In the next video YouTube-channel of the analytical center “Club of experts” the prospects of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Egypt were considered.
As the founder of the Club of Experts Maxim Urakin emphasized, before the war Egypt was the most favorable trade partner for Ukraine, the trade surplus with which amounted to almost 2 billion U.S. dollars. Grain and metallurgical products were the main Ukrainian goods at the Egyptian market.
At the same time, in the first months of the war, the Russian blockade of maritime communications in the Black Sea limited Ukrainian exports to Africa and, above all, to Egypt. The grain agreement improved the situation, but only with regard to agricultural exports. In order not to lose the Egyptian market, the Ukrainian companies have to adapt to the current situation now in order not to make additional efforts after the war.
According to the President of the Ukrainian Exporters Club Eugenia Litvinova, the Ukrainian producers should pay attention to the Egyptian market of dairy products in the first place. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the separation of Egyptian groups of goods for wholesale and retail trade while creating favorable conditions for imports. Also, according to her, the demand in Egypt is for canned and dried fruits, confectionery, chocolate, oils, fats, mineral water, as well as crockery, various cutlery, baths, showers, sinks, building materials and other goods for the retail trade.
“I want to draw attention to the fact that all Ukrainian exporters who want to trade with Egypt, must be registered in the general administration to control exports and imports. After that it is possible to establish logistics through rail and road ways, taking into account the temporary inaccessibility of the port of Odessa”, – she explained.
Besides, Yevgeniya Litvinova noticed that since March of the last year, Egypt obliged Ukraine to use the letter of credit for many groups of goods that leads to rise in price of transactions from 0,2 to 0,5%. This factor, according to the expert, will also directly affect trade and its final results.
“If we talk about advice to our small and medium-sized businesses when entering the Egyptian market, first you need to understand what exports are, if you have not previously been involved in this process. Then you should analyze in which cases it is profitable to open a Ukrainian enterprise in Egypt to work, and in which cases you do not always need to do it and not always profitable. Finally, the third tip – go through the registration. At least look at how to pass authorization, registration through a single window in Egypt. I draw your attention to the fact that your brand should be registered at least in Ukraine before you start to pass this registration in Egypt, “- summed up Eugenia.
In turn, the head of the Egyptian diaspora in Ukraine, Dr. Atia Walid noticed that in recent years Egyptian-Ukrainian trade relations have been intensively developed and our country has been invited to participate in major infrastructure projects, which are now being implemented by the Egyptian authorities.
“Back in 2021 Egypt discussed with the Ukrainian government investment in the special economic zone of the Suez Canal. That is, the Egyptian economic policy is primarily aimed at encouraging investment in the country’s economy. Egypt, of course, is interested in cooperation with Ukrainian companies from the point of view of opening joint ventures on its territory, which can well be realized today, despite the war. I think it is quite realistic for Ukrainian companies to open branches there, if they are interested in the sales market. Egypt is ready to facilitate this,” stressed the representative of Egypt.
In his opinion, our suppliers should work more actively both with the Egyptian embassy in Kiev and the Ukrainian embassy in Cairo. This will facilitate the passage of bureaucratic procedures and reduce the likelihood of becoming victims of fraud.
“Ukrainian businessmen should check with the Egyptian embassy or the Chamber of Commerce the authenticity of the documents of those organizations with which they cooperate. And only after that, conclude a contract according to all international rules. You should not believe the promises and pretty eyes, and do not forget the basics of doing business in the field of export-import. I wish all businessmen in Egypt and in Ukraine only success,” said Dr. Atia Walid.
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The agricultural cluster “Brovary” of A.G.R. Group. Group in the spring of 2022 was occupied by Russian troops invading the northern regions of Ukraine, missile and artillery fire damaged the holding’s operational silo, grain drying complex and grain storage facility with a capacity of 20 thousand tons.
Misak Khidiryan, the owner of the agricultural group, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that it took more than UAH 5 million and a month and a half of intensive work to restore the cluster’s performance, as the agricultural holding was in a hurry to conduct the sowing and harvesting campaigns on time.
In addition, Russian shelling also damaged A.G.R. Group’s winter storage equipment, which resulted in damage to John Deere tractors and trailed units.
“Our Brovary cluster was under occupation in the spring. The Russian occupants knocked out the gates with an APC, took the guards hostage and started looting: they stole diesel fuel and equipment from the warehouses, damaged expensive farm equipment… To the point that the occupants broke the doors of self-propelled sprayers in order to get the radio sets. They couldn’t take them off – they just gutted the panels,” said the owner of A.G.R. Group owner told in an interview.
Khidiryan specified that in addition to the restoration of agricultural buildings, clearance of the cluster “Brovary” took about 10 days. Also in the fields remained a lot of damaged and destroyed military equipment of the occupants.
“Near the Brovary cluster there was a lot of broken Russian equipment, which we pulled with our tractors for further transfer to the AFU – there were mostly broken tanks, but there were also intact ones. There were mostly broken tanks, but there were also intact ones. It was so that from the fields we had to pull out one tank with three powerful tractors. We also went to neighboring villages and pulled out missile trophies from people’s gardens,” noted Khidiryan.
