President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the conference in Lugano, which will begin on Monday, “a significant step towards the restoration of Ukraine.”
“We are actively preparing for the start of a special conference in Lugano, Switzerland. Her first day is Monday. A large-scale international event dedicated to the restoration of our country. Recovery in the broadest sense of the word. It is necessary not only to restore everything that the invaders destroyed, but to create a new foundation for our life, for Ukraine – safe, modern, convenient, barrier-free,” he said in a traditional video message on Saturday evening.
“This requires huge investments – billions, new technologies, best practices, new institutions and, of course, reforms. And now, on Monday, Ukraine will present in Lugano a national view on how to implement all this,” he also said.
In fact, he noted, “this is the biggest economic project in Europe of our time and an opportunity to show itself for every state, for every company that we invite to work in Ukraine.”
Zelensky recalled that the territories of 10 regions suffered from the hostilities. During this time, 1027 cities and towns were liberated, another 2610 are still under Russian occupation. And most of them need restoration.
“Therefore, the Conference in Lugano can be a significant step towards the restoration of Ukraine. And when we implement this project – and I’m sure it will be – it will be counted, perhaps from this event,” Zelensky stressed.
The WHO considers urgent coordinated action necessary in connection with a sharp increase in the number of cases of human infection with monkeypox in Europe, reports the Associated Press.
“Urgent and coordinated action is needed if we are to get out of this situation safely,” said Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
He noted that monkeypox cases in the European region had tripled in the past two weeks.
Kluge added that 99% of the detected cases are men who have sex with other men. However, he said there are “small numbers” of cases among other people.
Monkeypox is a rare infectious disease most prevalent in remote areas of Central and West Africa. Its symptoms are nausea, fever, rash, itching, and muscle pain.
Earlier, Ukrainian experts analyzed this disease and considered the risks of a pandemic to be extremely low. For more details, watch the program about this on the YouTube channel Club of Experts
Ukrainian exports in January-June 2022 decreased by 23.7% compared to the first half of 2021 and amounted to $22.8 billion, Deputy Economy Minister – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“Over the first half of this year, exports from Ukraine decreased by 23.7% compared to the first half of 2021 and amounted to $22.8 billion. At the same time, export volumes in the second quarter amounted to $8.782 billion, which is 37.4% less than in first quarter of 2022,” Kachka wrote on Facebook.
Compared to the second quarter of last year, the reduction in exports in the second quarter of this year was even more than 45.8% (-$7.42 billion), he noted.
At the same time, in physical volumes, the decrease in quarterly exports was even more significant – 55.6%, that is, by 20.8 million tons. In the second quarter, we exported 16.6 million tons of cargo,” Taras Kachka said.
He added that the main reason for the fall in exports is the blocking of Ukraine’s seaports by Russia.
“The reduction in shipping by sea in the second quarter compared to the first amounted to 86.5% (minus 21.6 million tons). At the same time, it is important to note that the situation with exports has stabilized and even improved by months,” the trade representative emphasized.
Exports resumed growth in May and June after a sharp fall in March. At the same time, exports grew both in terms of value and volume, according to data from the Ministry of Economy. So, in June, Ukraine exported 5.8 million tons of cargo worth $3.177 billion.
“At the same time, one should pay attention to the fact that in June there was a significant decrease in the export of iron ore – 1.75 million tons against 2.27 million tons in May. At the same time, exports of sunflower seeds increased significantly to 537 thousand tons in June. At the same time, oil remains the most profitable export item – $437 million,” Kachka said.
According to him, the top 10 export commodity positions of Ukraine in June included: oil, corn, sunflower seeds, ore, steel (semi-finished products), wires, poultry meat, pipes, cast iron, soybeans.
“Trade remains diversified. Exports of 223 items at the four-digit level exceeded $1 million during the month. Geographically, exports are fully focused on the EU. 78% of our exports in the second quarter of 2022 were to the EU. The total value of exports to the EU in the second quarter is $6 .86 billion, up 6.4% from the second quarter of last year,” the sales representative wrote.
However, he noted that trade with other countries of the world decreased in April-June compared to the second quarter of 2021 by 80%.
Wheat and its mixture with rye (meslin) are excluded from the list of goods whose export is subject to licensing, the Cabinet of Ministers made the corresponding decision at a meeting on Friday, Taras Melnychuk, a government representative in parliament, said.
“The commodity items “Oats” and “Mineral or chemical, nitrogen fertilizers” have been excluded from the volume of quotas of goods whose export is subject to licensing. These items are included in the List of goods whose export is subject to licensing,” he added in his telegram message.
As reported, on March 7, the Government of Ukraine expanded the list of goods the Ministry of Economy will issue export permits for: wheat, corn, poultry meat, chicken eggs and sunflower oil were included in the list of licensed exports.
Already in March, corn and sunflower oil were excluded from this list, but wheat remained, despite the requests of market participants.
As for oats, on March 5, a ban was introduced on its export in the form of a zero quota.
Nitrogen fertilizers were also banned for export at first, but at the end of March the government allowed their export within the quarterly quota of 210,000 tons, or 70,000 tons per month.
In June this year, Ukraine managed to increase grain exports by 23% by May – up to 1.4 million tons. In terms of crops, corn accounted for 86%, wheat – 10%, barley – 3%.
Exports of goods in % to the previous period in 2021 and 2022
SSC of Ukraine
In January-June 2022, Zaporizhstal reduced output of rolled products by 46.6% compared to the same period last year, to 839,400 tonnes.
According to the enterprise on Friday, steel production decreased by 53.6% over six months of 2022, to 922,300 tonnes, and cast iron – by 48.1%, to 1.134 million tonnes.
In June of this year, the steel plant produced 146,900 tonnes of cast iron (43.1% compared to June 2021), 69,600 tonnes of steel (21.2%), 83,000 tonnes of rolled metal (50.2%).
“The decline in production compared to the same period last year is associated with a shortage of raw materials and logical problems caused by full-scale hostilities on the territory of Ukraine,” the press release explains.
At the same time, it is recalled that in connection with the aggravation of hostilities in the region since the beginning of March, Metinvest Group has transferred part of the equipment of Zaporizhstal to the hot conservation mode. At the end of March, Zaporizhstal partially resumed the work of the cold rolling shop for production and shipment of cold rolled coils to the European consumer. A month after the forced shutdown, the plant took the equipment out of conservation and partially resumed production. Since April 2022, the plant has been operating at an average of 50% of its capacity.
It is also reported that the Ukrainian defenders received another batch of ammunition and drones from Zaporizhstal of Metinvest Group. So, over the past two weeks, Zaporizhstal has handed over 2,100 body armor, 1,000 Kevlar helmets, as well as three reconnaissance drones to the servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine and the territorial defense, who protect Zaporozhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are in great demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries of the world.
