Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy is not satisfied with the work of European solidarity corridors and believes that the expansion of the traditional maritime transport route, which now takes only 12% of Ukrainian agricultural products, will help to reduce the pressure on domestic markets of the EU.
“The current solidarity routes are not fulfilling their role, as the products remain in Ukraine’s neighboring countries. We used to have 40-50 thousand tons of grain, now we have 2.5 million tons. The purpose is to expand the traditional sea transport route, by which now only 12% of Ukrainian products leave. This will reduce the load on the land route and reduce the pressure on EU domestic markets,” the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture quoted him as saying at a press conference with his Polish counterpart Robert Telusz in Warsaw on Thursday.
Nagy said he had asked his Polish counterpart for a mandate to negotiate with the Turkish side to open new sea routes for grain exports in addition to the existing three Black Sea ports.
He called it important to maintain and expand cooperation among the five EU member states. “We are determined to continue to cooperate (…) to find a common European solution to this problem; it is an important humanitarian and solidarity goal,” the Hungarian minister stressed.
Nagy praised the joint actions of the five EU member states – Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, as well as Poland and Hungary – in suspending imports of Ukrainian grain. Thanks to the joint implementation of the will “today we can protect our borders and farmers as a result of measures of the European Union, not national measures,” he said, and expressed regret that the restrictive measures are valid only until September 15.
Hungarian and Polish ministers stated that the restriction period until Sept. 15 was too short. “For example, the corn harvest will still be going on, so we definitely need to push for the extension (of restrictive measures – IF),” Nagy said.
Polish Minister of Agriculture Robert Telusz called important the Hungarian initiative to expand the Black Sea Route, which he said Warsaw would support. At the same time, he stressed the need for the development of land transport routes.
Telusz praised the merits of the Hungarian side in the creation of the five-member coalition on the grain issue. He noted that without the actions of this association the European Commission “would not have seen the problem at all”.
The Polish minister also stressed the importance of maintaining this alliance. “Together we can fight not only for issues important to our countries, but also for the future of Europe,” he said.
According to him, after the war is over, the process of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union can continue, and with it, “the issue of Ukrainian products will come up again.” “If today we do not make the European Commission develop real tools to solve this problem, the problem will have unpleasant consequences,” Telusz said.
He also said that he agreed with his Hungarian colleague to organize a meeting with Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nicholas Solsky to find common solutions to solve the problem of grain imports.
On Sunday, June 25, rains are expected in Ukraine, with heavy rains in some southern and southeastern regions, with hail and wind gusts of up to 20 m/s, the Ukrainian Weather Center reports.
“Moderate – light rains and thunderstorms in the western, night and southern regions, heavy rains in the central, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, sometimes hail in some places, wind gusts and squalls of 15-20 m/s during the day,” the Ukrainian Weather Center said in a statement on Saturday.
The wind will be north, northwest (in the east and northeast, northeast), 5-10 m/s. Temperature at night 15-20°, during the day 20-25°, in the southern and southeastern regions 26-31°; in the highlands of the Carpathians during the day 7-12°.
Rains are also expected in Kyiv on June 25. Northwest wind, 5-10 m/s. The temperature at night will be 18-20°, during the day 23-25°.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Borys Sreznevsky. Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory in Kyiv, on June 25, the highest daytime temperature was 35.4° in 2021, the lowest at night was 5.8° in 1908.
On Monday, June 26, the rainy weather will continue. “Sometimes rains with thunderstorms are expected, on the Left Bank, at night and in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, in some places significant rains (at night in the western regions without precipitation). Northwest wind with a transition to northeast, 7-12 m/s, in the northern, central and eastern regions gusts of 15-20 m/s in some places,” the weather service reports.
The temperature will be 11-16° at night, 21-26° during the day, 15-20° in the east and northeast of the country; in the southern part at night 17-22°, 24-29° during the day.
On June 26, rain with thunderstorms is forecast in the capital of Ukraine, with northwest winds shifting to northeast, 7-12 m/s, gusts of 15-20 m/s in some places. The temperature at night will be 14-16°, during the day 21-23°.
The Ministry of Education and Science has launched a “hotline” about the admission campaign 2023.
“Launched an advisory telephone line MES number 0 (800) 50-45-70, as well as e-mail vstup2023@mon.gov.ua, which will receive appeals from citizens. During the whole admission campaign (June 23 – August 11, 2023) the Ministry’s experts will work, who will provide control over the admission, consult citizens and respond quickly to possible violations,” the press service of the Ministry said.
It is noted that in addition, you can call the government hotline 1545 and 0800 50 44 25 – for persons from the temporarily occupied territories, as well as find information about the educational centers “Crimea – Ukraine” and “Donbass – Ukraine”.
