In a March report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) increased its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 1 million tons from February data to 23.5 million tons from 22.5 million tons, while for wheat it kept its estimate at 13.5 million tons.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report on its website Thursday that its forecast for corn production for the current MY is maintained at 27 million tons and wheat at 21 million tons.
Also in the March forecast, the estimate of transitional corn balances in Ukraine at the end of 2022/2023 MY was reduced by 1 million tons to 2.39 million tons from 3.39 million tons, and by 0.04 million tons for wheat to 4.17 million tons from 4.21 million tons.
At the same time, the estimate of domestic consumption of corn in Ukraine in 2022/2023 MY remained at 5 million tons, and wheat – 4 million tons.
In general, the forecast of fodder grain exports in Ukraine in 2022/23 MY in the March forecast was increased by 1.1 million tons – to 26.03 million tons from 24.93 million tons in February, and the forecast of its production was kept at 34.16 million tons.
Since the beginning of 2022/2023 marketing year (July-June) and until March 3, Ukraine exported 32.54 million tons of cereals, including 18.8 million tons of corn (-1% compared to the same period a year earlier), 11.38 million tons of wheat (1.58 times less), 2.06 million tons of barley (2.73 times less), 16.1 thousand tons of rye (10 times less) and 100.5 tons of flour (+47.8%).
2022-2024 goods trade balance forecast (USD bln)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
State-owned PrivatBank in January 2023 received UAH 6.316 billion in net profit, Oshchadbank – UAH 2.242 billion, which amounted to 57% of all profits earned in January by 60 profitable Ukrainian banks.
According to the data published by the National Bank of Ukraine on its website, the top five leaders are also two banks with foreign capital: Raiffeisen Bank – UAH 715.8 million, Sense Bank (formerly Alfa Bank) – UAH 680.5 million and state Ukreximbank – UAH 623 million.
Three other banks with foreign capital: OTP Bank – 617.6 million UAH, Ukrsibbank – 605.3 million UAH, Citibank – 544.9 million UAH, FUIB – 499.1 million UAH and Universal Bank (mono) – 378.5 million UAH were slightly behind.
As for the most loss-making bank in January, it was Forward Bank, owned by Russian Rustam Tariko, which the National Bank considered insolvent on February 8 – UAH 298.3 mln with an increase of reserves by UAH 291.8 mln.
In January, seven banks worked with losses, although the banks formed almost 4 billion UAH of additional reserves (PrivatBank took the biggest losses – 824.4 million UAH).
After the growth of assets of all banks by 91.6 billion UAH in December 2022, in January they increased only by 18.2 billion UAH, including at Ukreximbank – by 14.1 billion UAH, while PrivatBank even decreased by 5.48 billion UAH.
Due to the increase of the National Bank on January 11, the mandatory reserve requirements and permission to form up to half of them at the expense of government bonds, banks’ investment in government securities in the first month of the year increased by 20.9 billion UAH. The largest increase in portfolios was demonstrated by Oshchadbank (UAH 7.397 billion), Raiffeisen Bank (UAH 3.171 billion), FUIB (UAH 2.279 billion), Ukrgasbank (UAH 2.067 billion), Ukreximbank (UAH 1.688 billion), and Universal Bank (mono) – UAH 1.578 billion.
The Board of Directors of IDS Ukraine Group, which produces mineral water under Morshynska and Mirgorodska brands, decided not to accrue or pay dividends for 2022 and decided to direct all available funds to charitable purposes, the holding said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The company’s management and non-sanctioned shareholders fully share the state’s just desire to protect the economy and the country. That is why, back at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it was decided to forgo dividends in 2022 and direct all available funds to charity,” the document states.
According to the press release, 100% of the corporate rights of the group’s shareholders have now been seized and transferred to the National Agency for the Detection, Search and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) because of the sanctions imposed on its shareholders with Russian citizenship. At the same time, according to IDS Ukraine, more than 50% of the holding’s securities belong to persons to whom sanctions were not applied – citizens of Great Britain, Georgia and Ukraine.
The press release notes that IDS Ukraine provided more than UAH 100 mln of charitable aid in 2022; in particular, it transferred water in excess of UAH 67 mln for the needs of military personnel, the wounded, displaced persons and residents of de-occupied territories. In addition, the holding continues to pay salaries for a hundred and fifty of its mobilized employees, as well as buying for them ammunition and equipment.
“For their part, the non-sanctioned shareholders of the company, even though the state grossly violates their property rights, consider the provision of charitable assistance in 2023 as one of the priority areas of the companies. Only in January 2023, 120 thousand liters of water were transferred to Kherson, and the total amount of transferred products already this year is about 500 thousand liters,” the mineral water producer summarized in a press release.
As earlier reported, on February 10 ARMA announced a competition for the selection of a manager for arrested assets of IDS Ukraine, which produces and sells mineral water under brands Morshinskaya, Mirgorodskaya and Borjomi.
