In January-May, the volume of marketable products of Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill (Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill, Obukhiv, Kyiv region), the industry leader in Ukraine by this indicator, amounted to UAH 3 billion 173 million, which is 3.6% more than in the same period last year, according to statistics from Ukrpapir Association.
As reported, the mill moved to positive production dynamics in the first quarter (up 0.2%), while in January-February there was a 2.4% decline in this indicator compared to the same period last year.
According to UkrPapir’s statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, in physical terms, the mill’s corrugated box production increased by 4.5% to 92.3 million square meters over the five months, which remains the best in the industry.
Cardboard production decreased by 7.5% to 64.4 thousand tons, including production of containerboard by 8.4% to 52.7 thousand tons and boxboard by 3.4% to 11.7 thousand tons.
The output of base paper for sanitary and hygiene products increased by 8.3% to 19 thousand tons, and the production of toilet paper increased by the same percentage to 107.55 million units.
The plant is a stable leader in toilet paper production in Ukraine: over five months, the industry’s major enterprises produced a total of 262.37 million rolls, up 10%.
According to UkrPapir, in May, Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill reduced its paper and cardboard output by almost 10% to 15.8 thousand tons by May 2023, while corrugated boxes increased by 5% to 19.2 million square meters.
According to the Association’s data from the main industry enterprises, in January-May, paper and cardboard production in Ukraine increased by 6.1% compared to the same period in 2023, to 240.4 thousand tons, and cardboard boxes by 21.4%, to 237.7 million square meters.
Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill is the parent company of the eponymous group of companies, one of the largest cardboard and paper products producers in Europe with a staff of over 2,500 people.
It has, among other things, a 240,000-tonne-per-year cardboard production facility and a 355 million-square-meter corrugated packaging plant, as well as a production facility for the production of base paper and finished products with an annual capacity of 70,000 tons of base paper.
As reported, in 2023, the plant produced products worth UAH 7 billion 568 million, up 1.8% year-on-year.
The number of operating stores in Ukraine in January-March 2024 exceeded 18 thousand, which is 4% higher than in the first quarter of 2023, said Oleg Klopov, commercial real estate manager of Retail&Development Advisor (RDA) consulting company, at RAU Expo 2024 in Kiev.
“Separately, we should note the return of our partners – international brands. In RECs, where they have restored their work, the growth of traffic in general by 10% was noted. If we talk about regional development, the leader in the fashion category was Sinsay, which opened 38 stores during the war, 35 of which – outside Kiev,” he said.
Speaking about the geography of development of networks, Klopov noted that “the greatest activity of retail chains coincides with the concentration of internally displaced persons.”
At the same time, in the country as a whole, rental rates increased over the year – in shopping centers by 10%, in street retail – up to 20%.
“The growth occurs mainly for locations up to 200 square meters, i.e. such locations, which can afford small chains, actively developing in the regions”, – explained Klopov.
Retail & Development Advisor is a Ukrainian consulting company providing a full range of services in the sphere of retail, office and logistics real estate. real estate. It was founded in 2013. It offers services of development of architectural concept, brokerage in retail, office and logistics real estate, real estate management, outsourcing of RC development/leasing department, market analytics, etc. He has experience of successful cooperation with international and domestic operators such as: Yves Rocher, Metro, New Yorker, LC Waikiki, Adidas, JYSK, Colin’s, Vodafone, Terranova, Crocs, Miniso, EVA, Allo, KOLO, Rozetka, Ukrzoloto, Golden Age Prostor, “Luxoptika”, Intertop, etc.
The business environment continues to reduce the number of employees and aggravate the problem of finding qualified personnel, which may become a key factor for the Ukrainian economy in the next months.
These are the main results of the New Monthly Enterprises Survey (#NRES) of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER).
According to them, in May the rating of obstacles for business has not undergone significant changes. The top three among them have remained unchanged for several months: the danger of working (an obstacle for 56% of respondents), labor shortages (49%), and rising prices (46%).
“56% said that the danger of doing business is the biggest obstacle – and such a high figure was not even at the beginning of the war. Large businesses complain most about this. Also, the problem of electricity supply has been actualized again: compared to April, twice as many businesses complain about it (21% – in April, 41% – in May),” the study quotes the words of IEI expert Eugene Angel.
At the same time, the IEI noted that for the first time in two years the percentage of Ukrainian industrial business operating at full capacity exceeded 15% and amounted to 18% in May, while in April the figure was 13%.
In addition, the percentage of companies that find it difficult to guess what will happen to operations in two years has decreased – from 38.2% in April to 30.9% in May.
