KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Germany’s BASF chemical concern expects that the Ukrainian crop protection agent market will expand by 4-5% in 2015 after a decline of 15% in 2014, to EUR 600 million, BASF Agribusiness Manager in Ukraine, Moldova and the Caucasian countries Tiberiu Dima told reporters at the presentation of the farmer training program “The Growth Point” in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that the company’s share of the Ukrainian crop protection market was 15-20% in 2014, which is expected to grow in 2015, however the company’s market share will not change.
BASF, jointly with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will launch “The Growth Point” training program for farmers. The project will be implemented in the 2016 season and around 240 farmers-representatives of large and medium farms with a total land bank of around 4,000 ha will participate.
The program organizers said that it will include financial management, marketing, business planning, risk management, and training on the effective use of innovative solutions and practical aspects of agribusiness financing.
“The goal of cooperation between BASF and IFC is to provide an opportunity to farmers to understand the financial aspect of business, assess various risks, and thus make more thoughtful strategic decisions for successful development,” Head of the marketing and financial service group at BASF in Ukraine Artem Rosliakov said at the presentation.
KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The development of exports will take a long time but Ukrainian metalwork producers will soon occupy a niche and will be in demand on the European market, first of all in Poland, and they will also be able to successfully realize projects in developing regions in the post-Soviet space, Director General of Ukrstalkonstruktsiya and Board Chairman of the Ukrainian Steelwork Construction Center Volodymyr Nosov has said.
He said that the price of Ukrainian rolled metal is currently close to European prices, and taking into account the specifics of production processes at Ukrainian enterprises, Ukrainian metalwork products do not have an absolute price advantage in Europe.
“It is very important that Ukrainian metal roll suppliers feel interested in growth in the production of produce with higher added value, and increase domestic metal roll consumption. Today we sees this interest, and we hope that with the joint efforts of the steelwork construction sector participants, Ukrainian metalwork [products] will become more competitive in the West,” he said in an interview with the Ukrainian Steelwork Construction Center, which has been posted on its website.
Nosov said that most Ukrainian metalwork producers are less efficient than their European counterparts. Ukraine has small production volumes and it is inappropriate to invest in the optimization of organization of production processes.
“In other words, Ukrainian producers have the potential to reduce the production cost of metalwork [products],” he said, adding that it is strategically important for Ukrainian metalwork producers to develop exports, even if they make losses during the initial stages.
KYIV. Nov 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The total area of rented office space in Kyiv in January-September 2015 increased by 14% compared to the same period in 2014, to about 70,000 square meters, while in July-September 2015 tenant demand remained buoyant.
This is according to a report issued by Colliers International consulting company.
“A major part of transactions in the office segment are those on revising and extending the existing lease agreements. Recently however, the number of requests to move to new offices has grown significantly, which, according to our forecasts, could transform into a quality indicators and positively impact the amount of office absorption in the next six months,” Managing Director of Colliers International in Ukraine Oleksandr Nosachenko said.
According to the report, in January-September 2015 the demand for offices in Kyiv was formed mainly by IT sector companies (40%), which have occupied the largest share among tenants in the total demand for such premises for a long time.
According to Colliers International, in July-September 2015 two new B class office centers entered the Kyiv office space market: at 56 Chervonozoriany Avenue (with a gross lettable area of 8,700 square meters) and at 3 Novovokzalna Street (5,500 square meters).
According to the company, the new supply of office space in Kyiv in January-September 2015 totaled about 55,000 square meters, while general availability totaled 1.745 million square meters.
KYIV. Nov 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine threshed grain and leguminous crops on 13.7 million hectares (93% of the projected area) and collected 54.3 million tonnes of grain by October 30.
According to the press service of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry, the maize yield by this date was 16.5 million tonnes.
The average yield of grain crops in the country currently stands at 39.7 centners per ha against 41 centners per ha in 2014.
In addition, agrarians harvested 10.4 million tonnes of sunflower from 4.9 million hectares (98% of the forecast) and 3.4 million tonnes of soybeans from 2 million hectares (92%).
Sugar beets had been harvested from 172,000 ha (72% of the forecast) by October 30 with a yield of 6.9 million tonnes.
As reported, the ministry expects that the grain harvest in Ukraine in 2015 will reach 59.2 million tonnes, while the USDA estimates it at 61.775 million tonnes.
KYIV. Nov 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Services has initiated the allocation of funds from the 2016 national budget for local authorities to finance the preparation of investment projects with corresponding feasibility studies.
“We should foresee funds in the 2016 budget for local authorities to prepare projects,” Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development Hennadiy Zubko said during the signing of documents on the transfer of powers of architectural and construction control to Krasny Lyman and Druzhkivka city councils in Kyiv.
He also said that the ministry has initiated the allocation of funds from the 2016 budget for the financial support of united territorial communities, which will make decisions on the submission of various investment projects which are being implemented with the funds of the State Regional Development Fund.
ODESA. Nov 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of Odesa customs center Yulia Marushevska has signed a resolution that permits customs clearance for goods imported from 30 countries to be carried out at the contract price if the goods come with a certificate of origin.
Marushevska wrote on her Facebook page that this concerns the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the U.S.
“First, in national customs practice, the benefit of the doubt is given to business. We’re expecting that with the introduction of this relaxed approach, goods flow will increase. This resolution will also help to remove manipulations of the definition of the customs value,” she said.
Marushevska has partially revoked the assessment of imported goods at so-called indicative prices at Odesa customs center. The indicative prices scheme was introduced in 2008 to compare the cost of goods imported to Ukraine with information on the same or similar goods contained in a specialized database.
She said this was done to prevent importers from setting the price of goods too low deliberately to cut official customs fees. In practice, the scheme turned out to be easily used to facilitate corruption: customs officers could reduce the indicative assessment or not apply it at all to facilitate a bribe. Customs officers set the indicative assessment too high for other importers, to ensure that they also received a bribe.