Earlier, Marko Tkachuk, the general director of IDS Ukraine, said in response to Interfax-Ukraine news agency inquiry that the transfer of corporate rights of the company worth more than UAH 10 billion to ARMA will not affect the economic activities of the group. He also reminded that the decision about the transfer of corporate rights of the sanctioned IDS shareholders with Russian citizenship to ARMA was made by Kiev Shevchenko District Court on November 9 and 11, 2022.
On November 23 last year, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BES) reported about the arrest of corporate rights of the Russian shareholders of the IDS Ukraine in order to avoid their withdrawal from Ukraine of the assets of seven enterprises for the production and sale of drinking water. According to the BEB, these enterprises are actually owned by them through a non-resident offshore company under their control.
IDS Ukraine is a Ukrainian group of companies founded in 1996, the largest national producer of bottled water. The holding includes Morshynsky mineral water plant “Oskar”, “Mirgorod mineral water plant”, the distribution company “IDS” and water delivery operator “IDS Aqua Service”.
GK owns trade marks Morshinskaya, Mirgorodskaya, Alaska and Aqua Life.
A new privatization auction for the sale of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Commercial Sea Port (NCSP, Odesa region) is scheduled for March 13. The starting price of the property has been halved from UAH 187.57 million to UAH 93.78 million, according to the property’s page on the State Property Fund’s website. According to the published information, the acceptance of bids from buyers will end at 20:00 on March 12, and the next day at 12:30 an English auction will be held with a minimum bid step of UAH 937,871.2.
As reported, the first auction for the sale of the port with a starting price of UAH 187.57 million scheduled for March 3 did not take place, the probable reason for the failure of the auction is the absence of at least two bids.
Earlier, the Fund noted that the port is unprofitable, but since 2022, the company “plays an important role in ensuring global food security as a logistics center for ports on the Danube.” According to the head of the SPF, Rustem Umerov, the port has great potential for the development of Ukrainian exports and needs investment in development.
According to the SPF, in 2019-2021, the net loss of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ICC amounted to approximately UAH 23.5-28.5 million, and in January-September 2022 – UAH 2.9 million. The volume of sales of products (works, services) for the period of 2019-nine months of 2022 amounted to UAH 80.8 million, including UAH 9.2 million for export.
The total overdue accounts payable amounted to UAH 104.6 million, including UAH 13.66 million in salary arrears. As of December 1, 2022, the debt to the State Tax Service amounted to UAH 59.6 million, including UAH 57.9 million in tax debt and UAH 1.7 million in penalties.
The terms of the port sale stipulate that the port must pay off its wage and budget arrears within six months in the amount that will be available as of the date of transfer of ownership of the privatization object. In addition, during the same period (six months), the employees of the privatized enterprise may not be dismissed at the initiative of the buyer or its authorized bodies, except in cases where the employee commits actions provided for in paragraphs 3, 4, 7, 8 of Part 1 of Articles 40 and 41 of the Labor Code.
Since April 1, 2022, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi seaport has been used as a logistics center for ports on the Danube. It receives cargo by truck and then ships it in railcars. In May of the same year, the company started shipping grain, transshipping iron ore pellets and transshipping metal products. In the six months after the reopening, cargo transshipment at the MTP increased 100 times compared to 2021. The port received more than 10 thousand trucks and shipped 4 thousand railcars by rail, which significantly eased the load on the country’s road infrastructure to the ports of Izmail and Reni (Odesa region). All products were exported.
Founded in 1971, Belgorod-Dniester Commercial Sea Port specializes in transshipment of timber, mineral fertilizers, iron ore pellets, metal products, and grain cargo. According to its charter, its core business is auxiliary water transport services.
The port’s balance sheet includes nine vessels of the port fleet, 47 units of road and 4 units of rail transport, 18 portal cranes and special equipment: 41 forklifts, four excavators, three bulldozers, a pneumatic crane, and a compressor. A part of the port’s property (28 items, including real estate and vehicles) is leased with the expiration date of the existing lease agreements being 6.09.2027. The port has six registered land plots with a total area of 65.63 thousand hectares.
According to the decision of the Odesa Customs Service, a temporary customs control zone has been established on the territory of the port facilities.
Vessels enter the port through the 1.5 km long approach channel of the offshore part of the Dniester-Tsaregorod estuary and the 14.5 km long Dniester-Liman part. The depth of the approach channel is 3 m (passport depth is 3.4-4.5 m). The single property complex is located on the territory of 64.4 hectares at the following addresses: 81 Shabska Street, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district, Zatoka village, 93 Zolotyi Bereg Street, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district, Zatoka village, 1 Primorskaya Street.
Earlier, the SPF sold the integral property complex of the Ust-Dunay port for UAH 200 million on the Prozorro electronic platform. During the auction, its price tripled.
Dobrobut” medical network has opened a clinic on the left bank of Kiev in the building where “Boris” clinic used to be located.
As Igor Mazepa, co-owner of Dobrobut, reported on his Facebook page, the area of the 8-storey clinic after the reconstruction amounted to 10 thousand square meters.
“We had been planning this opening for two years, but first covid-19, then the war, made adjustments to our ambitious plans. But in spite of everything, we opened a new multi-profile hospital “Dobrobut” on the left bank of Kiev,” Mazepa wrote.
