The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-June 2021 decreased by 8.36%, to $1.25 billion with an increase in exports of almost 30.3%, to $29.97 billion, imports – by 28.4%, to $31.22 billion, according to data from the State Customs Service.
“Exports for the six months of 2021 grew by 30.27% compared to the first half of last year and amounted to $29.97 billion. But the main thing is an even smaller negative balance than last year. Some $1.25 billion – 8.36% less than last year,” Deputy Minister of Economy – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said on Facebook.
At the same time, the trade representative pointed out that, compared with the indicator for the first half of 2019, before the effect of the pandemic, exports for the first half of 2021 grew by 22%. As of July 1, 2019, foreign trade deficit was $3.16 billion.
“So we have two years of reduction in the negative balance by 60% (from $3.16 billion to $1.25 billion),” Kachka said.
Kachka also noted an increase in exports to the EU by 45% in January-June-2021, to $12.3 billion, and compared to the first half of 2019, the growth is 20%.
“Exports to China are also growing at a similar rate of 42.4% compared to the first half of last year, but compared to the first half of 2019, this is already a fantastic 175% (from $1.56 billion to $4.28 billion),” he said.
The trade representative also noted that according to the results of the first half of the year, Ukraine recorded a positive balance of trade with Turkey – $460 million, compared with a negative balance of $80 million in January-June 2020. At the same time, Ukraine during the specified reporting period of this year raised exports to Turkey by 51%, to $1.79 billion, which is explained by the boom in commodities in light of the economic recovery.
“But it’s worth paying attention to industrial goods (my favorite groups are 84 + 85, where all electrical and mechanical equipment is grouped). We traditionally have a negative balance for these groups. But exports in the first half of the year grew by 32%, to $2.4 billion. And this is also $366 million more than in the first half of 2019,” the official said.
He also drew attention to the growth of furniture exports by 56.2% compared to the first half of 2019 and by 73.6% compared to January-June 2020. Although, in general, this is a relatively small export item – for the six months of 2021, Ukraine exported furniture worth $510 million (94 product groups).
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE IN 2020 (OPERATIONS, $ MILLION)
The volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in January-March 2021 decreased by 12.8% compared to the same period in 2020.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-March, the volume of construction work performed amounted to UAH 26.3 billion.
In March 2021 the seasonally adjusted index of construction products amounted to 99.7% compared to the previous month, the one adjusted for the effect of calendar days compared to March 2020 was 90.4%.
The service reported that in March 2021 from March 2020, an increase in the volume of construction work was observed in the segment of residential construction – by 8.6%, engineering structures – by 9.7%. At the same time, in non-residential construction, the decline in the volume of construction work amounted to 4.2%.
The share of new construction in the total volume of completed construction work amounted to 44.5%, repairs – 27.9%, reconstruction and technical re-equipment – 27.6%.
An increase in the volume of construction work in January-March 2021 compared to January-March 2020 was recorded in Khmelnytsky (by 40.8%), Rivne (by 29.2%), Ternopil (by 9.2%) and Kharkiv (by 4.7%) regions.
In other regions, there was a decrease in construction volumes. The most significant drop was shown by Chernivtsi (by 59.4%) and Vinnytsia (by 56%) regions.
The statistics are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
As reported, the volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in 2020 increased by 4% compared to 2019.
The Business Activity Expectations Index, calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), rose to 51.6 in June from 50.5 in May, according to a survey of enterprises conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine and published on the website of the regulator.
“In June, companies across most of the surveyed sectors reported optimistic expectations of their business performance – the indices of the construction, industrial and services sectors moved above their neutral levels. Meanwhile, companies in the trade sector have reported pessimistic expectations for three months running,” the report says.
“Industrial companies upgraded their optimistic expectations of their business performance amid benign external and internal environments – the sector’s index was 52.5 in June, up from 50.8 in May. Respondents reported much firmer expectations for the amount of manufactured goods, while also remaining upbeat about an increase in the number of new orders, including new export orders,” the bank said.
“Service companies also improved their expectations of their business performance, with the sector’s index moving to 52.3 in June, up from 50.7 in May. Respondents expected an improvement in all performance indicators, expecting most strongly an increase in the amount of services that have been provided, and the services currently being provided,” it said.
“Residential housing and non-residential facility construction companies upgraded their performance expectations most of all. The sector’s index moved up from 49.4 in May to 58.1 in June – the highest figure among the sectors. Respondents expressed strong expectations for the amount of construction work done and the number of new orders, while also reporting intentions to hire more staff for the first time since September 2019,” according to the document.
“In contrast, trading companies were downbeat about their business performance – their index dropped to 48.2 in June, down from 49.9 in May, remaining below the neutral level for three months in a row. Respondents reported dimmer expectations about all performance indicators, such as trade turnover, goods purchased for sale, and staff numbers. Most companies in the sector expected a further decrease in their trade margins,” the report notes.
“Companies across all sectors expect a rise in their selling prices on the back of continued increases in raw material and higher purchase and supplier prices. Staff expectations remain guarded – companies across all sectors, apart from the construction sector, still report no intentions to expand their workforces,” the NBU says.
This survey was carried out from June 3 through June 22, 2021. A total of 316 companies were polled. Of the companies polled, 42.1% are industrial companies, 28.8% companies in the services sector, 24.4% trading companies, and 4.7% construction companies, while 36.1% of the respondents are large companies, 32% medium companies, and 32% small companies.
Land prices and the balance of its supply and demand will be established after 2024, when legal entities (including large agricultural holdings) will be able to buy land, then a full-fledged agricultural land market will appear in Ukraine.
This opinion was expressed to the Interfax-Ukraine agency by the co-founder of the Land Club association of land investors, Oleksandr Kolotilin.
He clarified that all large agricultural holdings with which his organization works intend to buy agricultural land leased by them.
“We work with large agricultural holdings. I can say that all the companies we talked to intend to buy agricultural land that they lease and cultivate. I cannot name them, since many of them are public companies, and they must declare themselves their position and intention to purchase land or plans in 2024. But all large agricultural holdings are making exactly such plans,” Kolotilin said.
According to the data on the Land Club website, the founder of the investment organization is the director general of IMC agricultural holding and the president of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, Alex Lissitsa. The project offers investors the purchase of land plots leased by agricultural holdings in order to receive guaranteed rent from them.
Earlier, MHP Financial Director Viktoria Kapeliushna announced that her company was not interested in buying land. She noted that the economic model of the agricultural holding includes work on the leased land, and in the event of a change in its owner, the group of companies will look for other land plots for lease.
A similar opinion was expressed by the owner of KSG Agro agricultural holding, Serhiy Kasyanov. The agricultural holding does not plan to buy land after the opening of the land market, since its activities involve working with leased plots.
Since July 1, the Netherlands has opened an entrance for Ukrainians, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“We have just received confirmation that another EU country, the Netherlands, has opened for Ukrainians,” Kuleba said on his Twitter microblog.
According to him, fully vaccinated citizens of Ukraine can again travel freely within the visa-free travel.
Kuleba said the list of recognized vaccines and detailed conditions for entry are contained on the website https://tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua/.
Earlier it was reported that Austria, from July 1, 2021, resumed entry into the country for Ukrainians for all types of travel.
