Ukraine in 2018 logged around 22 million cubic meters (mcm) of wood, Deputy Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Forest Resources Volodymyr Bondar said, presenting a report of the authority in Kyiv on Friday. According to him, the enterprises of the agency logged 16.5 mcm of wood (a rise of 3.7% compared with 2017), and about 5-6 mcm of timber was logged by other forest users.
The state forest agency sold 13.7 mcm of round wood to the domestic market (a rise of 9%) for the amount of UAH 12.8 billion, another 2.2 mcm of wood was sent to processing enterprises. Some 527,000 cubic meters of wood were sold to foreign markets (a fall of 40%) for the amount of UAH 0.4 billion. The average price of a cubic meter of wood sold is UAH 946.
According to Bondar, illegal logging in 2018 in the forests managed by the agency amounted to 17,700 cubic meters, and the loss from illegal logging was UAH 117 million. The stock of timber in the Ukrainian forests is estimated at 2.1 billion cubic meters, the annual increase is about 35 mcm of wood. The average annual volume of logging is about 22 mcm.
According to the deputy head of the agency, the agency intends to focus on forest inventory and environmental protection measures in 2019. “We hope this year to improve the work on forest reproduction through the creation of the forest fund in the national budget. In particular, we hope to increase the rate and volume of forest reproduction in the South and East,” Bondar said.
According to the agency, the area of forest reserves of the agency’s forest structure is 16.6%.
According to the national budget for 2019, UAH 614.7 million was announced for the State Agency of Ukraine for Forest Resources, of which UAH 462 million is for forestry and hunting, protection of forests in the forest fund. As reported, the State Agency of Ukraine for Forest Resources plans to launch a pilot project of an electronic register of logging tickets in March.
The total area of forest areas in Ukraine is almost 10.4 million hectares, the forest cover of Ukraine is 15.9%. Some 7.6 million hectares of forests (73% of the forest fund of Ukraine) are subordinate to the State Agency of Ukraine for Forest Resources.
DTEK Energy Holding has announced the start of transformation of its corporate university into an innovative educational business platform, Academy DTEK, and on February 21 presented a training platform in UNIT.City, where it occupied two floors of a new six-storey campus, the total rental area of which is 12,000 square meters. “Academy DTEK is becoming an innovative educational business platform open to business representatives, the public sector, the public, and international partners,” Oleksandr Kucherenko, the Director for Sustainable Development at DTEK, said at a press conference during the presentation.
He clarified that the corporate university was created nine years ago, and in 2014 began entering foreign markets. According to him, it currently works with 17 government organizations, including the National Bank, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, Ukrposhta, for which 72 training events were held last year.
Kucherenko noted that in the new quality Academy DTEK will introduce in Ukraine international HR practices together with its partners: the business schools and organizations INSEAD, IE Business School, Thunderbird, HRCI, Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.
Ukraine in 2018 expanded geography of export of goods and increased the number of companies, which were authorized to export food of animal origin, according to a report of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumers’ Protection. According to the report, in 2018, 85 new markets were opened for various types of products – these are the markets of Albania and Ghana (poultry and products made of it), Hong Kong (poultry and products made of it, eggs and egg products), Morocco (poultry and products made of it , egg products), Macedonia (dairy products, feed), UAE (live sheep and goats, young poultry, live poultry, hatching eggs), Tunisia (poultry meat), Montenegro (eggs and egg products), and other countries.
In addition, 306 Ukrainian enterprises, including 126 food producers (poultry, fish, honey, eggs, and dairy products) now are authorized to export its products to the countries of the European Union.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair from October 2019 will open flights from Kyiv to Madrid.
According to the airline’s press release, flights on the Kyiv-Madrid route will be operated four times a week as part of the Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 extended schedule, which will be launched shortly.
“The full schedule of Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 will be made public soon,” the airline said.
Flights will be carried out from Boryspil International Airport.
As reported, Ryanair announced that in 2019 it plans to open five new flights from Ukraine to Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (the United Kingdom), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Paphos (Cyprus) twice a week.
