Large trade and production group “Textil-Contact” (TC) has opened a new production – sewing of interior products on the first floor of the building where TC’s head showroom in Kiev is located on the second-third floors, the group’s owner Alexander Sokolovsky said.
“Today we open a new project. And it’s again about the production … And although the new production has been working for almost two months, only today we decided to announce the official opening,” – he wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
At the same time Sokolovsky noted that the war has badly affected the sales of the whole “civil” range of the group – not only fabrics for clothing, but also furniture and decorative fabrics, which the company has been selling wholesale, retail and through the online store TK.UA for 27 years.
According to him, at the initiative of the head of the Department of Decor Olena Volosevich, the areas of the closed large Pilates salon were rented, where the factory “TK-Decor & Factory” is located, which is already equipped with necessary modern equipment and can perform tasks of any complexity from mass production to individual orders.
“I see the new project as a full-fledged sewing shop combined with experimental production. But Lena does not agree with me (indeed, as always) and believes that this is already a small factory for sewing interior products. And she asks me convincingly not to call it a workshop anymore, but another factory, the 12th in the family of TC, but still a small one,” – Sokolovsky wrote.
According to the owner of the group, one of the main customers are interior designers, but everyone can use the advice, the selection of fabrics in the wholesale showroom and the help of the seamstresses (of which there are already 11, and soon will be 20).
The new factory produces curtains, curtains, tulle; tablecloths, kitchen sets; decorative pillows and covers; everything for HoReCa; shoppers, bags, interior products.
“We already have orders for Rosetka, Epicenter, Leroy Merlin, OLDL, Prom. ua and several individual orders,” Sokolovsky said.
“We have our own front, an economic front, and we’re holding it…,” he summarized.
“Textil-Contact” is one of the largest trade and production groups in the market of light industry in Ukraine, founded in 1995. At present, it is a holding company, which unites different areas of assets: wholesale and retail trade, import of fabrics, accessories and home textiles, production of fabrics, threads, dry cleaning, as well as tailoring of clothes and overalls (including military uniforms), medical products.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the next few days.
The Turkish President said this while speaking to the participants of TRT World Forum in Istanbul, Anadolu Agency reported.
According to Erdogan, talks with Putin are scheduled for Sunday, December 11. The main topic will be the operation of the grain corridor. A conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski is also scheduled, Erdoğan said.
He also stressed that Ankara’s diplomatic efforts are aimed at achieving peace in the Black Sea region.
“Despite the fact that the Istanbul dialogue process between Russia and Ukraine, has been interrupted, this platform is still the most ideal for long-term peace,” Erdogan is confident.
Ukraine’s real gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 30.8% in the third quarter of 2022 compared with the third quarter of 2021 after falling by 37.2% in the second quarter and 15.1% in the first this year, the State Statistics Service released this operational estimate on Friday.
According to the released data, GDP grew by 9.0% compared to the previous quarter (seasonally adjusted).
According to the State Statistics Service, Ukraine’s GDP grew by 3.4% in 2021 after a decline of 3.8% in 2020, its nominal volume was about $200 billion.
The Ministry of Economy previously noted that the Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure, which began on October 10, increased the rate of decline of the Ukrainian economy to approximately 39% in October and 41% in November, resulting in the forecast for the year as a whole worsened from 32% to 33.2%.
NBU leaders also said at a briefing on December 8 that the Russian energy terror worsened their estimate of this year’s GDP decline by 31.5%, but did not specify by how much.
IMF expects Ukrainian economy to fall by 33% this year
Bulgaria’s parliament on Friday approved a list of weapons that will be sent to Ukraine as aid for the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion, Reuters reported.
“The weapons list is classified, but government officials said Sofia will send mainly light weapons and ammunition,” the report said.
A total of 148 deputies from the 240-member parliament voted in favor of sending aid Friday, while the Socialists and the pro-Russian Revival Party voted against it.
Acting Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Bulgaria, a NATO member, could not afford to send its Russian-made surface-to-air missile systems or the MiG-19 and Su-25 fighters Kiev needs.
“My approach was conservative because I need to ensure Bulgaria’s defense capability. The aid is fully in line with Ukraine’s priorities, but we are not sending S-300 systems or MiG-29 or Su-25 aircraft,” Stoyanov told Nova TV in a commentary.
