Ukraine sowed some 209,000 hectares with sugar beet as of May 13, 2020, which is 5% less than in 2019, the National Association of Sugar Producers Ukrtsukor has said.
The association said in a statement on Friday that apart from a reduction in area under crops the season is also characterized by less favorable weather conditions, which, in turn, may significantly affect the crop yield.
“This year the sowing campaign was very complicated as snowless winter and the absence of precipitations caused a lack of moisture in soil. Hence, we have dust storms and dry wind. Then April drought changed with May rainfalls and freezing weather, while a part of crops was attacked by insects in Vinnytsia, Poltava and Khmelnytsky regions. All these factors may have a negative impact on growth of root crops, and as a result they will lose mass and sugar content,” Ukrtsukor analyst Nazar Mykhailovyn said.
Traditionally, the largest share of crops falls to Vinnytsia region – 23%, which is followed by Poltava region with 12.9% and Khmelnytsky region with 11.2%. Kyiv region ranked fourth with 10.8%.
As reported, sugar production in Ukraine in the 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, September-August) decreased by 19% compared to the previous MY, to 1.48 million tonnes. A total of 33 sugar refineries were operating during the season.
The Nova Poshta Group launches delivery of medical goods from the DOC.ua online medical service to its offices, automated parcel lockers and directly to customers.
The company said in its press release disseminated on Friday that Nova Poshta will deliver medicines, which are remotely recommended by doctors on the DOC.ua hub and can be ordered on the website in the Pharmacy section.
“Under conditions of the quarantine and the penetration of contactless services in all spheres of our life, demand for qualified medical online consultation is growing. When one is unable to visit a clinic, remote communicational with a doctor is in fact the only reliable way to receive aid. This is a positive trend which shows that Ukrainians care about their health: they trust specialists and prefer them to self-treatment. On our behalf we support this important initiative of DOC.ua with timely delivery of medicines,” the press service quoted Nova Poshta CEO Oleksandr Bulba as saying.
DOC.ua said that the service was developed as an alternative to self-treatment. Doctors cannot prescribe treatment or medicines, but only recommend. Patients on their own add medical goods to the chart in the Pharmacy section.
The DOC.ua service, which is a part of EFI GROUP, is a medical online hub founded in 2014. Its base currently includes more than 10,000 doctors and 1,500 medical institutions in Ukraine.
Alfa-Bank raises UAH 660 mln of UAH 2.4 bln of NBU’s first refinancing for five years
KYIV. May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – On May 8, Alfa-Bank (Kyiv) took part in the first tender of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) for refinancing to banks for a period of one to five years and raised UAH 660 million for five years on security of domestic government loan bonds issued with the aim of supporting the economy, the bank said in a statement on its website on Thursday, May 14.
“Alfa-Bank Ukraine will use the raised funds to develop its loan support for businesses, which currently need a long-term financial resource to restore their active operation as soon as possible after lockdown restrictions are removed,” the bank’s press service said.
In the period from May 1 to May 12, 2020, state-owned banks issued UAH 67 million of energy efficiency financing to those who plan to improve energy efficiency of their homes in 2020, according to the Energy Reform Internet portal.
State Agency of Ukraine on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving said on Wednesday, May 13, that last week financing was received by another 1,544 households and some 122 associations of multi-apartment block co-owners took advantage of the program, namely, more than UAH 35 million for thermal insulation of apartment buildings, about UAH 32 million for energy efficient measures in private households, UAH 900,000 for solid fuel boilers.
“In fact, more energy efficiency financing was issued for a week than for the entire month of April, which amounted to UAH 63 million. More than UAH 130 million of financing for energy efficiency purposes has been issued to the population and the associations of multi-apartment block co-owners since the beginning of the program,” the agency said.
Ovostar Union, one of the leading producers of eggs in Ukraine, saw its net profit fall by 73.7% in January-March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to $1.17 million.
According to the company’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange’s website, its revenue decreased by 24.7%, to $23.44 million in Q1, 2020.
Gross profit of Ovostar in January-March 2020 decreased by 54.6%, to $3.6 million, operating profit – by 78.7%, to $1.04 million.
The company earned $10.84 million from export sales ($5.56 million from sales of eggs and $5.28 million from sales of egg products). In Ukraine it sold eggs worth $8.54 million and egg products worth $4.06 million.
In Q 1, 2020, Ovostar Union invested $411,000 in the purchase of equipment for poultry houses and $450,000 in the overhauls and modernization of its facilities.