Also on the website of the Ministry of Education, in the section “Entrance campaign 2023” there are answers to the most common questions of entry.
“In addition, the MES website will soon work chat-bot. (Recall that the language of the chatbot will be displayed in the language of your browser settings),” – added in the department.
The Ministry of Economy will send to the Government of Ukraine a list of just over 100 strategic companies that will remain in state ownership, the list must then be approved by the Verkhovna Rada, said Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Sobolev.
“The rest will be privatized … We still have a lot of state property, we look at it as a locomotive for investment,” he said at a roundtable on “Creating a transparent and accountable Ukraine” in London on Friday.
Sobolev noted that the Ministry of Economy is actively working on the transfer of state companies to the State Property Fund and has already transferred more than one thousand.
“In those that remain, we need to improve corporate governance. This year we need to update the legislation on these tenders,” stressed the deputy minister.
He clarified that the question is about the bill 5593-d “On improvement of corporate governance of legal entities.” “We will have to work to pass it in the parliament by mid-autumn, it is the main task for the next 3-4 months for us,” specified Sobolev.
According to him, the main idea is to improve the legislation so as to attract investment in companies through better corporate governance.
Among other important tasks, he named nationalization of companies of sub-sanctioned entities, corporatization of Energoatom and Guaranteed Buyer, improvement of corporate governance of UGTSU and continuation of reform of Ukroboronprom.
A major Ukrainian producer of corrugated board – Poninkovsky Cardboard and Paper Mill-Ukraine (PKBF-Ukraine, Khmelnitsky region) in January-May increased the production of corrugated packaging by 35.5% compared with the same period in 2022 – up to 33.5 million square meters.
According to statistical data provided to Interfax-Ukraine agency by UkrPapir association, thus, the factory continues to be in the top three after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill and Trypillya Packaging Mill in the production of these products.
According to statistics, in January-May the production of paper at the factory also increased by 13% to 0.27 thousand tons and containerboard – by 29.7% to 30 thousand tons.
At the same time in May, production of corrugated boxes Ponikovsky CBF increased by 26.2% compared to May 2022, to 7.2 million square meters, and paper and cardboard – by 10.8% to 7 thousand tons.
According to “UkrPapir” statistics, in January-May Poninkovsky CBF-Ukraine produced goods for more than 1 billion UAH – by 34% more than a year earlier.
As reported with reference to the data collected by the Association from the major enterprises of the industry, the five months in Ukraine produced 218.6 tons of paper and cardboard (12% more), and 197.3 million square meters of cardboard boxes (+21.4%).
Poninkovsky factory (formerly – Poninkovsky Cardboard and Paper Mill), once the largest manufacturer of school notebooks, now has one main production – paper and cardboard, mainly produces corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging, as well as wrapping, waste paper.
The mill is part of the United Carton Company-Ukraine (UCCU, Lutsk), whose production assets include, in particular, the Lutsk Cardboard Mill-Ukraine (Volyn region), which in January-May (according to “UkrPapir”) produced 22.9 thousand tons of various cartons – 37.5% more.
Businessman Mykola Lobov is listed as the beneficiary in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs.
As it was reported, in 2022 Poninkovska CBF-Ukraine produced goods for 2 billion 446 million UAH – 6.5% more than a year earlier.
In January-May the Zhidachevsk Pulp and Paper Mill (ZhPPM, Lviv region) manufactured goods for 234.31 mln UAH, which is 18.1% more than in the first five months of 2022.
According to statistical data provided to Interfax-Ukraine agency by UkrPapir Association, the output of corrugated board packaging increased by 34.2% to 9.3 mln. sq. m, packaging cardboard – by almost 38% to 6.7 thousand tons, paper – by 37.3% to 1.8 thousand tons.
In May, the company increased the output of paper and cardboard output by 14.4% to 1.85 thousand tons, corrugated board output by 1% to 2 million square meters. Compared to April this year, the output increased by 11.2% and 8.2%, respectively.
Zheleznodorozhny Paper Mill has the capacity of paper production (corrugated base paper, cardboard liner, wrapping paper) – 43 thousand tons per year, cardboard production – 50 thousand tons, corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging – 120 million square meters, cast containers (trays for 30 eggs) – 72 million pieces per year.
As reported with reference to the association, received from the industry enterprises, in January-May 2023, they produced a total of 218.6 tons of paper and cardboard (12% more), and 197.3 million square meters of cardboard boxes (+21.4%).
In 2022, Zhidachev PPM produced 510.8 mln UAH in marketable goods, which is 23.1% more than a year earlier, net profit increased by 67.5% to 41.76 mln UAH.
