Transportation costs for importing goods have quadrupled compared to pre-war levels, and transport delays at the border average 20 days, said Dmytro Derevytskyi, chairman of the board of directors of the national marketplace network Allo Dmytro Derevytskyi, chairman of the board of directors of the national market chain Allo.
“In the pre-war period, a truck from Warsaw to Lviv cost about EUR1.3 thousand, then in 2022 – EUR2-2.5 thousand. Now the freight is about EUR4.8 thousand and changes daily, somewhere plus or minus EUR300,” he explained at a discussion organized by Deloitte in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He also noted that the search for alternative options (to the Polish border) is not optimal. According to him, the company has redirected its trucks to Slovakia, Hungary and Romania amid the blockade of the Polish border, but the checkpoints there do not have the capacity to quickly process the increased flow of freight traffic. Waiting times at the border from Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia range from 3 to 6 days, and taking into account the queue at the Ukrainian border for exit (14 days), trucks stand in line for about 20 days.
“The cost of funds in Ukraine is very high. Imagine which business will be able to pay for this downtime for such a long time,” Derevytsky said and called on business associations to lobby for at least a reduction in transport downtime on the Ukrainian border.
Allo LLC was established in 1998. The group’s network includes showrooms under the Allo Mah and Allo brands, Mi stores and outlets under the brands of telecom operators.
According to the Opendatabot resource, the participants of Allo LLC are PE Dniproinvest 2016 (95.19%), Dmytro Derevytskyi (3.6%), and Maksym Raskin (1.21%). Derevytskyi is listed as the ultimate beneficiary.
Prague has received preliminary approval to purchase an additional 200,000 shells in addition to the mandatory purchase of 300,000 artillery rounds for Ukraine, Czech News reports, citing Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
“…Petr Fiala said that in addition to the mandatory confirmed purchase of 300,000 units of artillery ammunition for Ukraine from third countries, the Czech initiative to search for ammunition has a promise of another 200,000 pieces,” the Czech News website said on Tuesday.
According to Fiala, 18 countries, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, have joined the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition from third countries. “I consider this a great success. This is yet another proof that the Czech Republic is a full-fledged active player in European security policy,” the Czech Prime Minister said.
Fiala also announced that over the past two years, the Czech Republic has delivered more than a million pieces of large-caliber ammunition to Ukraine.
As reported, at the Munich Security Conference, Czech President Petr Pavel said that the Czech Republic had found up to 800,000 NATO standard-caliber shells that could be sent to Ukraine in a few weeks if funding is found.
Last week, the Czech prime minister said that enough money had been raised to purchase the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells.
Structure of foreign exchange reserves as of 30.10.2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukraine has conducted a large-scale test of robotic ground platforms developed by the Brave1 cluster, said Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation.
“Ukraine is starting mass production of robotic ground platforms. Brave1 has tested 50+ complexes at the testing ground. Kamikaze platforms, turrets, platforms that destroy Russian positions and equipment, mine, clear mines, evacuate the wounded and bring ammunition to the positions were tested,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the robots have successfully proved themselves at the training ground and will be on the battlefield in a few months. Hundreds of different platforms will be purchased through UNITED24.
The main goal of ground robots is to minimize human involvement on the battlefield. This will help preserve the lives and health of Ukrainian soldiers, the Vice Prime Minister emphasized.
“Ground robotic systems will become the next game changer in this war, just like drones are already. This is an asymmetric response to the enemy’s numerical superiority,” Fedorov said.
It is reported that more than 140 robotic systems have been registered on the Brave1 platform, 96 of them have passed defense expertise, and 14 developments have been codified according to NATO standards.
Some robotic developments have already been deployed at the front, such as the ShaBla turret.
As reported, Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn at the conference “Ukraine. The Year 2024” conference, Oleksandr Kamyshyn reminded that Ukraine has significantly increased the production of air and sea drones, which have begun to operate for strategic purposes in Russia. According to him, 2024 will be the year when we will see drones operating on the ground. According to Kamyshyn, 2024 will be the year when we will hear more about ground-based robotic systems.
Contrary to forecasts, Ukrainian corn has started to rise in price on world markets due to increased demand from China, Turkey, Egypt and the European Union, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (AAC).
“The expectations of the trade that with the arrival of a new corn crop from Argentina on the world market, demand and prices for Ukrainian grain would fall, did not materialize. Argentine new crop is sold at higher prices than Ukrainian corn. We can predict a rise in prices for corn from Ukraine in the coming weeks,” the analysts said.
According to them, China is actively contracting Ukrainian corn. Other importers, such as Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and Spain, have also started buying a lot of Ukrainian corn. In seaports, the conditional prices for it have risen to $142-145/ton and have been increasing for a week and a half. The supply is sinking, while demand is stable.
“It can be predicted that amid demand, prices will add $2-3 per tonne per week and reach at least $150/tonne on a CPT basis by the end of March,” the experts emphasized.
They said that in April, the main factor of corn price changes will be the information on the grain harvest in Brazil. In April, there will be more reliable information about the harvest in Brazil: the planted areas, soil moisture, and crop condition. This will affect the global market. If the drought continues in Brazil and the harvest is reduced, the price will rise. But for now, this is one of the scenarios. In case of rainfall in Brazil, the situation on the global corn market will be different.
On a DAP basis, Ukrainian corn is traded for delivery in March-April to Italy, Austria and Germany in the range of $192-197/ton, Pusk summarized.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has announced a new $300 million military aid package for Ukraine, including artillery ammunition and HIMARS shells.
“I’m announcing a $300 million emergency security assistance package of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine’s most pressing needs,” Sullivan said at a briefing on Tuesday.
He noted that the opportunity to transfer the aid was made possible by “unanticipated cost savings” in contracts that the Defense Department had awarded to replace equipment that had already been sent to Ukraine.
Sullivan noted that the opportunity to transfer the aid was made possible by “unanticipated cost savings” from contracts the Defense Department had signed to replace equipment that had already been sent to Ukraine.
“To be very clear, we can use these cost savings to provide this modest amount of new security assistance right now without compromising the U.S. military. And the president has instructed his team to use those savings,” Sullivan explained.
The White House reported that the announced aid package, in particular, includes a large batch of artillery ammunition and GMLRS used in the M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems.
“This is the assistance Ukraine desperately needs to hold the front line against Russian attacks and to counter Russia’s ongoing offensive in eastern and other parts of Ukraine. This ammunition will keep Ukrainian forces firing for some time, but only for a short period,” he emphasized.
Sullivan added that this aid will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the coming weeks.
“It goes without saying that this package does not and should not postpone the critical need to pass a bipartisan national security bill,” he emphasized.