As reported, the company reduced egg sales by 28% in January-March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to 241 million eggs. Egg sales for export decreased by 56.5%, to 81 million eggs, resulting in a share of export sales of 34% during the specified period (compared to 56% in Q1, 2019).
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine has developed a detailed quarantine exit plan with concrete steps at each stage, President of American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Andy Hunder told Interfax-Ukraine.
The main asset of any company is its people. Safety and security of employees are extremely important for every diligent employer. That is why the Chamber already has a detailed plan for exiting the lockdown that has been presented to its Board of Directors. Our employees are our strategic priority, thus we focused on soft and gradual return to work, Hunder said.
He said that the starting point for the Chamber will be the fourth phase of lockdown, which was announced by the government.
After that, we will introduce one week of mandatory work from home. We will recommend working from home in the second week. We will start to introduce flexible modes of work in the third week. So only in the fourth week we will be able to talk about returning to office, the Chamber’s president said.
The organization said that timely and transparent communication is critical in this process.
In the first and second weeks, the main steps are daily disinfection of office, procurement and provision of personal protective equipment for employees, reorganization of office to observe a social distance of 1.5-2 meters between workplaces. We will continue observing these requirements. We will also consider the possibility of conducting coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for all our employees, Hunder said.
According to the Chamber’s plan, temperature screening, the introduction of a clean desk policy, work in small groups or work in shifts (not all employees will be in the office at the same time) will be introduced during the third and fourth weeks. Participation in meetings will be possible only if absolutely necessary, in compliance with all safety rules, the Chamber’s president said.
The psychological aspect is also an important component of returning to office, thus the heads of the Chamber’s departments will meet with each member of their team. We hope that under these conditions, returning to office will be as safe and comfortable as possible for each employee, he said.
Hunder said that amid lockdown, the Chamber continues to actively provide information about businesses at the highest level, and also holds events for member companies in the online mode.
For some time after the Chamber’s team exits the lockdown, it is still planned to host events in the online mode, he said.
There is not a single business that, one way or another, would not feel the effect of coronavirus outbreak. Now the team of the Chamber and its member companies are actively preparing to exit lockdown, but the reality we will all return to will be different, he said.
Hunder also said that a month ago, the Chamber launched a video project on Facebook, titled Leadership in Times of Crisis, whose goal is to support businesses in difficult times and show how member companies respond to challenges and support their employees.
Hunder also said every day he holds several video interviews with the CEOs of the Chamber’s member companies. They are all sure of one thing – we have already started to live in a new reality. For each company, this reality is different, as someone adapts their business models, some companies completely work in the online mode, and some, on the contrary, strengthen their positions and provide even more services. Thus, after lockdown everything will change, namely, models, approaches, formats of work. Most importantly is the fact that the values and future strategies will be reassessed, he said.
Many companies are already successfully working remotely.
For example, Twitter whose 5,000 employees have been working from home since early March. Twitter management decided to keep their employees working remotely all the time. This is a new reality in action, the Chamber’s president said.
However, cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, the victory over the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery of the Ukrainian economy and the preservation of jobs are the top priorities for business, he said.
The Chamber continues to cooperate with the government of Ukraine in these directions. It will also review its detailed strategic priorities and initiate proposals to support the Ukrainian economy, Hunder said.
Azerbaijani Socar has shown interest in storing oil in Ukraine, but the current legislation does not allow providing such a service, Ukrtransnafta director general and head of the oil division of Naftogaz Group Mykola Havrylenko said.
“Socar, when they contacted us, said that they want to store oil for a year with the possibility of deciding where to put it: either process it or transport it by pipeline to Belarus, or again onto water with loading on tankers and sell in the free market. Our legislation does not yet allow such an opportunity,” he said.
Havrylenko recalled that the company applied to the Ministry of Finance in order to obtain permission to create a licensed customs warehouse based on its facilities for provision of oil storage services.
According to him, initially oil can be stored in the linear part of the Kremenchuk-Lysychansk oil pipeline section, where it is technically possible to place about 400,000 tonnes of oil.
“We submitted relevant initiatives to the Ministry of Finance, where, among other things, we propose recognizing the inactive section of the pipeline with certain nuances. If this is accepted, we will be able to enter the market with such capacity as this linear part of the pipeline,” the head of Ukrtransnafta said.
He also said that the tank farm at Pivdenny maritime oil terminal can currently accept 200,000 cubic meters, or 170,000 tonnes, but this is not enough even for the placement of oil from two tankers of 90,000 tonnes.
