Ukraine in January-March 2018 exported 1,920 tonnes of cheese, which is 23.9% more than in the same period in 2017. According to customs statistics released by the State Fiscal Service, in monetary terms exports increased by 1.4 times, to $7.23 million.
Imports of cheese in January-March 2018 amounted to 2,830 tonnes of cheese, which is 39.4% more than in the same period in 2017. In monetary terms, this figure grew by 1.6 times, to $14.44 million.
Export of butter from Ukraine in January-March increased by 2.6 times, to 9,070 tonnes. In monetary terms, it amounted to $38.7 million compared to $12.77 million for the same period in 2017. Imports of this commodity, according to the service, grew by 2.75 times, to 297 tonnes ($1.82 million).
Export of milk and cream (condensed) in January-March 2018 decreased by 1.3 times, to 7,720 tonnes. Ukraine supplied condensed milk and cream for a total of $13.12 million, which is 26.8% less than in January-March 2017.
Ukrainian producers in March 2018 exported 47,200 tonnes of sugar, which is 15% more than in the previous month. According to the press service of Ukrtsukor, the main deliveries in March were carried out to the former Soviet Union states and Africa.
“Some 50% of all supplies in March were made to Uzbekistan. In quantitative terms this is 23,500 tonnes. In addition, shipments to Turkey amounted to 7,900 tonnes, Somali to 3,700 tonnes, Tajikistan to 2,900 tonnes, Benin to 1,800 tonnes and other countries to 7,300 tonnes,” the head of the Ukrtsukor analytical department, Ruslana Butylo, said.
Sugar exports in September-March of the 2017/2018 marketing year (MY) amounted to 338,100 tonnes. As reported, sugar production in the 2017/2018 MY grew by 6.5% and is 2.14 million tonnes of sugar. Some 46 sugar refineries were operating during the season. According to the forecasts of the association, the area under sugar beets in 2018 will be about 285,000 hectares.
U.S. Senator Robert Portman believes that Ukraine needs to achieve greater progress in implementing anti-corruption reforms and continue to implement economic reforms. It is necessary to achieve greater progress in anti-corruption reforms, in particular, with respect to the Anti-Corruption Court, he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
The senator also stressed that economic reforms should continue. We see a lot of opportunities for the development of our business in Ukraine and for investment, as Ukraine is heavily under-invested … Still much ahead in the issue of achieving transparency of the government, the rule of law, justice, etc., the senator said.
According to him, Ukraine’s way to NATO membership also consists in carrying out reforms. The policy of procurement, especially in the military sector, has become much more transparent … There is much that depends on the progress of reforms and it is in the interests of the Ukrainian people to continue working, the U.S. senator added.
The Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine has drawn up the updated national construction requirements allowing the placement of pre-school educational centers on the first two floors of residential high-rise buildings. “We want to expand opportunities for kindergartens located in residential buildings. We previously built kindergartens attached to buildings. Now we divided them into groups: if the children stay in the kindergarten until 16:00, they can be located in buildings, the same requirements apply to kindergartens with up to 80 children. Kindergartens 120 children can be located in attached premises, and maybe later we can expand these requirements to 160 children,” the press service of Deputy Minister Lev Partskhaladze said, citing him.
“In many cases, especially in the central districts of large cities, there is not even enough space to place a new separate preschool educational institution. The ability to design small kindergartens in residential buildings or attached to them will significantly reduce this disparity and provide residents with the necessary social infrastructure, where there is no possibility to build separate preschool educational institutions,” Partskhaladze said.
TIS Port (the stevedoring company operating in Yuzhny port, Odesa region) allows participation in the concession of Yuzhny port if the necessary law is adopted. “Yes, it is quite possible that it will be Yuzhny port,” co-owner and CEO of TIS Andriy Stavnitser said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. Speaking about smaller ports, he noted that, in his opinion, Ukraine does not need as many ports, and some of them can be closed, and some can be reformatted.
“Kherson, Izmail, Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky – there could be tourist zones, yacht clubs there, for example, which would bring revenues but not losses to the state,” Stavnitser said.
Asked about the considerations on the basis of which Kherson and Olvia ports were made pilot for concession, he noted that it is probably more visible for the Ministry of Infrastructure, but stressed that TIS won’t participate in any of these concessions.
“Not because we are so big, deep-water and do not notice anything else around. There are simply ports whose maintenance costs the state more than profits from them,” Stavnitser summed up. As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis bill No. 8125 on concession.
Freight handling at Ukrainian seaports in January-March 2018 totaled 32.8 million tonnes, which is 1.1% more than a year ago, according to tentative data from the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority. According to its data, the volume of transshipment of imported cargo increased by 30% and amounted to 5.6 million tonnes. Handling of imported coal grew by 24.1%, to 1.4 million tonnes, ores by 20.7%, to 1.9 million tonnes, crude oil transshipment grew by 51%, to 544,000 tonnes.
The volume of transshipment of exported cargo decreased 7.4%, to 23.8 million tonnes. Handling of exported ferrous metals grew by 17%, to 4.2 million tonnes.
Handling of transit freights rose by 38.4%, to 3.2 million tonnes.
In general, the seaports of Ukraine processed 2,853 vessels in January-March 2018, which is 345 vessels, or 9.7% more compared to the same period in 2017.
