KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed law No. 654-VIII which amends the Tax Code of Ukraine in order to create favorable conditions for the provision of education services by preschool and general education institutions of non-state ownership, the presidential press service reported.
According to the law, preschool and general education institutions irrespective of their form of ownership and their sources of financing, cultural, scientific, educational, healthcare, social protection, sports institutions fully funded by the national or local budgets are exempted from paying company property tax.
Buildings of preschool and general education institutions irrespective of their form of ownership and the source of financing, that are used to provide general educational services are exempted from paying tax on property other than land parcels.
The Verkhovna Rada passed this bill on July 17. The law takes effect from the first day of the month that follows the month when it was published.
KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-July 2015 exported 18,620 tonnes of pork, which is 7.4 times more than in the same period in 2014.
According to customs statistics, made public by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in monetary terms exports of these products for the seven months amounted to $38.997 million.
Pork imports for the period amounted to 2,184 tonnes compared to 20,170 tonnes a year earlier. In monetary terms the figure was $5.132 million.
Poultry exports rose by 5.6%, to 90,487 tonnes.
Poultry exports in monetary terms amounted to almost $125.553 million. Imports came to 27,964 tonnes worth $18.626 million, which is 2.1% less than in January-July 2014, when the figure amounted to 28,550 tonnes worth $29.77 million.
As reported, Ukraine in 2014 doubled exports of pork, to 9,400 tonnes, increased poultry shipments abroad by 20%, to 174,700 tonnes. At the same time, pork imports dropped five-fold, to 30,800 tonnes, poultry by 14.2%, to 61,000 tonnes.
KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-July 2015 imported fuel (foreign economic activity code 2710) for a total of $2.187 billion, in particular in July for $414.323 million.
According to the State Fiscal Service, in the seven months the cost of fuel imported from Belarus stood at $998.982 million, Russia $531.651 million, Lithuania $172.94 million, from other countries $482.97 million.
In January-July 2014, Ukraine imported fuel worth a total of $3.635 billion, in particular from Belarus for $1.865 billion, from Russia $679.696 million, Lithuania $373.448 million, from other countries for $717.659 million.
In addition, in January-July this year exports from Ukraine cost a total of $81.621 million. The price of fuel delivered to Cypriot counterparties was $23.221 million, Italy $14.205 million, Russia $6.184 million, other countries $38.011 million.
Code 2710 applies to not only petrol and diesel fuel, but fuel oil, jet fuel, a number of other specific products.
At the same time, Ukraine in January-July 2015 did not import oil (code 2709), however oil exports to Lithuania amounted to $2.647 million.
KYIV. Aug 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Opening an international river checkpoint will increase increasing cargo traffic between Belarus and Ukraine, according to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine,
The press service said the issue was discussed at a meeting of the ministry’s representatives, Kyiv river port PJSC, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine and Kyiv City Customs Office.
According to the ministry, vessels are currently unloaded and cargo is processed at the international checkpoint in Kherson. According to the ministry, a new checkpoint in Kyiv will increase the volume of river cargo traffic between Ukraine and Belarus.
Chairman of the Board of Kyiv river Port Andriy Savchuk expressed his readiness to work on the issue.
“To start the preparation of technical-economic grounds for the project, it’s necessary that a detailed analysis be conducted regarding how opening of a checkpoint will affect the dynamics of cargo traffic on river transport from the Belarus,” he said.
Based on the results of the meeting, the Fiscal Service and Infrastructure Ministry decided to give relevant information regarding the dynamics of cargo traffic from Belarus in 2013-1015 and the prospects of its growth if a checkpoint in Kyiv is opened at Kyiv river port. The decision on realizing the project and its prospects will be made after the abovementioned information is considered.
KYIV. Aug 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s potential for grain exports in the 2015/2016 marketing year (July through June) is estimated at 36-40 million tonnes, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation Serhiy Stoianov has said.
“The grain supply projected for the 2015/2016 marketing year in Ukraine may be 70-74 million tonnes, which includes ending stocks from the previous marketing year. The amount is enough to meet domestic demand, projected at 24 million tonnes, ensure potential exports projected at 36-40 million tonnes and reliable ending stocks for the next year, expected at 9.5 million tonnes,” a post on the UAC’s website quotes Stoianov as saying.
The UAC forecasts that in the 2015-2016 marketing year Ukraine may harvest over 25 million tonnes of wheat, 8 million tonnes of barley, 28.5 million tonnes of maize and over 1.5 million tonnes of other crops. Thus, the gross yield of grain over the period under review is estimated at 63 million tonnes.
Stoianov said there are good prospects for oilseeds and grain crops, namely soybeans, sunflower seeds and rapeseeds.
Stoianov’s forecasts for oilseeds are based on information about areas sown with crops and expected yields.
In autumn 2014, Ukrainian farmers sowed 8.5 million hectares with winter crops, which is more than during the autumn that preceded the war in Donbas. In the spring, they added about 15 million hectares of spring grain, leguminous and oil-yielding crops.
Stoianov claims that the crop yield, which is over 34 centners [one metric centner equals 100 kg] per hectare in the current marketing year, compared to 34.3 centners per hectare in the previous marketing year, is acceptable.
The government should listen to farmers who are leading compared with other sectors of the economy and who ensure that receipts of foreign currency are transferred to the country, Stoianov said.
He claims that the state should stop trying to cancel benefits for Ukrainian farmers, including the accumulation of value added tax, which is “beggarly” compared to other Eastern European countries.
In his words, the state also owes about UAH 800 million in accounts payable for two years under programs for agricultural support.
ASTANA. Aug 7 (Interfax) – Ukraine is currently assessing commercial offers from Kazakh coal producers in terms of prospective coal shipments, the press service of Kazakhstan’s energy ministry told Interfax.
“Should the Ukrainian coal consumers make a decision to go ahead, shipments of coal from Kazakhstan to Ukraine would be carried out under contracts signed by economic agents of two countries. Such contracts are to stipulate certain volumes of shipments, [conditions of] transportation, as well as liabilities of two parties with regard to their execution of the contract,” the press service said.
“Given the potential for increasing coal production as well as capacities of our coal producers, Kazakhstan is in a position to offer Ukraine considerable volumes of coal shipments,” the letter of the press service sent in reply to an Interfax query said.
Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said that today, coal concentrate is only shipped to Ukraine by the coal department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, AO, delivering it to its own Ukrainian plant, at a level of 700-750,000 tonnes annually. The coal concentrate is a product of such processing of extracted coal as designed for coke production.
It was reported that an agreement about Kazakh coal shipments to Ukraine was reached during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to Ukraine in December 2014. The issue of unrestricted coal shipments from Russia to Ukraine was expected to be solved during the summer period.
Earlier, Nikolai Radostovets, Director of the Republican Association of Extraction and Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises of Kazakhstan, said in an interview with Interfax that “the Government will have to make efforts for the heating season in 2015-2016 to be successful for Kazakhstan, in terms of coal shipments to Ukraine.”
