Ukraine exported 1,640 tonnes of seeds to the countries of the European Union in January-October 2021, which is twice the figures for the entire 2020 (820 tonnes) and 5 times more than in 2019 (320 tonnes), according a Thursday posting on the website of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.
“Opening the European market for us is a 10-year way. Negotiations on the recognition of domestic seeds as compliant with EU requirements began in 2011 and lasted a very long time. Now, we have every opportunity to benefit from the many years of work of negotiators – dozens of people from business and government,” the authority quoted its head Vladyslava Mahaletska speaking at the online conference Seed Forum 2021.
According to the authority, in January-October 2021, 1,210 tonnes of corn seeds, 330 tonnes of wheat seeds, and 50 tonnes of sunflower seeds and all other crops in total were exported to the EU.
To open the export of seeds from Ukraine and to comply with the phytosanitary requirements of the EU, in 2021 17 areas in Ukraine on a total of 673 hectares were assigned the status of pest-free, to be able to grow seed on them.
The National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) at a meeting on December 1 approved a plan for the development of the electricity distribution system for Ukrzaliznytsia for 2022-2026, which provides for an investment of UAH 2.9 billion.
According to the plan, 76% of the UAH 2.9 billion should be invested in construction, reconstruction and technical re-equipment of power grids and equipment.
The main consumer of electricity, which is transmitted by the grids of Ukrzaliznytsia, as the operator of the distribution system, is transport. Over the past four years, the share of transport in the total structure of electricity consumption transmitted through the distribution system of the company was 80-83%.
Ukrzaliznytsia predicts an overall growth in demand for electricity in the next five years at the level of 0.45% annually.
At present, the total installed capacity of renewable energy installations (RES) connected to the grids of Ukrzaliznytsia is 143.35 MW.
According to the issued technical specifications, it is necessary to connect renewable energy generation facilities for another 301.93 MW to the distribution system of the company.
As reported, on September 30 Ukrzaliznytsia bought more than 4.9 million MWh of electricity at an auction from Energoatom state enterprise at a price of UAH 1,105/MWh, which the company should receive by the end of 2022 and use exclusively for its own needs.
The production of metal structures in Ukraine by the end of 2021 may grow by 4-5%, this forecast was announced by Executive Director of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center (USCC) Viacheslav Kolesnik in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“The first half of 2021 was good: the production of metal structures amounted to about 76,000 tonnes. The third quarter was slightly worse in terms of dynamics: at that moment the price began to fall, many believed that buying metal on a downtrend was not always justified. The situation has stabilized. We still expect that in 2021 we will get results somewhat better than last year – growth of 4-5%,” he said.
According to Kolesnik, the metal structures market is currently in a downtrend in metal prices. “The rise in energy prices halted the downward trend – since October, prices have frozen. We hope that the trend of growth in energy prices will not last long, by the end of winter the situation will stabilize and the downward trend in metal prices will continue,” he said.
According to the expert, fluctuations in metal prices do not have a significant impact on exports, but on the local market they are significant from the point of view of the competitiveness of metal structures in comparison with other structural materials.
Kolesnik noted one more factor that may affect the final results of the year. “Significant volumes of metal are used for road construction, in particular for road fencing. Payments are practically suspended there in October-November. If payments to road fence manufacturers are not resumed, this segment will sag by 25-30% year-over-year,” he said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which this week injected government domestic loan bonds for UAH 20 billion into the capital of PrJSC Ukrfinzhytlo, proposes to capitalize it in this way for another UAH 30 billion next year, according to the updated draft state budget for 2022 (No. 6000), which was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday.
According to an explanatory note, additional capitalization will allow “to continue the implementation of financial and credit mechanisms for providing citizens with housing with the participation of the Ukrfinzhytlo company, as well as to provide an opportunity to carry out thermal modernization of buildings and premises and thus insure against further increases in energy prices.”
As reported, on November 29, the Ukrainian government issued government domestic loan bonds for UAH 20 billion to pay for an additional issue of shares of PrJSC Ukrfinzhytlo.
The government made a decision on additional capitalization of the company on September 22 this year. The resolution provided for the issue of government bonds with a maturity of up to 15 years and an interest rate of up to 13% per annum.
Thanks to government bonds, the company should direct funds “for the implementation of programs for providing citizens with housing on the terms of mortgage lending and financial leasing.” According to the Ministry of Finance, this will make it possible to issue about 8,000 mortgage loans for the purchase of about 12,000 apartments on a financial lease basis.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky intends to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill on multiple citizenship for Ukrainians living in the countries of the European Union and the United States.
“An important component of our international policy is the support of world Ukrainianness. I know how important the issue of multiple citizenship is for Ukrainians living in the United States, Canada and the EU. Today I am submitting a relevant bill to parliament,” Zelensky said speaking in the Verkhovna Rada with his annual address on the internal and external situation of the country.
According to the president, this will for the first time allow Ukrainians from all over the world “to feel themselves not a diaspora, not just people of Ukrainian origin, but of Ukrainian citizenship.”
The first flight of the national air carrier Ukrainian National Airlines (UNA) will be in 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“The first flight of the national carrier will be performed in 2022. By 2025, the airline’s fleet will be completed – at least 20 aircraft. Regular flights, both internal and external, will be launched,” the head of state said, speaking in the Verkhovna Rada with his annual nation address.
He also added that the Ukrainian carrier should be seen not only in Ukraine, but all over the world. And this, according to him, will be greatly helped by the Common Aviation Area Agreement, which Ukraine signed with the European Union.
“Therefore, UNA will definitely land in the EU. And such great plans are really inspiring,” he said.
Speaking about the construction of airports, the president said that now it is underway in 16 cities of the country. “We also want to build an international airport in Zakarpattia region, between Uzhgorod and Mukachevo, and two airports in eastern Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
