The Swedish company IKEA, the world’s largest retailer of furniture and household goods, has updated its plan to enter the Ukrainian market, deciding to launch e-commerce first. “In order to make the range of IKEA functional products with attractive designs and prices affordable for as many people in Ukraine as possible, the company decided to launch e-commerce first. The expected launch date is spring 2020,” the company said. At the same time, they confirmed their intention to open a store in Kyiv.
“IKEA confirms its commitment to Ukraine and plans to open the first store in Kyiv as soon as possible after the launch of e-commerce,” the company said.
As reported, in the summer of 2019 IKEA announced the launch of an official website for Ukrainian consumers and the recruitment of staff to work in the first urban-format store in Kyiv (about 100 employees). The opening of the store was scheduled for the end of 2019.
In September 2018, IKEA officially announced the opening of the first city store in Ukraine in 2019. The facility was supposed to be opened in the Ocean Mall trade center in Kyiv. However, the retailer later said that due to the delay in building the shopping center, the company is considering alternative ways to start business in Ukraine.
The network in Ukraine is developed by IKEA Southeast Europe, which is part of IKEA Group (Ingka Holding B.V.). The company is engaged in the retail business of IKEA in Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and Slovenia.
The State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre has announced a tender to carry out aerial mapping of the territory of Ukraine, as well as to create orthophotomaps and a digital terrain model (DTM), Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said. “Ukraine will have high-quality and accurate 3D models of forests, industrial structures, as well as classifications of buildings, plants, power lines and much more. Investors will be able to easily design facilities and invest in infrastructure,” the government’s press service reported, citing Honcharuk as saying. According to the report, the total cost of the work is UAH 276 million. The deadline is until December 2020.
In addition, in preparation for land reform, the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre is actively filling out a database. So, in three months, six new information layers appeared on the public cadastral map. Now information on 20.9 million land plots (total area of 43.8 million hectares) has been entered.
Among other things, the authority began using satellite-based land monitoring data in test mode, and in just a week completed 755 public control measures over the use and protection of land.
It is reported that according to the results, 301 violations of land legislation with a volume of damage of more than UAH 1 million were revealed, of which UAH 691,720 were voluntarily repaid.
Ukraine since the beginning of the marketing year 2019/2020 (MY, July-June) and as of December 2, 2019 had exported 24.81 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which is 32% more than on the same time in the past MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, the country has currently exported 13.47 million tonnes of wheat, 7.52 million tonnes of corn, and 3.5 million tonnes of barley.
As of December 2 of this year, 156,500 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
As reported, Ukraine in the 2018/2019 MY exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour, which is 23% more than in the previous MY.
Ukraine reduced gas stocks in underground storage facilities 4.7% or by 1.022 billion cubic meters (bcm), to 20.761 bcm between November 1 and 30, according to preliminary data from gas infrastructure operator JSC Ukrtransgaz.
According to Interfax-Ukraine’s calculations, the gas stocks on November 30 were 28.7% higher than on the same date last year, 28.8% higher than on November 30, 2017 and 53.1% higher than on November 30, 2016.
Gas withdrawals from underground storage facilities totaled 48.65 million cubic meters on November. Ukraine imported 17.49 mcm and produced 56.33 mcm of gas that day.
One of Ukrainian banks and the large Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel signed a first non-deliverable forward (NDF) contract in the history of Ukraine last week, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
“This is the first transaction to hedge currency risks of this type in the Ukrainian market. Earlier, deliverable forward contracts were also concluded in the market, but their share is still insignificant and has great potential for growth,” the regulator said in a statement last week.
NBU Deputy Governor Oleh Churiy said that in the world on the foreign exchange market spot transactions, that is, those that are actually settled on the same day, make up no more than a third of the total foreign exchange market.
“The rest are transactions using hedging instruments: forwards, futures, swaps. Unfortunately, in Ukraine it is the opposite: spot transactions dominate, and cases of hedging currency risks by the business are still isolated,” Churiy said.
According to him, with a floating exchange rate, business owners and financial directors should pay attention to hedging tools that are already available in Ukraine. These are, in particular, deliverable and non-deliverable forward contracts, which can be concluded with banks for export-import operations or loans from nonresidents.
“For four years now, Ukraine has been living in a flexible exchange rate environment that avoids the accumulation of imbalances in the economy, but also requires prudent planning for the business,” the NBU deputy governor said.
