Ukraine will expedite the vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) and administer from 5 million to 7 million vaccine shots per month in summer, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.
“We are planning to reach the target [from 5 million to 7 million vaccine shots per month] sometime by summer. Yet again, that would require everyone’s compliance with the earlier agreements, and that constitutes a problem,” Stepanov said on the Svoboda Slova program aired by the ICTV television channel on Monday night.
There are few vaccinations on weekends because doctors tasked with administering the vaccine at the first stage have their days off, he said when commenting on the opinion that the vaccination process might take over a decade unless vaccination is expedited.
The minister assured the audience that the number of vaccine shots would grow to 10,000 this week.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises increased the production of general rolled products, according to recent data, by 0.5% in January-February this year compared to the same period last year, to 3.156 million tonnes.
According to the report of the Ukrmetalurgprom association on Tuesday, in the first two months of the year steel production decreased by 1.1%, to 3.513 million tonnes, while cast iron output increased by 4.5%, to 3.506 million tonnes.
In February, 1.493 million tonnes of rolled metal, 1.674 million tonnes of steel, and 1.688 million tonnes of cast iron were produced.
As reported, over 2020, Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises increased the production of general rolled products by 0.7% compared to the previous year, to 18.344 million tonnes, reduced steel output by 1.4%, to 20.549 million tonnes and increased cast iron production by 1.5%, to 20.358 million tonnes.
PrJSC Zaporizhkoks, one of the largest Ukrainian coke and chemical producers, part of Metinvest Group in January-February this year reduced production by 1.1% compared to the same period last year, to 140,100 tonnes.
According to the company, 66,100 tonnes of blast furnace coke were produced in February, while a month earlier – 74,000 tonnes.
As reported, Zaporizhkoks in 2020 increased production by 3.1% compared to the previous year, to 853,120 tonnes.
Zaporizhkoks produces about 10% of coke produced in Ukraine, owns a full technological cycle of processing coke-chemical products. In addition, it produces coke oven gas and pitch coke.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining companies. Its main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart-Holding (23.76%), jointly managing the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of Metinvest Group.
CUTS, METINVEST, METINVEST’S COMPANIES, OUTPUT, ZAPORIZHKOKS
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in February 2021 fell by 47.5%, to $0.32 billion, while the deficit of foreign trade in January-February 2021 slightly grew – by 5.9%, to $0.6 billion
According to the State Customs Service, imports in the first two months of this year showed an increase over the same period last year by 4.5% and amounted to $9.09 billion, and exports – by 4.4%, to $8.49 billion.
At the same time, in February, imports rose to $4.87 billion, which is 6.5% higher than the same period last year and 15.4% higher than in January.
As for exports, last month it also showed an increase of 14.8% compared to February 2020 and 15.8% compared to January, reaching $4.55 billion.
In general, the trade turnover in January-February this year totaled $17.57 billion, which is 4.44% higher compared to the same period last year.
As Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said, in February Ukraine increased the export of confectionery products by $50 million, or 15% compared to February 2020.
“The largest export markets [for confectionery products] were Romania, Poland, Belarus and Azerbaijan,” he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
Kachka also pointed to an increase in the export of industrial goods to $398 million in February, which is 9.6% more than the same period last year and 21.6% more than in January. The trade representative said that $294 million of export of these goods falls on the EU (Hungary, Germany, Poland).
“Metallurgy began to feel better. Exports of ferrous metals (group 72) in February amounted to $764 million (a rise of 12%),” the trade representative said.
Exports of metal products last month showed an increase of 22% versus February 2020, to $77.2 million. The largest supply markets for them were Poland, Romania, Germany, the trade representative said.
He also noted an increase in the export of sunflower oil in February by 12% versus February last year and by 14% versus January, to $587 million. “India and the Netherlands are increasing supplies, China is cutting back a little,” he said.
“Meal (group 2) grew by 25.7% and amounted to $169 million. France and China began to buy more,” Kachka wrote.
As indicated by the State Customs Service, the largest trading partners in February were China (negative balance of $1.8 billion), Russia ($1.1 billion), Germany ($1.3 billion).
At the same time, the trade representative said that exports to the EU in February increased compared to last year by almost 28%, to $1.97 billion, and to Asia – by 17.4%, reaching $1.48 billion. At the same time, exports to the CIS countries decreased in February 12.3% compared to February 2020, to $461 million.
“We should note the revival with Britain – in the first two months of this year we exported products worth $145.2 million, which is 35% more compared to January-February 2020,” Kachka wrote.
According to customs statistics, in February this year, trade between Ukraine and the U.K. amounted to $503 million: exports were $209.5 million, and imports were $294 million.
Shipbuilding Smart Maritime Group (SMG) of Smart Holding, which unites Kherson and Mykolaiv shipyards, has modernized and put into operation dry-cargo vessel Gelius 1 (under Saint Kitts and Nevis flag).
According to a Wednesday press release of SMG, during the modernization, the vessel was extended by 25.35 meters with an insert and became a two-hold vessel. At the same time, the total volume of the holds increased by more than 64%, to 7,377 cubic meters.
In addition, there are hydraulically operated Folder-type hatch covers. The weight of the insert together with hatch covers was 393 tonnes.
Thanks to the modernization, carried out according to the project of the Marine Engineering Bureau (Odesa), the deadweight of the vessel at a draft of 4.85 m (summer waterline) increased by 54%, or by 1935 tonnes, to 5,492 tonnes.
The vessel Gelius 1 (project 003RSD04/ALB02, Caspian Express type) was built at the Ceksan shipyard, Tuzla (Turkey) in 2007. Its initial design dimensions were 89.95 x 15.87 m, depth 5.75 m, deadweight was 3,640 tonnes.
Smart Maritime Group is the largest shipbuilding company in Ukraine, uniting the shipbuilding assets of the industrial and investment group Smart Holding: Mykolaiv and Kherson shipyards. The production facilities of SMG allow building medium-tonnage full-scale vessels and carrying out complex ship maintenance works. The customers of the shipyards are companies from the Netherlands, Norway, Great Britain and other countries of the world.
In 2020, the company modernized and repaired 55 vessels, built two chemical tanker hulls.
The duty-free tariff quota for the import of eggs from Ukraine to the U.K. in April-June 2021 will be half of the amount determined by last year’s agreement (204.5 tonnes) due to lack of applications for imports of these products in January-March, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
The ministry said that the Rural Payments Agency in the U.K. has announced the start of accepting applications for the import of Ukrainian poultry eggs for the second quarter of 2021.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its website quoted the rules for distribution of this quota for poultry eggs and albumin from Ukraine in accordance with the provisions of the Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in October 2020.
According to the document, the administration of quotas for these products is managed by a system of import licenses, and the volume of the quota is distributed quarterly in parts – 25% of its total volume. The import license will be valid for the nine months (until December 31, 2021), and can be obtained by any British company that imported at least 25 tonnes of similar products in the period from September 17, 2019 to September 16, 2020 or September 17, 2018 through September 16, 2019.
The insurance premium for the import license is set at GBP 17 per 100 kg of product.
