Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman notes the importance of the adoption by the Cabinet of Ministers by the end of January of all the necessary decisions to launch support programs for farmers.
According to the press service of the government, Groysman believes that the key areas of work are the support of livestock production, first of all, the creation of new complexes and increase in livestock, targeted support for farmers, as well as support of agricultural machinery enterprises in order to preserve and increase the number of jobs in this sphere and providing agrarians with high-quality domestic production equipment.
“The main thing is to have at the end of 2018 funds and livestock, maximally increased, and saturated with (its own high-quality products) market,” the press service quoted the prime minister as saying.
In the context of supporting farming, the head of government drew attention to the need for early processing of mechanisms for the introduction of effective lending, mechanisms for compensating the cost of equipment – in conditions of purchasing equipment for a particular farm, as well as supporting cooperatives.
“Thus, we will launch mechanisms for real production support, but at the same time we assume the responsibility of the farmer for the fair registration of land and livestock. It is important not to waste time. All government resolutions should be adopted before the end of January. There are enough resources,” Groysman said.
Exports of Ukrainian farm produce to European countries for January-November 2017 amounted to $5.2 billion, which was 38.2% up on the same period in 2016, the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry has said.
In particular, Ukraine exported grain worth $1.4 billion to the EU for this period, shipments of vegetable oil amounted to $1.3 billion and those of oilseed to $0.9 billion.
“Along with these traditional export-oriented products, we significantly increased exports of such products as malt extracts, flour products, cereals (by $31.7 million), bakery products and confectionery (by $15.4 million), creamery butter (by $12.4 million), casein (by $11.9 million), chocolate and other products containing cocoa (by $7.9 million), etc.,” Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva was quoted as saying.
The top five countries that bought Ukrainian agricultural products in the EU for the period under review were the Netherlands (18.4%), Spain (14.4%), Poland (13.3%), Italy (11.8%), and Germany (10.3%), she said.
Ukrainian agrarian exports to the EU countries for the entire 2016 amounted to $4.2 billion, she added.
As reported with reference to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, shipments of Ukrainian agrarian products abroad in January-November 2017 grew by 19% compared to the same period in 2016, to $16.4 billion.
Ukraine exported electricity (foreign activity code 2716) for $235.541 million in 2017, including for $13.58 million in December.
According to the State Fiscal Service, the country exported electricity to Hungary for $136.271 million, to Moldova for $54.173 million, to Poland for $34.17 million and other countries for $10.928 million.
Thus, in money terms exports of Ukrainian electricity grew by 54.9% in 2017 compared with 2016 ($152.063 million).
In addition, Ukraine imported electricity for $2.116 million in 2017, including for $2.037 million from Russia, for $0.064 million from Belarus and for $0.015 million from Moldova.
As reported, Ukraine plans in 2018 to increase exports of electricity to the EU and Moldova by 15-20%, to 5.855 billion kWh compared to about 5 billion kWh in 2017.
According to the forecast for 2018, deliveries from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania are estimated at 3.6 billion kWh, to Poland at 1.2 billion kWh, and to Moldova at 1.055 billion kWh.
The primary market for used cars in Ukraine in 2017 grew by 3.3 times compared to 2016, to 56,744 units, the Ukrautoprom association has reported.
According to its data, the highest demand last year was observed for cars of European origin, the leader of which was Renault, heading the rating for seven months of the year. Over the year some 10,451 cars of this brand were sold. The largest share of sales was that of the Megane model (7,816 units).
Volkswagen ranked second. A total of 10,068 cars of this German brand were registered, the most popular model of which was Passat (4,688 units).
Skoda cars, which consistently held third place during the year, were registered in the amount of 6,768 units, while the best seller was Octavia (3,638 units).
The Opel brand ranked fourth. A total of 4,494 used cars of this brand were registered, and the most popular model was Opel Astra (1,902 units).
The Nissan brand, despite the weakening of positions by the end of the year (in November and December it ranked seventh), managed to remain in the top five brands with 2,924 cars registered. Most of registered used Nissan cars are electric cars Leaf (2,008 units).
Ukrenergo and Moldelectrica state enterprise have agreed on their plan to synchronize the power systems with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), the press service of Ukrenergo has said, with reference to a meeting held in Chisinau.
In particular, the parties discussed the draft operational agreement on the establishment of a regulatory unit within Ukraine and Moldova, which is one of the key tasks of the plan of synchronization with ENTSO-E, as well as the roadmap and its annexes. The implementation of the roadmap activities is planned for 2018.
“This agreement will resume all organizational and technological documents and regulations, which today ensure the parallel operation of the energy systems of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova,” Ukrenergo noted.
As reported, in June 2017 Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk signed an agreement on the conditions for the future integration of the energy systems of Ukraine and Moldova with ENTSO-E. In July the agreement came into force after it had been signed by the necessary number of European system operators.
