKRGASBANK, Олександр Мамро, СЕТАМ
In January-September of this year, PJSC “Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works” reduced its net loss by 91.8% compared to the same period last year – to UAH 236.623 million from UAH 2 billion 883.850 million.
According to the company’s interim report in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, its net income for the period increased by 9.2% to UAH 41 billion 329.014 million.
Retained earnings as of the end of September 2023 amounted to UAH 28 billion 961.786 million.
As reported, Zaporizhstal ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 4 billion 864 million 684.828 thousand, while in 2021 it made a net profit of UAH 16 billion 809 million 158.412 thousand.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are widely known and in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
According to the NDU for the third quarter of 2023, Kyiv Securities Group LLC owns 24.5003% of Zaporizhstal shares, Midland Capital Management LLC (both Kyiv, registered at the same address) owns 11.2224%, Global Steel Investments Limited (UK) owns 12.3466%, and Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owns 47.0032%.
Earlier it was reported that Metinvest Group’s effective shareholding in Zaporizhstal remains at 49.9%.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
The rise in interest rates over the past two years has enabled European banks to significantly increase their net interest income: in 2023, according to UBS, it was more than EUR 100 billion higher than in 2021.
Data collected by UBS show that net interest income (NII) of European banks amounted to EUR378 billion this year, compared to EUR270 billion two years earlier.
At the same time, lending volumes grew by only 2% over the same period. Thus, the increase in the NII is mainly due to an increase in the difference between the rates at which banks issue loans and those at which they pay on deposits, the Financial Times notes.
The increase in revenues allowed European banks to increase distributions to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks to EUR121 billion in 2023 from EUR90 billion in 2021, UBS notes. Due to this, the share prices of many banks have grown steadily, but the ratio of prices to book value of almost all European financial companies is significantly lower than that of comparable American banks.
The main concern for bank executives now is the expected reduction in key interest rates by the world’s leading central banks next year, which is likely to have a negative impact on net interest margins, which have recently recovered from a decade of negative or near-zero rates.
Fears of a recession, weakening demand for loans and stricter capital requirements for banks are limiting the growth of share prices in the sector, the FT writes.
An additional factor that worries investors is a possible increase in the number of loan defaults.
According to the UBS forecast, European banks’ allocations to loan loss provisions will reach EUR63 billion in 2024, up from EUR31 billion in 2021.
