Central bank official rates of banking metals as of August 11
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukrainian IT company CHI Software has opened an office in Kobe (Japan).
“Over the past year, with the support of Ukrainian diplomats, the IT Ukraine Association, together with the government of Kobe, organized a number of meetings and webinars, where the Japanese side got acquainted with technological solutions and high-quality IT services from Ukraine. The result of cooperation was the opening of an office of the Ukrainian IT company CHI Software in Kobe,” a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website said on Thursday.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to systematically create new opportunities for cooperation with foreign partners for Ukrainian IT companies back in the spring of last year.
“This work brings results that have become especially relevant during a full-scale war. After all, the stability of the Ukrainian economy is extremely important for winning the war, and every successful negotiation, every new contract, every open office further strengthens it. Ukrainian diplomats are making every effort to provide assistance business and work for results together with exporters,” Kuleba said.
The IT Export Boost project started on March 5, 2021. Its main task is to promote IT exports in foreign markets thanks to the capabilities of the network of diplomatic missions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine abroad.
The IT Ukraine Association is the largest specialized association of Ukrainian service and product companies of various sizes in Ukraine. As of December 2021, she represented 120 companies and over 82,000 IT professionals. The task of the association is to provide favorable conditions for the sustainable development of the information technology sector in the country.
The McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain is introducing a phased plan to reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine over the next few months, the chain’s press service reported.
“After lengthy consultations and discussions with Ukrainian officials, suppliers and security professionals, and in response to the request of our employees to return to work, we have decided to introduce a phased plan to reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine, where other businesses have safely resumed work,” Paul Pomeroy, Senior Vice President of McDonald’s International Markets Business Unit, is quoted in the message.
Over the next few months, the company’s team with partners will be working to restore food supply chains, prepare restaurants to serve customers, return the team and employees to the working environment, and implement enhanced procedures and protocols to ensure the safety of workers and customers, he said.
Pomroy pointed out that the Ukrainian market team headed by Yulia Badritdinova is working on the restoration tasks.
In Ukraine, the first McDonald’s restaurant was opened in Kyiv on May 24, 1997. Over 25 years, the company has invested about $350 million, transferred UAH 10 billion in taxes to the state budget, and donated UAH 124 million to charity.
To date, the network has 109 restaurants in 24 cities across the country.
Earlier it was reported that the restaurants of the network in Ukraine were closed on February 24 for security reasons. The company maintains a team of more than 10 thousand people, while continuing to pay wages. In addition, more than 700 tons of products were donated for humanitarian needs. Together with the Ronald McDonald House Foundation, McDonald’s initiated and implemented humanitarian aid programs to support Ukrainians. Ukrainian families have already received more than 75 thousand food packages, 26 hospitals have received assistance with equipment and medicines.
The network is being developed by FDI “McDonald’s Ukraine Ltd.”
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, MCD Europe Limited (100%, London, UK) is a FDI participant.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 11/08/22
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Due to the war and changes in the external situation, the cost of Ukrainian timber has almost halved, warehouses are full, the processor dictates conditions on the stock exchanges, head of the State Forestry Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Bolohovets described this new situation on the market in a column in NV Business.
“Taking into account the depreciation of the hryvnia against the dollar, the cost is almost halved. Instead of a seller’s market, we are seeing the formation of a buyer’s market. The share of reductions is growing on the exchanges: the processor is already dictating the terms,” he wrote.
Bolohovets clarified that out of the volume of unprocessed wood put up for auction, on average, 60% can be sold on the first attempt, and 50% – processed – 50%.
In his opinion, the reasons for this transformation of the market are the end of the era of “covid” repairs in the United States and other countries, the rise in the price of mortgages and the reduction in construction, the decrease in demand for building materials, in particular, Europeans do not invest in housing due to a jump in lending rates and the risk of war.
“In China, a crisis is brewing in the field of housing construction. Against this background, the Celestial Empire is flooded with a stream of cheap timber from Russia, which is ready to give up its own resources at a big discount. The situation is no better for us in other Asian markets,” the head of the State Forest Agency explained.
He added that the Turkish market, in addition to the Russian one, is also “overwhelmed” with Belarusian products, which then, bypassing the sanctions, enter the European market.
The head of the State Forestry Agency stressed that the main factor in the negative trends in Ukraine is the war and the blocking of ports, without which the country cannot export raw materials to Asia.
“The alternative export route through Gdansk is frankly unprofitable, logistics eats up all income,” Bolokhovets stated.
At the same time, according to him, as a result of the program of anti-crisis measures, forestry enterprises in June reached the volume of harvesting at the level of 90-92% of the previous year. In particular, enterprises in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the northern part of the Kiev region have resumed full-fledged work, logistics are being established to raise sales prices in problem regions.
The head of the State Forestry Agency specified that according to the results of the first half of the year, harvesting decreased by 20% (the largest drop in Kyiv, as well as Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv regions, where shelling or hostilities continue). However, due to the transition to auctions for all types of products, revenue increased by UAH 1.45 billion compared to the first half of 2021: 4.4 million cubic meters of raw wood were sold. m in the amount of UAH 8.5 billion, which allowed to increase taxes by UAH 1.2 billion and net profit from UAH 215 million to UAH 350 million.
Speaking about the steps being taken to contain the situation, Bolohovets announced a shift in emphasis to logging, which is in great demand, and primarily to hardwoods: if an almost stable increase in value is recorded for oak during trading on the stock exchange, sometimes by 30-60%, then pine and spruce are bought at a price close to the starting one.
According to him, production will be reoriented to more popular types of products, such as blanks for euro pallets.
He added that sales of firewood are on the rise, as there is a “crazy” demand for firewood, pellets and other raw materials for heating in Europe amid declining interest in construction timber.
The head of the State Forest Agency also called for a more active fight against sanctioned wood from Russia and Belarus on the European market, for revitalizing the domestic market by restoring damaged housing and building temporary timber, which can then be reused.
