Soccer clubs spent a total of more than $1.6 billion on player transfers in January, according to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
According to the report, there were 4,387 international transfers in men’s soccer in January 2023. This is a record high since the launch of the transfer monitoring system in 2010.
Total club spending on transfer fees also set a new record, with $1.57 billion spent in January, about $230 million more than the previous record January window in 2018.
Leading the way are English clubs, who spent $898.6 million, 57.3 percent of total spending worldwide in January, followed by France ($131.9 million) by a considerable distance.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) this year plans to complete the full privatization of the alcohol industry, which will hold online auctions for the sale of 26 distilleries across the country.
As reported on the IGF Facebook page on Thursday, for the 2.5 years since the de-monopolization of the alcohol industry there have been 39 successful auctions for the sale of distilleries, which added more than 2 billion UAH to the country’s budget, allowed to attract private investment and reduce illegal production.
“Did you know that not long ago Ukraine had a monopoly on alcohol production? We were one of only two countries in the world that had such a practice. However, in the summer of 2020, the state decided to de-monopolize the industry and began privatizing distilleries. “, – reminded the department.
According to him, before the start of privatization Ukraine spent about 200 million UAH a year for the maintenance of unprofitable factories. An even bigger problem was shadow production, which amounted to 55% in 2019.
The fund specified that in the 39 completed privatization auctions participated 133 entrepreneurs, as a result, due to competition, the value of the proposed assets increased by an average of 2.4 times.
“Not only alcohol producers are interested in buying distilleries. Pharmaceutical companies, producers of motor fuel and agricultural companies interested in processing their own products also take part in the auctions,” emphasized the FGI in its report.
As reported, in September-December 2022 the SPF held 12 auctions for the sale of distilleries. The auction winners offered more than 849 million hryvnias for these facilities, which is three times more than their total starting price. Thus, distilleries became one of the most popular destinations for investment in state property last year.
In December 2022, “Averbud Ltd.” (Chystyliv village, Ternopil region.) won the right to privatize part of the property of the state enterprise “Myshkovitsy Distillery” (Terebovlyansky district, Ternopil region.), namely the distillery in Chortkiv (Ternopil region.).
At the beginning of January 2023, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed Timekol LLC (Kiev) to privatize Borschevsk distillery (Ternopil region), which is a part of the state enterprise Ukrspirt. The company won the right to buy the distillery for 17.7 million UAH at an online auction in October 2022.
In addition, on January 12, LLC “Es Oil” (Lviv) won the right to privatize Starobabskyi distillery with assets in five regions of Ukraine for 142 million UAH, and on February 6 LLC “Agroprompererobka” (Karbivka village, Vinnitsa region) won the auction for the privatization of Vashkovskiy distillery (Vashkivtsi Chernivtsi region) for 1.99 million UAH.
In its February report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) raised its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 2 million tons, compared to January data, to 22.5 million tons from 20.5 million tons, and wheat exports by 0.5 million tons, to 13.5 million tons from 13 million tons.
According to a report on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website Thursday, the forecast for corn production in the current MY is maintained at 27 million tons and wheat at 21 million tons.
Also in the February forecast, the estimate of transitional corn balances in Ukraine at the end of 2022/2023 MY was reduced by 2 million tons to 3.39 million tons from 5.39 million tons, and by 0.5 million tons for wheat to 4.21 million tons from 4.71 million tons.
At the same time, the estimate of domestic consumption of corn in Ukraine in 2022/2023 MY remained at 5 million tons, and wheat – 4 million tons.
In general, the forecast of feed grain exports in Ukraine in 2022/23 MY in the February forecast was increased by 2 million tons – to 24.93 million tons from 22.93 million tons in January, and the forecast of its production was kept at 34.16 million tons.
As reported, Ukrainian agrarians by February 3, 2023 harvested 78.93 million tons of major crops from 18.46 million hectares, including 53.2 million tons of grain and leguminous crops. Wheat in 2022 harvested 20.2 million tons from 5 million hectares, and corn – 25.9 million tons from 3.9 million hectares.
Ukraine from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY to February 3, exported 27.46 million tons of crops, which is 29.8% less than the same period of the previous MY. External markets supplied 15.68 million tons of corn (-2.1% compared to the same period last year), 9.84 million tons of wheat (1.75 times less), 1.83 million tons of barley (3 times less), 12.8 thousand tons of rye (12.3 times less) and 85 tons of flour (+33%).
The Formula 1 cars of Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi were sold for €1.3m and €3.66m respectively.
Both cars were sold at an auction in Paris. Schumacher’s Jordan 191 is not just the car in which the seven-times world champion drove – it was the first Formula 1 car he ever drove. In 1991, the German replaced Bertrand Gachot, who had been jailed for spraying in the face of a cab driver the year before.
