Components of state budget expenditures in 2021-2024, UAH billion
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
Exports of goods from Ukraine in June 2024 decreased by 7% compared to a year earlier and amounted to $2.77 billion, the lowest figure since the beginning of this year, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) reported on Tuesday.
According to the IER’s monitoring of foreign trade, exports of agricultural products decreased by 2% to $1.60 billion, but exports of its components developed differently: corn exports increased by 12% (21% in physical terms), while exports of wheat and oil decreased by 32% and 5%, respectively.
In June, exports of metallurgy products fell by over 9% y-o-y to $355 m. The IER believes that this likely reflected higher energy costs and a change in the structure of exports: exports of pig iron and certain types of rolled products decreased, while exports of semi-finished and other products increased.
In addition, exports of mineral products, primarily iron ore, increased by 33%, but were lower than in January-April 2024.
The IER emphasized that due to the resumption of exports from Odesa ports, the volume of iron ore exports in tons increased by 87% in June, although it was lower than in previous months due to a shortage of electricity.
Exports of mineral products grew by only 33%.
As for imports, they remained almost unchanged in June compared to May, but increased by 12% to $5.63 billion by the same period in 2023.
In terms of sectors, imports of machinery and equipment increased by almost 20% year-on-year in June 2024 (especially imports of drones, batteries, and generators), while imports of cars decreased slightly in dollar terms due to lower import prices.
Imports of energy products increased by 16% yoy due to higher imports of coke and coal, likely to meet the needs of the metallurgy sector, which increased steel production.
At the same time, imports of chemicals and food products decreased.
It is noted that the greatest impact was the growth of imports of “other goods” (primarily purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces) – under this category, goods worth $752 million were imported to Ukraine ($400 million in the previous months of the year).
As explained by the IER, the shortage of electricity led to an increase in its imports – from $6 million in June 2023 to $78 million in June 2024, as well as batteries – from $18 million a year earlier to $68 million in June 2024.
In Ukraine, soybeans continue to fall in price, in the first three weeks of July, market operators announced the purchase prices for them in the range of 16 500-18 800 UAH/t CPT, which is 500-900 UAH/t lower than at the end of June, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“The decline in prices was mainly due to the decrease in demand for soybeans from processors due to the reduction of soybean processing caused by the low attractiveness of prices for soybean meal/cake, the transition of plants to rapeseed processing, and the energy crisis, which significantly hit the processors. This was especially evident in the central regions, where stricter restrictions on electricity supply were introduced,” the analysts explained.
According to their information, given the current situation, the volume of soybean purchases in the country decreased significantly, which resulted in the reduction of the number of finished product offers.
In addition, the downward price trend in soybean exports also continued in the period under review, although the pace of shipments increased significantly in July. Demand prices decreased by 20-30 USD/t and were quoted from 400 USD/t with delivery to the port. At the same time, the demand prices for soybeans of the new harvest were 20-30 USD/t lower than the current price level for the legume in 2023, which was largely due to the expectation of the record harvest of soybeans in Ukraine in 2024, APK-Inform stated.
The OKKO filling station chain has ordered 100 new tank cars from TAS Poltavagon, and received the first 20 units in July, the company’s press service reports.
According to it, the group will receive the entire batch in early 2025.
The new rolling stock will significantly increase OKKO’s logistics maneuverability, allowing it to import petroleum products to Ukraine faster and more profitably, as well as provide transportation services to other market participants.
“Until now, we have had 45 of our own tanks in operation. Some of them are in use, some were intended for bitumen transportation, but are now being repurposed for diesel fuel. In addition, the company leases more than 400 tank cars. By adding another 100 new units, the company will become a powerful private operator of tank cars for the transportation of petroleum products in Ukraine. “Only Ukrzaliznytsia has a larger fleet,” said Denis Gromov, Director of Logistics at OKKO.
The company clarified that the tank car manufacturer was selected at a tender among three Ukrainian companies. They considered engaging foreign companies, but their products would require additional certification in Ukraine, which could take longer.
It took six months from the moment we signed the contract with TAS Poltavagon to the production of the first batch. These are tank cars for oil products of the 15-1755 model with a carrying capacity of 68 tons and a service life of 32 years.
“This is not the first experience of cooperation with OKKO for TAS Poltavagon. Previously, our company has already supplied fuel storage tanks to the group’s filling stations. The current contract gives us the opportunity to join our partner in strengthening Ukraine’s fuel security, restore the status of a tank farm and prove our leadership in this market,” said Yuriy Pysarevsky, CEO of the plant.
OKKO also reminded that in 2022-23 the group significantly updated its own fleet of vehicles for fuel transportation. “The company continues to develop the transportation and logistics business further – investments in rail tank cars will be several times larger. The advance payment under the current contract alone amounted to UAH 100 million,” the press release said.
Earlier, in June 2024, OKKO Vice President Yuriy Kuchabsky noted that after the latest hostile attacks on the group’s tank farms, “it was decided to switch to working ‘on wheels’, that is, without accumulating fuel at the tank farms.” The group is also considering leasing terminals in Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diversified businesses in manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, maintenance and other services. The flagship company of the group is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest filling stations in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with about 400 filling stations.
The group’s founder and ultimate beneficiary is Vitaliy Antonov.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a historic visit to Ukraine in a few weeks, according to Sidhant Sibal, chief diplomatic correspondent for the Indian publishing house WION, citing his own sources in New Delhi. This visit, which is currently being prepared, is tentatively scheduled for the third week of August, probably on the 23rd.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally invited the Indian leader to visit the country during a phone conversation. Since then, the two countries have been holding active high-level talks. Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba discussed bilateral relations. National security advisors from both countries, Ajit Doval from India and Andriy Yermak from Ukraine, also held talks.
In June, Prime Minister Modi met with President Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy. Discussing the current situation in Ukraine, the Indian leader emphasized the need for dialogue and diplomacy, stressing that India is ready to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
This visit will be the first personal contact between the two leaders since the beginning of the war, outside the format of the G7 summits. Prime Minister Modi may travel to Ukraine via Poland, and is likely to hold talks with the Polish leadership before traveling to Kyiv.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ukraine comes almost two months after he traveled to Russia for the annual Russian summit, during which the war in Ukraine was also discussed. During his talks with Putin, Prime Minister Modi expressed regret over the deaths of innocent people and children at the Okhmatdyt hospital.
On March 11, 2024, according to the previously announced schedule, the process of accepting applications from potential partners for joint development of 21 fields was completed.
The company is currently finalizing the terms of cooperation with the companies that submitted the best proposals, preparing to submit joint applications to the Interdepartmental Commission for the organization of the conclusion and implementation of production sharing agreements and subsequent approval of the final terms of the production sharing agreements by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
However, due to the interest of investors who were unable to participate in the first selection and the availability of fields with the potential for joint development, the Company decided to extend the application deadline for some fields by 3 months until September 10, 2024.
For more details on the algorithm for submitting applications and selecting potential investors, please follow the link.