Bulgaria has reportedly not previously sent weapons to Ukraine, but its arms manufacturers have seen a sharp increase in exports, a November report from the Bulgarian Industrial Association showed. In August, the Ministry of Economy approved arms export deals worth more than 1 billion leva ($540.22 million), most of which were destined for Poland, one of the key hubs for sending weapons to Ukraine.
According to Reuters, Bulgaria was one of the few EU countries that did not send aid to Ukraine after the Russia-friendly Socialist Party, a coalition partner in the previous government, blocked a previous proposal in May.
The World Bank has raised its forecast for the growth of Ukraine’s gross domestic product in 2023 from 2.1% to 3.3%, according to the Economic Update.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has upgraded its estimate of a decrease in GDP in 2022 to around 32% from 37.5% in the previous forecast, the press service of the regulator said.
On October 28, 2022, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its ‘CCC+’ long-term foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings on Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv, the outlook remains stable, the company said on its website.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft state budget for 2023 for second reading, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in September amounted to $354 million, which is 66.7% less than in August, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-August 2022 increased by 2.9 times compared to the same period in 2021 – to $5.421 billion from $1.895 billion, the State Statistics Service reported.
Inflation in Ukraine accelerated to 24.4% year-over-year in September from 23.8% in August, according to the macroeconomic and monetary monthly review of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The growth of consumer prices in Ukraine in September 2022 accelerated to 1.9% from 1.1% in August and 0.7% in July, the State Statistics Service reported on Monday.
The deficit of the state budget of Ukraine for January-September 2022 was UAH 493.4 billion, in particular that of the general fund – UAH 495.3 billion with a planned deficit for this period of UAH 1.018 trillion, such preliminary results were reported by the Ministry of Finance.
The total public debt of Ukraine in August increased by 1.3%: in dollar terms by $1.24 billion – up to $96.79 billion, in hryvnia – by UAH 45.4 billion, up to UAH 3.585 trillion, according to data on website of the Ministry of Finance.
The volume of computer services in January-September 2022 increased by 13% and amounted to almost $5.5 billion, the IT Ukraine association (ITU) reported, citing data from the National Bank of Ukraine.
From the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) and until October 21, Ukraine exported 11.52 million tonnes of grain crops, of which 6.17 million tonnes of corn (53.5% of the total supply), some 4.36 million tonnes of wheat (37.8%) and 950,000 tonnes of barley (8.2%).
Economic Monitoring’s Project Manager – PhD in Economics, Maksim Urakin
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who visited Kiev at the invitation of the capital’s mayor Vitaly Klitschko, expressed admiration for the courage of the Ukrainian people and assured that she would do everything possible to ensure that partners continue to help Ukraine and Kiev.
“For Ukraine is Europe. And crimes against humanity are being committed in your country,” stressed the mayor of Barcelona, whose words are quoted on Vitaly Klitschko’s personal website.
In his turn, the mayor of Kiev thanked Ada Colau for his visit to Kiev during the wartime and for his help to Kiev residents who fled the war in Barcelona. He said that despite the difficulties caused by Russian terrorist attacks, the Kiev authorities are doing everything possible to provide life support to the city, provide services to its residents, restore the destroyed infrastructure and housing damaged by shelling, and set up heating stations.
“We understand that to overcome the challenges that Ukraine has faced, we continue to need strong assistance from international partners. Together we must defeat the enemy and restore security on our continent. And we will need your help very much for the post-war reconstruction of the country and the capital city in particular,” Vitaliy Klitschko emphasized, adding that today Kiev would welcome any possible help. First of all, in order to survive this difficult winter.
Thus, Kiev has already received 2 fire trucks from Barcelona as an aid. Barcelona promises to give another 2 such cars at the beginning of the next year. And also 4 powerful generators, the autocranes with load-carrying capacity up to 40 tons and protective suits for rescuers against various kinds of dangers.
Kiev and Barcelona signed a Memorandum of friendship between the cities on September 24 this year during the visit of Vitaliy Klitschko to Barcelona. Barcelona became the seventh European city with which Kiev has signed a twinning since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale aggression.
