The Lekhim group of pharmaceutical companies has signed an agreement to supply 5 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 produced by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech in the first half of 2021, the company said in a press release on its website.
“Lekhim Group and Sinovac Biotech, which are partners, have reached an agreement in negotiations that lasted for 10 months on cooperation in the distribution and localization of production in Ukraine of the vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a period of five years,” the press release reads.
According to the report, Lekhim is the official and exclusive supplier of CoronaVac vaccine in Ukraine.
The release recalls that in addition to the sale of the CoronaVac vaccine, cooperation involves the organization of production of finished dosage forms of vaccines (including CoronaVac) from 2022 in Ukraine (Lekhim-Kharkiv), and from 2025 it is planned to organize a full production cycle of the main list of vaccines.
Sinovac Biotech is a Chinese vaccine producing company founded in Beijing in 2001 with a capacity of 300 to 500 million doses of six types of vaccines for humans and animals per year. Sinovac’s main products are vaccines against hepatitis A (prequalified by the WHO) and B, influenza, mumps, chickenpox, which are registered and approved for vaccination in 34 countries around the world.
CoronaVac is an inactivated vaccine. It uses a traditional vaccine mechanism in which a non-living virus that cannot replicate in human cells is used to activate the immune system. Phase 3 trials of the Chinese vaccine have already taken place in Brazil and Indonesia. Tests are ongoing in Turkey and Chile.
Prices in the Ukrainian industry in December 2020 increased by 14.5% compared to December 2019, the State Statistics Service has reported.
As previously reported, in 2019 the growth in prices of industrial producers amounted to 7.4%, in 2018 to 14.2%, in 2017 to 16.5%, in 2016 to 35.7%, and 2015 to 25.4%.
The service clarified that within Ukraine the prices of industrial producers in December 2020 compared to December 2019 increased by 9.7%, for supplies outside the country by 36.1%.
Prices in the Ukrainian industry in December, compared to the previous month of 2020, increased by 1.8% after growing in November by 2%, in October by 3.8%, in September by 1.7%.
At the same time, the State Statistics Service indicates that the average annual decline in prices in industry in 2020 (January-December to January-December of the previous year) amounted to 1.6%, while in the previous years, prices increased, in particular, in 2019 by 4.1%, in 2018 by 17.4%, in 2017 by 26.4%, in 2016 by 20.5%, and 2015 by 36%.
Prices in extracting industry in December 2020 (compared to December 2019) increased by 29.5%, due to an increase in prices in the extraction of metal ores by 44.6%, oil and gas by 28.6%, and in production of coal they decreased by 7.3%.
In processing industry, prices rose by 15.7%. In sugar production they grew by 59.6%, production of bread and bakery products by 9.9%, meat products by 2.9%, dairy products by 6.5%, beverages by 2.6%.
In addition, prices in metallurgy in December 2020 from December 2019 rose by 25.2%, in production of intermediate consumption goods by 21.9%, in chemical industry by 20.9%, in production of non-durable goods by 18.7%, woodworking by 10.5%, pharmaceutical production by 10.4%, mechanical engineering by 2.1%.
In the supply of electricity, gas and conditioned air, prices increased by 3.9%, in production of coke by 1.8%.
Olvia specialized seaport handled 3.91 million tonnes of cargo in 2020, which is 813,180 tonnes or 26.3% more than in 2019.
According to the information on the website of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in the terms of shipment, the distribution of cargo took place as follows: export amounted to 3.53 million tonnes (more by 23.9% compared to 2019), import to 303,370 tonnes (41.2% more), coastal cargo to 70,210 tonnes, and transit cargo to 2,940 tonnes.
In 12 months of 2020, progress was achieved in the processing of bulk cargo 3.54 million tonnes, which is 34.1% more than in 2019.
“It should be noted that the largest contribution to the cargo handling was made by the Ukrainian agricultural sector, because 1.83 million tonnes of grain cargo was handled, which is 48.5% more than last year,” the association said.
In addition, in 2020, Olvia seaport handled 758,630 tonnes (more by 3%) of construction cargo, other bulk cargo 675,280 tonnes (more by 29.7%), as well as ferrous metals 322,410 tonnes and coal 232,480 tonnes.