The two-year uncertainty rate has been gradually declining since February of this year. Then it was 50.6%, now it is 30.9% and it is the lowest value since October 2022.
The IEI emphasized that a clear trend of stagnation or decline in positive expectations for the two-year period is noticeable.
“That is, businesses understand what they will be doing in two years’ time, but they don’t see that future as positive. Most likely because it is getting more and more used to the view that the war will last a long time,” explained Oksana Kuzyakiv, executive director of the IEI.
At the same time, she added that assessments of the financial and economic situation at enterprises and the general economic environment are growing in the six-month perspective. Accordingly, respondents do not expect deterioration of the situation either at their own enterprises or in the country’s economy as a whole.
Enterprises have had a stable order book for more than three months for almost a year now. The average term of new orders in May amounted to 3.4 months, which is slightly longer than in April (3.3 months), but corresponds to the level of March this year (3.4 months).
In addition, the Business Activity Recovery Index (BAI) increased from 0.33 to 0.40 (on a scale of -1 to +1) in May 2024 compared to April. As explained in the IEI, this was due to an increase in the proportion of businesses that reported that their business activity was better than in 2023, from 45.3% in April to 55.4% in May. Meanwhile, 15.1% (12% in April) said business activity had worsened, with nothing changed for 29.4% (42.7% a month earlier).
The May NRES survey included 534 Ukrainian industrial enterprises of all sizes located in 21 of Ukraine’s 27 regions. The field phase of the 25th wave of the survey lasted from May 20 to May 31, 2024.
Ukraine has a large untapped potential in the use of solar energy. A new BE study commissioned by Greenpeace shows the ways and opportunities, as well as the obstacles to solar energy development.
Background
In the years preceding the outbreak of Russian aggression, the share of solar energy in Ukraine’s total electricity production has already increased significantly – from 5.9 GW in 2018 to 8.06 GW in 2022 – with an increase in solar generation capacity of almost 37%. Further expansion of solar generation is essential for achieving climate goals. But it’s not just climate protection considerations that speak in favor of solar power. Ongoing Russian attacks on fixed energy infrastructure make decentralized alternatives necessary, in which solar power will play a key role. With this in mind, we analyze how a significant expansion of solar generation can be integrated into the Ukrainian power grid. We conducted this study on behalf of Greenpeace.
Methodology and results
Based on technical and economic modeling, we determined the optimal share of solar power for the period 2027-30. The results show that 9.2 GW of solar generation capacity can be integrated into the Ukrainian grid by 2027, and up to 14 GW by 2030. This corresponds to an increase of 8.4 GW compared to current capacities and requires investments totaling almost €5 billion.
The study also analyzes the technical and economic obstacles that currently still hinder the expansion of solar energy. These include barriers to market entry, lack of incentives for investors, regulatory obstacles, and high investment costs.
Outlook.
Based on our analysis, we can conclude that Ukraine has a great potential for solar power plants. However, a number of measures need to be taken to realize this potential. These include
– Investments in electricity infrastructure
– Reducing investment costs
– Liberalization of the electricity market
– Strengthening public finances
– Support for end users
In our study, we analyze individual measures in detail.
U.S. equipment is helping the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Odesa Port Authority protect and maintain the Black Sea Humanitarian Corridor, which has so far shipped approximately 850 ships and 52 million tons of grain and cargo that will feed the world and support Ukraine’s economy, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
“It’s great to be back in the thriving and courageous port city of Odesa, world-renowned for its rich cultural heritage. Even in the face of Russia’s daily attacks, Odesa stands firm on the Black Sea,” she said at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa.
The U.S. Ambassador said she regularly visits Odesa, meeting with local authorities, border guards, port workers and Odessans. These meetings allow her to form an idea of the problems facing the city and prove the determination of the residents to protect the city and its ports.
Ukraine will kick off the UEFA EURO 2024 soccer championship with a match against Romania on Monday.
The match will kick off at 16:00 Kiev time at the Bayern Munich stadium. It will be officiated by a Swedish refereeing team headed by Glenn Nyberg.
According to the UEFA website, Ukraine will start with Andriy Lunin, Juhim Konoplya, Ilya Zabarny, Mykola Matvienko, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Taras Stepanenko, Mykola Shaparenko, Grigory Sudakov, Viktor Tsygankov, Mykhailo Mudryk and Artem Dovbik.
Ukraine will also play Slovakia on June 21 and Belgium on June 26 in the group stage of Euro 2024.