As reported with reference to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS), the total direct damage caused to the agricultural sector of Ukraine as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion reached $9.3-9.8 billion by the end of 2022, which is comparable to the total profits of the country’s agricultural enterprises in 2020 and 2021.
This figure includes damage from the blockade of Ukrainian seaports and forced changes in export logistics ($7.5-8.0 billion), the cost of unsold last year’s grain ($0.5 billion) and the cost of warehouses and elevators destroyed or seized by the occupiers ($1.3 billion).
The A.G.R. Group holding includes more than 20 companies. Its main activities are trade of agricultural products, cultivation and storage of crops and livestock breeding.
A.G.R. Group cultivates land in Poltava, Kiev, Chernigov, Nikolaev and Sumy regions. All grown products are sold on foreign markets.
The president of the holding and head of its supervisory board is businessman Misak Khidirian.
The United States has sent a shipment of 60 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to Ukraine, the U.S. Armed Forces Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) said.
“A shipment of more than 60 Bradleys left North Charleston, South Carolina, last week; they will provide Ukrainian forces with additional offensive and defensive capabilities,” the statement said.
At the same time, it is indicated that the U.S. Transportation Command of the Armed Forces is delivering the first batch of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine as part of a $2.85 billion military assistance package, which was announced earlier in January.
The Bradley has a three-man crew and can carry up to six infantrymen in a troop compartment. The BMP entered service in 1981, and a total of 9,753 copies of different versions were produced. They were used by U.S. troops in the wars in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The total amount of U.S. military aid to Ukraine since February 2022 was $27.1 billion, the command recalled.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for €1, in 01.11.2022-30.11.2022)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2022 agreed 22 forms of international veterinary certificates for exporting animal products to 12 countries.
As follows from the agency’s press release issued on Monday, last year the market was opened to Albania for semi-finished meat from Ukraine; to Georgia for snails; to Dominica for milk and dairy products; to Israel for ornamental freshwater fish, live rabbits, chewed pet items, fresh and treated skins and hides; to Canada for poultry meat and products; to Kenya for milk and dairy products.
In addition, export of Ukrainian chewed pet items, raw and canned pet food to Northern Macedonia, pet food to Singapore; hatching eggs, canned and processed pet food to Serbia; processed animal protein products (not for human consumption) and fish products to Turkey, table eggs to Pakistan, and meat products and semi-finished products to Montenegro is permitted.
Gosprodpotrebtsluzhba also stressed that in 2022 to 432 increased the number of enterprises-producers of animal products with the right to export their products to the EU, which is 53 more than it was at the beginning of 2022. By comparison, for 2021, 23 businesses received such a right.
“This positive dynamics in increasing the number of Ukrainian exporters to the European market is extremely important in the context of Ukraine’s status as a candidate country for accession to the European Union. The work in this direction will continue permanently and if the requirements of the Association Agreement with the EU are fulfilled as part of our obligations to join the European Union, this number will increase daily”, – the agency summarized in a press release.
Stock indices of most major countries in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) are declining ahead of meetings of the world’s major central banks.
Traders evaluated the statistical data from China and Japan.
China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 0.35% by 7:41 a.m.
China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 50.1 points in January from 47 points a month earlier, data from China’s State Bureau of Statistics (SBS) showed. Experts on average expected it to rise to 49.8 points, Trading Economics noted.
The PMI above the 50-point mark indicates an increase in activity in the industrial sector. The value of the index exceeded this level for the first time since September against the background of the lifting of anti-commodity restrictions.
Combined profits of major Chinese industrial enterprises fell 4 percent year on year to 8.4 trillion yuan ($1.24 trillion) in 2022, according to the country’s State Statistics Bureau (SBS).
At the same time, the rate of decline accelerated compared to January-November, when the decline was 3.6%.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indicator collapsed by 1.5%.
Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. Ltd. (-5.6%), Hang Lung Properties Ltd. (-5.3%) and Wharf Real Estate Investment Co. Ltd. (-4.2%).
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2% by 7:39 a.m.
Japan’s retail sales rose for the tenth month in a row in December 2022, the rate of increase accelerated and was better than analysts’ expectations.
Sales rose 3.8% from December 2021, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. They were up 2.5% in November.
Experts polled by Trading Economics predicted a 3% increase on average.
Shares of Nippon Light Metal Holdings Co. Ltd. (-6.8%), Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. (-4.5%) and Resona Holdings Inc. (-2.8%).
The value of South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.9%.
Shares of one of the world’s largest chip and electronics maker Samsung Electronics Co. fell 3.3%. The company cut its operating profit by 69% in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier amid a sharp drop in demand in its memory chip and smartphone divisions.
Shares of automaker Hyundai Motor fell 1.5%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost about 0.1% on the day.
The capitalization of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto increased by 0.3% and 0.9% respectively.
At the same time the securities of Pilbara Minerals Ltd. fell by 5%.