The cargo handling of the Olvia seaport operators in 2020 was distributed as follows: EVT Grain LLC 2.22 million tonnes, and the state-owned enterprise Stevedoring Company Olvia 1.69 million tonnes.
In December 2020, in general, 258,490 tonnes of cargo were handled in the seaport water area, of which export cargo amounted to 258,160 tonnes, imported and coastal cargo to 110 tonnes and 230 tonnes, respectively.
The number of ship calls since the beginning of the year amounted to 270, including 16 during December.
Ukraine’s neighboring countries are in the “red” zone on the situation with COVID-19, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Health as of Monday.
Among the closest neighbors of Ukraine, the “red” zone includes, in particular, Slovakia (674,500 cases of COVID-19 incidence per 100,000 population), the Russian Federation (340,900), Poland (316,700), Belarus (279,800), Moldova (264,410), Romania (253,080) and Hungary (242,730).
The “red” zone includes countries with an incidence rate per 100,000 population over the past 14 days higher than in Ukraine (106,800). There are 78 countries in total.
Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovenia, UK, Switzerland, U.S., Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Latvia, Denmark, Portugal, Georgia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, Turkey, France, Canada, Belgium, Norway are also among the countries of the “red” zone.
The list of countries of the “green” zone includes, in particular, Greece, Japan, India, Egypt and Australia.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Committee on Supervision and Regulation of the Non-Bank Financial Services Markets at its meetings held on December 24 and 30, 2020, revoked the licenses for the provision of financial services of 22 non-bank financial institutions.
As reported on the NBU website, the NBU decided to revoke all licenses for the provision of financial services of five financial institutions – Creditlife financial company LLC, Yuvid-2009 LLC, Aliot financial company LLC, Kailas Finance financial company LLC and Parkmar Inkaso LLC. The total assets of these companies as of October 1, 2020 amounted to UAH 138.6 million, or 0.07% of the total assets of the market.
In addition, the regulator revoked all licenses of the Ukrsotscredit credit union, in particular, one license for the provision of loans, including a financial loan. Liabilities of Ukrsotscredit credit union as of October 1, 2020 amounted to UAH 200 (0.00002% of the total market volume), and its assets amounted to UAH 917,800 (0.04% of the total market volume).
The committee also decided to revoke several of the existing licenses of Global Infinity Ukraine LLC, in particular, licenses for the provision of financial leasing services, as well as for the provision of guarantees. The company still has two licenses in effect – for the provision of loans, including a financial loan, as well as for the provision of factoring services.
In addition, the regulator revoked the license for the provision of guarantees of Dekart financial company LLC, Kaverton financial company LLC, Professional Payment System LLC, Fidem financial company LLC, Finar financial company LLC, Asap Finance LLC, Bladvein financial company LLC, Verra Finance LLC, Invest House financial company LLC, Mega Finance financial company LLC, Sky financial company LLC, Smart Finance Solution financial company LLC, Finance Company LLC and Finrezerv financial company LLC. These financial companies continue their activities and have valid licenses, in particular for the provision of loans, including a financial loan, for the provision of factoring services, as well as for the provision of financial leasing services.
The NBU said that these companies had their licenses for the provision of guarantees revoked due to the fact that they did not plan to be actively involved in the provision of guarantees and were not ready to comply with the mandatory standards that came into force on May 1, 2020.
In December, the National Bank reminded all market players who had valid licenses to provide guarantees of the need to comply with mandatory standards.
According to the results of the submitted financial statements for the first nine months of 2020, two-thirds of the financial companies-guarantors out of 354 licensed did not comply with the requirements of these standards and had at least one standard failed to meet.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 occurred in Lviv region on Sunday, January 10, the press service of the Main Center for Special Control of the State Space Agency of Ukraine reported.
So, on January 10, the Main Center for Special Control registered an earthquake with a magnitude (on the Richter scale) of 2.9 at 13:13.
It is noted that the source of the earthquake was located in Sambir district at a depth of 5 km. The vibrations did not pose a threat to the population; they could be felt by individuals inside the premises, especially on the upper floors.
