On Tuesday, Warsaw informed the European Commission (EC) of its decision to unilaterally extend the embargo on grain imports from Ukraine to Poland if such measures are not adopted in Brussels, Polish radio reports.
“At the end of the government meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office informed that the Cabinet of Ministers called on the EC to extend the ban on grain imports from Ukraine, which expires on September 15,” the radio reports.
“Otherwise, Poland will impose such a ban on its own at the state level,” the report says.
“The government has decided to extend the ban on the supply of Ukrainian grain to Poland,” Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said on Polish television earlier on Tuesday. – “This will benefit farmers, the Polish economy and European solidarity.
Polish television reminds that the ban on grain imports from Ukraine to the five frontline EU countries that are neighbors of Ukraine – Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia – is in effect until Friday. All of these countries have sent a request to the EU leadership to extend the embargo until the end of the year. No decision on this issue has been made yet.
The European Commission has banned imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds originating in Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia since May 2. On June 5, it was decided to extend these measures until September 15.
Brussels then stated that these “exceptional and temporary preventive measures” are necessary due to overcrowding in warehouses and difficulties due to the existing serious bottlenecks in logistics faced by these countries.
The European Commission also reported that the transit of these goods through these five frontline countries to the EU or other countries outside the EU remains possible.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has applied a measure of influence in the form of temporary suspension of licenses to non-life insurer “European Insurance Group” (EIG, Kharkiv) in connection with non-submission of reports since the end of last year.
As reported by the central bank on Tuesday, the Committee for Supervision and Regulation of Non-banking Financial Services Markets has set a deadline for the insurer to eliminate violations until September 26, 2023.
According to the National Bank, for the first nine months of 2022, the insurer received 2542.2 thousand UAH of insurance premiums and made 39.4 thousand UAH of insurance payments, while the company’s market share for the period amounted to 0.01%.
As reported, on October 8, 2021 the NBU has agreed to Ivan Volkov indirect ownership of 99,998% of shares of ALC “European Insurance Group”. Earlier, on July 6, 2021, a trustee was appointed to this company to manage 99.998% of the insurer’s shares, the ownership of which was indirectly through LLC “Victori-21”.
UGG was registered by the National Commission for Financial Services in August 2016. The authorized capital of the company amounts to UAH 30 mln.
Oil prices continue to rise on Tuesday afternoon, with traders waiting for new signals on supply and demand in the market.
Their attention is focused on the monthly reports of OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA), which will be published on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
In addition, the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday, at 23:30, will publish data on oil reserves in the country for the week ended September 8. The market on average expects a decline in reserves by 2 million barrels after a drop of 5.5 million barrels a week earlier, Trading Economics notes. The Energy Ministry will release official data on Wednesday.
The cost of November futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 14:42 by the end of the quarter is $91.25 per barrel, which is $0.61 (0.67%) higher than at the close of the previous session.
October futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen by $0.71 (0.81%) to $88 per barrel by this time.
In January-August this year, Ukraine’s metallurgical enterprises reduced their earnings from ferrous metal exports by 51.1% year-on-year to $1 billion 821.054 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), ferrous metals accounted for 7.44% of total export revenues during this period, while in the first eight months of 2022, they accounted for 12.86%.
In August, revenues from exports of ferrous metals amounted to $200.016 million, while in the previous month – $206.685 million.
At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 53% to $855.284 million over the first eight months of this year. In August, the country imported products worth $136.466 million.
In addition, in January-August, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 11% compared to the eight months of the previous year, to $625.707 million. In August, they were exported for $65.114 million.
At the same time, imports of steel products increased by 24.8% to $515.548 million over the first eight months of the year. In August, Ukraine supplied $82.645 million worth of these products.
As reported earlier, in 2022, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies reduced revenues from ferrous metal exports by 67.5% compared to 2021, to $4 billion 533.088 million. During this period, ferrous metals accounted for 10.26% of total revenues from exports of goods, compared to 20.49% in 2021. At the same time, last year Ukraine reduced imports of similar products by 38.3% to $954.387 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 18.6% to $1 billion 52.512 million. Imports of metal products fell by 42.9% to $643.162 million over the year.
Agrarians in all regions except Transcarpathia have sown 1155 thousand hectares of winter crops, of which 905.9 thousand hectares are allocated for winter rape and 249 thousand hectares for winter grains, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, 228.6 thou hectares are already under winter wheat, 10.8 thou hectares under winter barley, and 9.5 thou hectares under winter rye.
Over the previous week, 251 thou hectares were planted with winter rape, and 204 thou hectares with winter grain.
In addition, it is reported that farmers of Volyn, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Chernivtsi regions have completed sowing of winter rape.
Most of the winter grains were sown in Sumy region – 25.9 thousand hectares, which is 50% of the forecast, winter rapeseed – in Dnipropetrovs’k region, 93.4 thousand hectares (74.4% of the forecast).
As reported with reference to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of farmers do not plan to significantly change the area under winter crops in 2024 compared to the previous season.
On October 6, the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) will hold a privatization auction for the sale of state-owned enterprise Volyntorf with a starting price of UAH 190.2 million, according to the Fund’s website.
The auction will be held on Prozorro, and the guarantee fee for participation in the auction is UAH 38 million (excluding VAT).
“The State Property Fund already has experience in the successful sale of a state-owned peat enterprise. In early July, the SPFU held an auction for the sale of RivneTorf, during which 12 bidders competed. As a result, the starting price increased 4.3 times, to UAH 205 million,” the website quoted the SPFU’s deputy chairman, Sergiy Simonov, as saying.
According to the fund, Volyntorf is a profitable enterprise specializing in the production of peat briquettes. In the first half of 2023, the state-owned enterprise received UAH 90.4 million in revenue and UAH 6.2 million in net profit, and UAH 200 million and UAH 10.6 million in 2022, respectively.
As of June 30, 2023, Volyntorf had no overdue accounts payable, with current accounts payable amounting to UAH 20.2 million, including UAH 8.9 million in settlements with the budget and UAH 2.6 million in payroll.
In total, the facility includes 109 real estate units (production, warehouse, and administrative premises) with a total area of over 21 thousand square meters. The company employs 302 people and owns 164 vehicles. Volyntorf also includes a separate division, Manevychi Peat Plant.
The state-owned enterprise has special permits for subsoil use at the Zasvity Sitneluk field for 18 years and the Soyne field for 19 years.
“Peat is not a strategic fuel for the energy sector of Ukraine. Its total share in the country’s energy balance is less than one percent, according to the State Statistics Service. Therefore, the SPFU is gradually putting state-owned peat enterprises up for privatization auctions,” the SPFU explained.
As reported, on July 5, the SPFU sold RivneTorf at an online privatization auction in the Prozorro system for UAH 205 million at a price 4.3 times higher than the starting price.
