PJSC Farmak (Kyiv), among top three leaders of the pharmaceutical sector of Ukraine, in 2018 plans to increase the exports share to 33%.
The company told Interfax-Ukraine that in H1 2018 Farmak’s exports grew by 13% year-over-year, in particular, thanks to supplies to Uzbekistan (a rise by 20%), Belarus (by 124%), Kazakhstan (by 13%) and Kyrgyzstan (by 16%).
Sales of products to Russia remained at the level of 2017.
“We want to increase the export potential of the company by retaining the leading positions in Ukraine. It would lead to an increase in production, creation of new jobs, an increase in the amount of taxes paid. For Farmak, the markets of the European Union and Asia remain a priority,” Farmak Executive Director Volodymyr Kostiuk said.
In general, according to him, in 2017, Farmak exported products for $70 million. In 2017, Poland, Uzbekistan and Russia dominated the structure of foreign sales. In particular, sales to Poland accounted for 28.3% of total exports, Uzbekistan – 20.9% and Russia – 16.7%.
In 2017, the share of Farmak’s sales in foreign markets was 31%.
Farmak is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
A first tranche of the macro-financial assistance of the European Union (EU) will arrive in Ukraine this year, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “Of course, we are speaking about this year,” the minister said in Kyiv on Wednesday, asked about the terms of the first disbursement of the EU’s macro-financial assistance. He recalled that in coming days a memorandum of understanding under the programme, foreseeing in particular the conditions for the provision of a loan, will be signed. Klimkin declined to specify the details.
As reported, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Euro, Social Dialogue, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Valdis Dombrovskis on September 13-14 will visit Ukraine, where he will take part in signing a memorandum of understanding, in which the terms of the fourth EU macro-financial assistance programme for Ukraine (MFA IV) for EUR1 billion will be fixed.
According to materials published by the EU early July 2018, the proposed MFA would be made available for two and a half years, starting from the first day after the entry into force of the memorandum of understanding. In addition, the planned size of the two tranches is to be outlined in the document.
Since May 2014 Ukraine has received EUR 2.81 billion of macro-financial assistance from the EU. The third tranche of EUR 600 million under the MFA was annulled on January 18, 2018, as the country failed to meet the conditions.
Following its technical mission of November 2017, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its estimates of Ukraine’s external financing needs, identifying an additional gap of $4.5 billion for 2018 and 2019.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalik has said that the Cabinet of Ministers will consider the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting on September 14. “We will adopt[the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers tentatively on Friday,” he told reporters after a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that the Cabinet of Ministers would submit the draft state budget for 2019 to the Verkhovna Rada on time, before September 15.
The Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has reviewed upwards the 2018 grain harvest forecast from over 60 million tonnes to 63.1 million tonnes, which is 1.1 million tonnes more than in the previous agricultural year, acting Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Maksym Martyniuk wrote on his Facebook page. “A group of late grain crops will contribute to the growth. Weather conditions were far from optimal, but losses were fragmentary, and as a result we have a decent ratio of bread wheat/coarse grains at 60/40,” he said.
The head of the agrarian ministry added that the export forecast was also increased, to 42 million tonnes.
“It is good news. The situation in the world (poor harvests in supplying countries, rising prices) raises its status to” magnificent,” Martyniuk said.
He also said that if the field works started late spring, the sowing campaign began almost a week earlier: as of September 10, 237,100 hectares were sown with grain, which is 3% of the forecast.
“Rain is a bonus,” the acting minister said.
According to the ministry, as of September 10, the harvest of grain and leguminous crops amounted to 35.4 million tonnes from 10.1 million hectares, or 68% of the forecast. These include early cereals: 34.3 million tonnes were harvested from an area of 9.9 million hectares, and 0.82 million tonnes of corn was harvested from 147,000 hectares (3% of the forecast).
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
