Average cost of leasing farmland in state ownership transferred to leasing at auctions as of January 1, 2018 totaled UAH 2,793 per ha, which is 24.2% more than a year ago. According to a posting on the website of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, the cost of leasing last year UAH 2,249.80 per ha.
“The possibility of land transfer without holding auctions was blocked, and land auctions turned into a highly competitive tool that ensured the average rental rate of state-owned land for the past year at the level of 14.74%,” First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Maksym Martyniuk said.
He also recalled that in 2017, the state for the first time determined the basic principles of land management by adopting the appropriate strategy and fixing the least permissible leasing parameters (up to seven years and no less than 8% of the standard pecuniary value).
At the same time, the authority pointed out a twofold difference in the cost of leasing of state-owned and private property. So, the average cost of leasing farmland in private property last year was at the level of UAH 1,400 per ha, which is 25% higher than the indicator of 2016 (UAH 1,090 per ha). The highest rents for land parcels were recorded in Cherkasy (UAH 2,960 per ha), Poltava (UAH 2,500 per ha), Kharkiv (UAH 2,100 per ha) and Sumy (UAH 2,100 per ha) regions. At the same time in Zakaarpattia region the rent amounted to UAH 718.90 per ha, Zaporizhia – UAH 794.70 per ha, Mykolaiv – UAH 825.80 per ha and Kherson – UAH 842.30 per ha.
The total area of this type of farmland leased out under contracts amounted to 16.9 million hectares.
According to Martyniuk, the growth in the cost of leasing private land is hampered by the presence of local monopolies of tenants, the lack of a free land market and effective associations of land owners, most of which are citizens of old age.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has stated Berlin is ready to invest in the restoration of the east of Ukraine. “Germany is ready to invest in the restoration of Donbas,” Gabriel said at a breakfast with the representatives of business circles of Russia and Germany.
He also supported the idea of deploying the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas. “The idea of the UN peacekeeping mission has been on the agenda for six months. We need to try to speed it up. But we cannot solve this issue independently, it needs to be discussed within the framework of the UN Security Council,” the minister added.
According to Gabriel, “this is one of the few realistic opportunities to achieve results quickly enough.”
At the same time, the German foreign minister called for the phased lifting of sanctions from Russia in case of heavy weapons withdrawal in Donbas.
“If we manage to withdraw heavy weapons from the east of Ukraine, then it will be necessary to lift the sanctions step by step,” Gabriel said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and British Prime Minister Theresa May at a meeting in Munich discussed the prospect of the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas. “The parties discussed the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied part of Donbas,” the presidential press service said after the meeting. Poroshenko thanked Great Britain for continuing the educational mission for Ukrainian military men in the framework of the Orbital operation. In addition, he invited May to visit Ukraine.
Reforms are necessary for Ukraine itself and its citizens, it should not be a favor to the Western partners, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has stated.
“Don’t do this for us. Reforms are needed for Ukrainians and for Ukraine … This is not some kind of favor that Ukraine should do to the West. Ukrainians should do this for themselves,” she said, speaking at the Ukrainian lunch “Ukraine on the Frontlines of a New Kind of Warfare: Lessons for the West, and Prospects for Peace” organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in the framework of the 54th Munich Security Conference. According to the official, Ukraine should initiate and carry out reforms for its citizens.
Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill in Luhansk region, one of Ukraine’s largest cardboard packaging producers, produced 17.38 million square meters of corrugated cardboard boxes in January 2018, including goods from its Trypilsky packaging plant, which is 36.2% up year-over-year.
The mills increased production of components of corrugated cardboard (cardboard and fluting) by 9.4%, to 22,810 tonnes.
The total commodity amount produced by both plants in the period in monetary terms grew by 49.6%, to UAH 419.78 million.
According to UkrPapir association, cardboard packaging production in Ukraine in January 2018 grew by 23.8% and amounted to 77.64 million square meters.
The Kharkiv international airport plans to boost passenger flow to 900,000 people in 2018, which is 12% more than in 2017 (806,100).
“According to our estimates, the bulk of the passenger flow, as in previous years, will be provided by international flights – 729,000 people. It is expected that 171,000 people will take advantage of domestic flights,” the press service of the agency Interfax-Ukraine enterprise.
The Kharkiv airport in 2017 increased passenger traffic to 806,100 people (in 2016 this figure was 599,700 people).
In January 2018, the company’s passenger flow was 59,500 people, which is 25% more than for the same period in 2017 (47,500 people).
Kharkiv airport has a runway 2,500 meters long and 50 meters wide. There are two passenger terminals with the capacity of 100 and 650 people on its territory.
