More than 65% of Ukrainians surveyed cannot recall a single brand of domestically produced wine. This is evidenced by the results of a sociological survey conducted by Active Group in cooperation with the Kyiv-based analytical center Experts Club.
Among the domestic wine brands most frequently mentioned by Ukrainians are Koblevo, Shabo, Villa Krym, Bolgrad, Chizay, Kolonist, Inkerman, Oreanda and others. Also, only 30% of respondents have tasted Ukrainian-made craft wine at least once in their lives, and 17% do not know what craft winemaking is.
On the other hand, 54% of respondents would prefer Ukrainian wine if they had to choose a bottle for a visit or a party. At the same time, 47% of respondents prefer Ukrainian alcohol in general, while 27% prefer imported alcohol, and 27% are undecided.
In addition, the survey showed that 30% of citizens do not drink alcohol at all, 28% drink alcohol once a month or less, and 16% drink no more than once a week.
“In wine-growing countries, people are very patriotic about their own products, but in Ukraine, for some reason, sommeliers would rather recommend a foreign product than Ukrainian ones, even though we have quite high-quality craft wines. Therefore, it is necessary to change the worldview and popularize our own production so that the word Ukrainian is synonymous with quality,” said Oleksandr Poznyi, director of Active Group.
In turn, Maxim Urakin, founder of the Experts Club think tank, emphasized the importance of Ukrainian wine in new markets.
“Increasing export volumes is also a good information occasion that will make Ukrainian wine more popular among our consumers. This can be achieved through obtaining international certificates confirming the high quality of Ukrainian wine, as well as through cooperation with well-known winemakers from other countries to improve the skills of Ukrainian winemakers. An example of such cooperation is the assistance to Ukrainian winemaking from the world-famous representative of this industry, Ricardo Fernandez Nunez, owner of the international wine group Vinos de la Luz,” said Urakin.
Volodymyr Pechko, Chairman of the Association of Gardeners, Winegrowers and Winemakers of Ukraine (UKRSADVINPROM), noted that the creation and presentation of new unique varieties and improvement of production technologies could be important factors that will improve the image of Ukrainian craft wine among consumers.
“Ukrainian wineries are increasingly implementing modern wine production technologies. This can be a good reason to hold public events and popularize this product. In particular, UkrSadVinProm has stepped up the use of the latest technologies in the field of planting, processing, cleaning, storage and transportation of wine and wine materials to ensure that Ukrainian fruits and berries meet international quality standards,” said Pechko.
The survey was conducted in July 2023 among Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older by self-administered questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel.
About 1 thousand respondents – citizens of Ukraine aged 18 and older – took part in the survey, which was conducted online in the SunFlower Sociology panel. The survey program was developed jointly by Experts Club and Active group.
Three bulk carriers with agricultural products and iron ore have left the ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi, and five new vessels are heading to the ports for loading, said Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Reconstruction Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“Bulk carriers AZARA, YING HAO 01, ENEIDA (flags of Liberia and Palau) exported more than 127 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products and iron ore,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, 5 new vessels are being loaded at the ports of Greater Odesa: bulk carriers OLGA, IDA, DANNY BOY, FORZA DORIA, NEW LEGACY export almost 120 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain to Africa and Europe.
The U.S. Senate has approved a temporary funding bill aimed at averting a government shutdown, previously approved by the House of Representatives, Reuters reported on Saturday.
The Senate, with a Democratic majority of 88 to 9, voted to pass the measure to avoid the fourth partial shutdown of the federal government in a decade, sending it to President Joe Biden to sign into law before a deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (07:01 a.m. Kyiv time – IF-U).
Earlier, the House of Representatives voted 335 to 91 to fund the government through November 17, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.
“The American people can breathe a sigh of relief: There will be no government shutdown tonight,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “From the beginning, Democrats have said that the only solution to avoid a shutdown is bipartisanship, and we are pleased that Speaker McCarthy has finally listened to our message.”
Democratic Senator Michael Bennett held up the bill for several hours in an attempt to negotiate a deal on further aid to Ukraine.
“While I would have preferred to pass the bill now with additional assistance for Ukraine, which has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, it is easier to help Ukraine with an open government than if it were closed,” said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Earlier it was reported that the bill on temporary funding does not include US assistance to Ukraine.
Exports of selected agricultural products, mln tons
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The opposition Social Democratic Party “Course – New Democracy” of former Prime Minister Robert Fico has won the parliamentary elections in Slovakia held on Saturday, the republic’s statistics office said.
According to data from 95.75% of polling stations, it gained 23.58% of the vote, while the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, led by Vice President of the European Parliament Michal Šimečka, received 16.37%.
As noted in exit polls, the far-right has apparently managed to overcome the five percent threshold, and will now be represented in the Slovak parliament.
Fico is known as a politician who opposes the continuation of arms supplies to Ukraine. He also claimed that the West’s anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective and promised to use his veto over Ukraine’s NATO membership application. Shimechka is his opposite, holding liberal and pro-Western views and promising voters to deepen European cooperation, The Guardian notes.
The Agricultural Ministers of Ukraine and Bulgaria, Mykola Solsky and Kyrylo Vatev, discussed technical issues of Ukrainian agricultural exports to Bulgaria during online talks on Friday.
“The Bulgarian government considers the action plan of Ukraine submitted to the European Commission on the supply of agricultural products acceptable. Bulgaria has its own proposals to the mechanism of licensing certain types of agricultural products proposed by Ukraine. In particular, this concerns sunflower, while Bulgaria has no objections to the export of the other three crops,” the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine reported.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Farming clarified that Vatev familiarized Solsky with the memorandum signed between the Bulgarian government and the initiative committee of farmers, which provides for a ban on the import of sunflower from Ukraine until the end of November.
After this period, a licensing regime for the export of sunflower, wheat, corn and rapeseed will be in place, according to the plan agreed between Ukraine and the European Commission.
Vatev also spoke about the concerns of Bulgarian farmers and processors regarding the imports of refined and unrefined sunflower oil, milk powder, honey, sugar and frozen raspberries from Ukraine.
“It is very important to discuss all the problems affecting our agricultural producers and to look for solutions together,” the Bulgarian minister emphasized.
The ministers agreed to agree on the technical details of the procedure for exporting agricultural products to Bulgaria and discuss their results at the next meeting in the first half of October, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture added that regular data exchange between the two agricultural agencies will become weekly. It will include the exchange of information on exports and imports of certain agricultural products.
