The share of illegal tobacco products in the Ukrainian market in February 2021 amounted to 12.8% versus 5.8% in February 2020, the figure is the highest since 2011 and is mainly due to the growth of illegal sales of cigarettes and Duty Free products intended for export.
Such data were published by the research institute Kantar Ukraine by order of the ten largest Ukrainian manufacturers of tobacco products.
According to researchers, 62% of illegally sold tobacco products in the country have a mark of production at Vynnyky Tobacco Factory (Vynnyky, Lviv region) and are labeled as export or Duty Free products not intended for sale in Ukraine. The share of unidentified manufacturers is 23%, and United Tobaco LLC (Zhovti Vody, Dnipropetrovsk region) – 15%.
The most common brands of this group of illegal products are the Compliment brand marked as Duty Free – with a share of 50%, as well as those intended for export, but sold in Ukraine, Marshall (14%), Jin Ling (9%), Marvel and Urta (6% each). The total share of the named brands in this product group is 84%.
Kantar noted that 42% of smuggled cigarettes are products of Grodno Tobacco Factory (Belarus), and 20% are products of Moldovan factories. The most common smuggled brands are Credo, Queen, Ritm, Oris, NZ and Armeyskiye (Moldova).
The study showed that 63% of illegal products are distributed in six regions of Ukraine. Most of all – in Kharkiv (14%), Donetsk and Odesa (13%), Dnipropetrovsk (9%), Mykolaiv (7%) and Khmelnytsky (6%) regions.
According to Kantar, the share of illegal products sold through legal trade channels continues to grow: in February 2021, some 36% of illegal products were distributed through stalls, 29% – shops, 23% – open markets, and 9% – street trading.
Researchers estimated state budget’s losses from unpaid taxes at UAH 11.8 billion over 2021.
The transport enterprises of Ukraine, as well as part of the JFO area) in January-April 2021 increased transportation of goods by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2020, to 186.1 million tonnes, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to its data, the freight turnover of carriers for the specified period decreased 2.9%, to 88 billion tonne-kilometers.
According to statistics, in January-April 2021, some 95.5 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in domestic traffic and for export, which is 1.2% less than in January-April 2020. Some 61.7 million tonnes (7% more) were transported by road, 1.2 million tonnes (9.2% less) by water, 27.7 million tonnes (4.9% less) by pipeline, 30,000 tonnes (11.7% more) by air.
By the end of 2021, the mobile network operator Kyivstar plans to increase the base of contract clients by 500,000, President of Kyivstar Alexander Komarov told reporters on Wednesday.
At the end of 2020, the operator’s total client base was about 25.9 million mobile subscribers. At present, according to the operator, almost 90% of the Kyivstar network are prepaid mobile subscribers and the company has more than 10% are contract subscribers.
“The [number of] contract [subscribers] should grow by 500,000 new clients this year. This is a definite ambition of Kyivstar. We are generally supporters of identifying our client base and transferring it to more stable forms of connection,” Komarov said.
According to him, despite the fact that, in general, Kyivstar’s client base is stable (no more than 1% decrease year-on-year), in 2020 the prepaid subscriber base decreased 4%, which were redistributed into two segments: FMC (clients using fixed-line and mobile communication) and the contract subscribers.
“Our enemy of the contract is a very low average bill. The main means of transferring a client to a contract is a combination of a phone and payment for communication services. An average smartphone in Ukraine costs UAH 5,000-6,000, and communication services for 12 months – about UAH 1,000. Accordingly, we have very little of this added value to transfer a client to a contract. And in the gray market, the difference in price for a phone between a legal store and an online seller can reach 10-15%,” the president of Kyivstar said.
Kyivstar is a market-leading telecoms operator in Ukraine. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2020, its services were used by about 25.9 million mobile subscribers and about 1.1 million fixed Internet customers.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (earlier – VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (New York).
Ukraine is currently at the final stage of negotiations with major partner airlines in an effort to create a national air carrier, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko has said.
“As for the airline, this is not only the president’s dream. We are at the final stage of negotiations with some large airlines, with which we are planning a national air carrier together, because they have experience,” he said on the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Thursday.
Speaking about the development of the airport network, Tymoshenko said that regional hubs have been added to the Big Construction Project: Zakarpattia, Chernivtsi, Rivne, Poltava, Kryvy Rih, construction is also underway in the city of Dnipro.
“Yes, the construction of the airport in Dnipro is not proceeding at the pace that we would like, and not the way the locals want, but today we promised that in a few months you will see the construction of the runway at a greater speed,” he said.
Earlier, in February of this year, Tymoshenko expressed hope that work on the creation of the state air carrier would be completed in 2021.
Former Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the concept of the state airline is based on the aircraft of the state aircraft building enterprise Antonov. Tymoshenko also said that this year it is planned to increase the state budget thanks to its filling with funds from transit air traffic, which, in turn, will be increased by transit in the sky of Ukraine by European air carriers.
The launch of digital COVID certificates is scheduled for early July, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said.
“As for COVID passports or COVID certificates. The European Union is in the final stage of agreeing on such passports. Its presence will be a prerequisite for traveling in Europe, and therefore Ukraine is acting synchronized with European partners. The launch of our digital certificates is scheduled for early July,” said Shmyhal at a government meeting on Wednesday. The prime minister stressed that these certificates would be valid in Europe.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to increase the amount of state aid paid to citizens at the birth of a child by UAH 8,720 up to UAH 50,000 from January 1, 2022. The corresponding draft law was approved at a government meeting on Wednesday. According to the proposed procedure, the payment of 25% of the assistance will be carried out once, and the rest of the amount over the next 36 months in equal parts.
In addition, it is assumed that from January 1, 2023 and thereafter, from January 1, this assistance will increase annually by the projected growth rate of the consumer price index.
If this law is adopted, the amount of assistance for adoption will also increase, since this assistance is provided in the amount established for payments of assistance at birth.