Schumacher had never competed in a Formula 1 grand prix before, but managed to qualify seventh, beating teammate Andrea De Cesaris. The race itself was less successful, with him losing the race on the first lap due to technical problems, but it paved the way for the future champion to enter Formula 1.
The Jordan 191 was sold just 18 months ago, but earlier this year it was revealed that the car would return to auction.
Despite the historic value of the Jordan 191, the most expensive car at the auction was a Ferrari 643, which went under the hammer for 3.66 million euros. The car was driven by French racer Jean Alesi in 1991 and he only managed to win one Formula 1 grand prix during his career.
The Ferrari 643 was introduced mid-season and was not a car capable of winning the championship. Alesi’s teammate, four-time champion Alain Prost was even fired before the last race of the season because he publicly stated that driving this car was the same as driving a truck.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January this year reduced the production of total rolled steel, according to operational data, by 84.6% compared to the same period last year – to 257 thousand tons.
According to the association “Ukrmetallurgprom”, during the first month of 2023, steel production decreased by 84.7% compared to January 2022 – to 284 thousand tons, iron – by 86.6%, to 240 thousand tons.
In December 2022, the production of general products was 109 thousand tons (down by 58.8% against January 2023), steel – 106 thousand tons (down by 62.7%), iron – 247 thousand tons (an increase of 2.9%).
As reported, metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine in 2022, reduced the production of total products by 72% compared to last year – up to 5.350 million tons, steel – by 70.7% – to 6.263 million tons, cast iron – by 69.8%, to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of cast iron (103.6% by 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), 19.079 million tons of rolled steel (103.5%).
The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-October 2022 increased 2.6 times compared to the same period in 2021 – to $7.050 billion from $2.691 billion, said the State Statistics Service. According to them, exports of goods from Ukraine during the reporting period compared to January-October 2021 decreased by 32.3% to $36.859 billion, imports – by 23.2% to $43.909 billion.
Ukraine’s state budget deficit in November rose to a record 170 billion UAH from 143.4 billion UAH a month earlier, including the general fund to 163.3 billion UAH from 147.1 billion UAH, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.
Total national debt of Ukraine in November 2022 increased by 4.2%: in dollar terms – by $4.34 billion, to $107.46 billion, in UAH – by 158.7 billion, to 3.930 trillion UAH, according to the Ministry of Finance website.
According to them, direct public debt last month increased by 4.5% to $97.69 billion, or 3.572 trillion UAH, mainly due to a loan from the European Union ($2.95 billion) and placement of government bonds ($0.56 billion, or 20.44 billion UAH).
International reserves of Ukraine as of December 1, 2022, according to preliminary data, amounted to $27 billion 422.2 million (in equivalent), which is 10.7% more than at the beginning of November ($25 billion 244.2 million), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
One third (34%) of Ukrainian refugees in Germany want to stay in this country until the end of hostilities at home, while a quarter (26%) are planning to stay in Germany permanently, Deutsche Welle wrote on Thursday with reference to the results of a representative study conducted by three German sociological institutions together with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure increased the rate of decline in Ukraine’s economy this November to roughly 41 percent last November, First Deputy Economy Minister Denis Kudin said. “Our expectation for November is minus 41%. That’s significantly deeper than what we forecasted before,” he said during a discussion at the Center for Economic Strategy (CES).
A month earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said at a meeting with U.S. media that Russia’s October energy slump increased the drop in GDP to 39% by October 2021, which is worse than the September-August figure of 35%.
Kudin also pointed out that for this year as a whole, the GDP decline forecast has been worsened to 33.2% from 32%.
Ukraine since the beginning of 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) and exported 19.66 million tons of crops, including 10.76 million tons of corn (54.7% of total supplies), 7.29 million tons of wheat (37%) and 1.53 million tons of barley (7.8%).
The total area of residential buildings with permits for construction work (new construction) in January-September 2022 halved compared to the same period in 2021 to 5.2 million square meters, said the State Statistics Service.
Commercial real estate operations and construction lead the list of sectors with the highest share of bad loans (NPLs) – 70.2% and 68%, respectively, according to the National Bank in the Report on Financial Stability on the analysis of the largest corporate borrowers on December 1, which accounted for 60% of the net loan portfolio of banks.
According to the document, the total share of NPL in the real estate sector is 62.8%, followed by mechanical engineering – 62.5%, while in the sectors of energy and utilities, as well as metallurgy, the figures are much lower – 46.8% and 45%, respectively (42.7% in the green energy sector).
Head of the project “Economic Monitoring” candidate of economic sciences Maksim Urakin
