Ukrainian enterprises reduced the import of copper and copper products in value terms by 6.1% in January-August 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to $70.577 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, export of copper and copper products decreased 18.1%, to $47.687 million in the first eight months of 2020.
In August, copper and copper products were imported in the tune of $12.224 million, exported to the tune of $7.759 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-August reduced the import of nickel and nickel products by 19.2% compared to the same period in 2019, to $47.1 million (in August amounted to $4.321 million), aluminum and aluminum products by 5%, to $248.561 million ($37.751 million). At the same time, the import of lead and lead products decreased 51.1%, to $4.358 million ($779,000), tin and tin products decreased 39.6%, to $1.421 million ($107,000), zinc and zinc products decreased by 35.6%, to $31.493 million ($3.791 million).
In January-August 2020, export of aluminum and aluminum products decreased 4.2% compared with January-August 2019, to $66.746 million (in August amounted to $8.302 million), lead and lead products fell by 9.6%, to $15.225 million ($2.256 million), nickel and nickel products decreased by 52%, to $1.67 million ($147,000). Zinc exports in January-August 2020 amounted to $56,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $416,000 (in August no zinc was exported). The export of tin and tin products in January-August 2020 amounted to $90,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $30,000 (the export amounted to $6,000 in August).
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to reduce the number of coins to six and the number of banknotes also to six by autumn 2023, Deputy NBU Governor Oleksiy Shaban has said.
“We see that in two years there will be six coins and six bills,” he said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Currently, there are banknotes in circulation in Ukraine in denominations of UAH 1, UAH 2, UAH 5, UAH 10, UAH 20, UAH 50, UAH 100, UAH 200, UAH 500 and UAH 1000 and coins in denominations of 10, 25 (until October 1, 2020) and 50 kopecks and UAH 1, UAH 2, UAH 5 and UAH 10.
Ukrainian metal companies saw a fall of 18.3% in foreign currency revenues from exports of ferrous metals in January-August 2020 year-over-year, to $5.212 billion.
According to customs statistics published by the State Customs Service, the share of ferrous metals of total income from exports was 16.7% compared to 19.08% from a year ago.
In August 2020 alone, receipts from ferrous metal exports amounted to $633.953 million.
In January-August 2020, Ukraine decreased imports of similar products by 23.9%, to $652.238 million. In August 2020, the figure was $93.758 million.
Through the aforementioned period, Ukraine decreased metal products exports by 16.3%, to $597.324 million including August deliveries being $69.511 million.
During this period, imports of metal products fell by 24.3%, to $552.072 million, including August imports worth $81.931 million.
As reported, in 2019, Ukraine saw its forex earnings from ferrous metal exports fall by 12.1%, to $8.739 billion. Ukraine saw imports of these products decrease by 6.9%, to $1.252 billion.
Ukraine experienced a 6.1% decline in metal products exports, up to $1.042 billion. Metal imports grew by 13.6% last year, to $1.099 billion.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) within the framework of the Ukraine Urban Public Transport project is providing Lviv with EUR 12 million loans for the purchase of ten new low-floor trams.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the relevant agreement between the bank, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the city authorities was signed on September 2.
According to the ministry, another EUR 8.8 million will be additionally financed from the city budget.
Head of the European Investment Bank representative office in Ukraine Jean-Erik DE ZAGON said the EIB loan for new trams in Lviv will contribute to the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable transport. As representatives of the climate-oriented EU bank, they are convinced that a well-functioning tram network can make a significant contribution to reducing the number of cars on roads and thus reducing environmental pollution and mitigating climate change.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy also supported this position.
“We have a clear position – electric transport should dominate. First of all, these are environmental issues, because 30% of all diseases in the world are caused by air quality. And secondly, it is financially profitable. In addition, low-floor trams and trolleybuses manufactured here, in Lviv, contribute to comfortable movement around the city for all its residents, including those with limited mobility,” he said.
Size and weight control on Ukrainian roads can be expanded to include passenger transport, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy said during a meeting “Safety Matters” on Tuesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reports.
“For all, the weighing systems in motion have always been especially for trucks. At the same time, it is clear that there are also irregularities in transportation out of the norm in passenger transportation. Since when more people get on a minibus or bus than the norm allowed by the technical parameters, these are the same risks. It is about the danger to passengers and road users. Therefore, the potential for size and weight control can be expanded from trucks to passenger transportation. And all this should work in a complex, single system,” he said.
According to the minister, this issue will still be finalized by the ministry together with the deputy corps.
In addition, Krykliy added that by the end of 2020, 50 more WIM weighing systems will be installed on national roads, and another 100 systems – by the end of 2021.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved some fiscal incentives for the development of electric transport in Ukraine, in particular, VAT and import duty exemption from 2021 until 2028 for equipment and spare parts for own production of electric transport (passenger cars, electric buses, electric trucks and special-purpose vehicles).
Bill No. 3476 amending the Tax Code and bill No. 3477 amending the Customs Code were passed at the first reading by 316 and 308 lawmakers respectively.
The proposed exemption will not apply only to equipment for the production of trolleybuses, because their output has already been established in Ukraine.
In addition, bill No. 3476 proposes to exempt the electrical industry companies selling electric motors for the production of electric vehicles (with the exception of trolleybuses), lithium-ion batteries, chargers, as well as automobile companies selling electric cars of their own production from paying income tax until December 31, 2033.
The bill proposes to extend or expand benefits for importers and buyers of electric vehicles.
It is proposed, in particular, to extend the VAT exemption for import and/or supply of electric cars until December 31, 2025 (currently the benefit is valid until the end of 2022).
A buyer of an electric car before December 31, 2030 is also offered to be exempted from paying the mandatory pension insurance fee, be provided with a tax discount on the payment of personal income tax, but these standards are proposed to be introduced from January 1, 2026.
According to an explanatory note to the bills, there is a sufficient industrial potential of Ukraine in the production of electric vehicles. In particular, there are five bus plants, a truck plant, and the facilities, which produce 300,000 passenger cars at three plants.
However, today the government is stimulating the import of electric vehicles, not their production. In particular, from January 1, 2016, there is no import duty, exemption from VAT is extended until 2022 and the excise rate is set at EUR 1 per 1 kW/h of battery capacity.
“The introduction of preferential taxation increased the import of electric vehicles from 1,706 vehicles in 2016 to 7,542 vehicles in 2019, but used electric vehicles are dominating in the market (93% in 2019),” the authors of the bills said.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES, EQUIPMENT, IMPORTED, PARLIAMENT, PRODUCTION
