The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2020 decreased 58.6% compared to January-November 2019, to $3.897 billion from $9.417 billion, the State Statistics Service reported on Thursday.
According to its data, the export of goods from Ukraine for the reporting period compared to the same period in 2019 fell by 3.5%, to $44.347 billion, imports narrowed by 12.9%, to $48.244 billion.
The State Statistics Service said that in November, compared with October 2020, the seasonally adjusted export volume increased 2.5%, to $4.374 billion, imports grew by 4.3%, to $4.791 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in November 2020 posted a deficit and amounted to $0.417 billion, a month earlier it also showed a deficit being $0.323 billion.
The ratio of exports to imports in January-April of this year amounted to 0.92 (in January-November-2019 it was 0.83).
The State Statistics Service said that foreign trade operations were carried out with partners from 232 countries.
The Ukrainian Embassy has opened a 24-hour hotline line to provide possible assistance to citizens of Ukraine in Indonesia, where a powerful earthquake occurred, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.
“A powerful earthquake happened on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. To provide possible assistance to Ukrainian citizens, the Ukrainian embassy has opened a 24-hour hotline: +62 87 88 48 90 918. There is still no information about the injured Ukrainians,” Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on Friday.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 15/01/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of January 15
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Initial registrations of electric vehicles (new and used) in Ukraine in 2020 decreased by 1% (or 87 units) compared to 2019, to 7,455 units, including 91.3% used cars (6,803), according to the Ukrautoprom association.
According to the data on its website, 7,095 passenger cars (of which only 9% are new), 359 commercial vehicles (3% new) and one electric bus (manufactured in 2019) were registered over the year.
At the same time, the average age of the used electric registered passenger cars was five years last year, of commercial vehicles seven years.
Thus, compared to 2019, the registration of used cars in 2020 decreased by 2% (by 135 cars), and new ones increased by 8% (or by 48 cars).
The most popular electric vehicle in Ukraine remains Nissan Leaf with 2,180 registrations, the second place is taken by Tesla Model 3 (some 865 cars), and the third by Tesla Model S (753 cars). The fourth position is taken by Chevrolet Bolt with 474 registrations, and the Tesla Model X closes the top five most popular zero-emission vehicles with 366 registrations per year.
The best result for new electric vehicle sales was shown by Audi E-Tron, which was chosen by 122 buyers.
The commercial electric vehicle market was dominated by Renault Kangoo Z.E. with 304 registrations, including only seven new ones.
The association also said that in December 2020, the Ukrainian vehicle fleet was replenished with 632 electric vehicles, which is 8% more than a year earlier, including 598 cars (more by 7% compared to December 2019) and 34 commercial (more by 36%).
The share of used cars in December last year in the passenger segment was 86%, in the commercial segment 97%.
The bottom retail price for Ukrainian sparkling wines, carbonated wines, fermented drinks, flavored sparkling (carbonated) wines (drinks) has been increased from UAH 89 to UAH 109 per 0.7-0.75 liter bottle. The government of Ukraine adopted the respective resolution on January 13.
“As a result, everyone wins: Ukrainian winemakers will become competitive and restore their lost positions in the market. Winegrowers will have a greater demand for their raw materials. Ukrainian consumers will have a high-quality, not falsified, product,” Minister of Economy Ihor Petrashko said in a Thursday press release of the ministry.
According to him, the resolution also brought the description of this product and its codes into line with the Tax Code and the Ukrainian Classifier of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity.
The minister said that the main problem of the sector is that the market is now manipulating the names of products and prices: lower quality imported wine-based drinks are sold at the same price as higher quality Ukrainian sparkling wines.
According to Petrashko, national producers have lost 40% of the sparkling wines market, and therefore there is a threat of closing Ukrainian wineries. The adopted resolution eliminates all manipulations and settles the issues that “the price should match quality,” the minister said.
