“Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) plans to make a net profit of UAH 7 billion in 2023 after a net loss of UAH 9.6 billion in 2022, acting CEO Yevhen Lyashchenko said at the final meeting of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure’s team with diplomatic missions and the public in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to him, in 2023, UZ will receive a record revenue of UAH 99.6 billion over the past five years, UAH 82.1 billion of which will be accounted for by freight transportation, UAH 8.4 billion by passenger transportation, and UAH 9.1 billion by other revenues.
According to the data provided by him, in 2022, UZ’s revenues fell to UAH 75.7 billion from UAH 86 billion in 2021 and UAH 90.4 billion in 2019.
In particular, revenues from freight transportation last year decreased to UAH 63 billion from UAH 72.3 billion a year earlier, passenger transportation – to UAH 5.9 billion from UAH 6.2 billion, and other revenues – to UAH 6.8 billion from UAH 7.5 billion.
Lyashchenko noted that the implementation of measures to optimize operations helped UZ to reach profit in 2023, and 70% of operational purchases by value are already made under direct contracts with manufacturers.
According to the CEO, in particular, since March 2023, UZ has saved more than UAH 1 billion on diesel fuel purchases by adjusting fuel standards and procurement practices.
In January-November of this year, Ukrainian companies increased exports of ferrous scrap by 3.84 times compared to the same period last year, to 161,025 thousand tons, including 14,098 thousand tons of strategic raw materials exported in November.
According to the statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in monetary terms, scrap metal exports amounted to $46.406 million in the period under review (up 2.93 times).
At the same time, the export of scrap metal has been growing since March: in January, about 8.28 thousand tons of scrap were exported, in February – 16.5 thousand tons, in March – 15.45 thousand tons, in April – about 16.19 thousand tons, in May – 21.5 thousand tons. tons, in May – 21.003 thousand tons, in June – 14.6 thousand tons, in July – 9.567 thousand tons, in August – 15.849 thousand tons, in September – 13.7 thousand tons, in October – 15.796 thousand tons, in November – 14.1 thousand tons.
Scrap metal was formally exported to Poland (85.87%), Greece (8.07%) and Bulgaria (2.35%).
In the first two months of the year, the country did not import scrap metal; in March-November, it imported 987 tons of scrap worth $383 thousand (48.04% from Slovakia, 22.45% from Poland, 7.31% from Estonia).
Earlier, Ukrmetallurgprom President Oleksandr Kalenkov stated in a column on the Interfax-Ukraine website that scrap metal is exported through the European Union, which has a preferential export duty of EUR3 per ton, and from there the raw materials are redirected to real customers. He pointed out that exporting raw materials directly to customers would cost EUR180 in export duty, and the Ukrainian budget has already lost UAH 350 million.
According to him, the State Bureau of Investigation has already taken an interest in such export schemes.
The head of Ukrmetallurgprom called for a temporary ban on the export of ferrous scrap to provide steelmakers with strategically important raw materials in the ongoing war. He also clarified that a ton of scrap metal processed into steel brings in 10 times more to the budget than the EU export duty, which is about $300 per ton.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of ferrous scrap by 11.5 times compared to the previous year to 53,557 thousand tons, while in monetary terms it decreased by 12.4 times to $19.271 million. At the same time, last year the country reduced imports of scrap metal in physical terms by 12.6 times to 1,824 thousand tons. tons, compared to the previous year – to $19.271 million tons, in monetary terms by 12.9 times – to $3.488 million. Imports of scrap metal in 2022 were mainly from Turkey (78.92% of supplies in monetary terms), the Russian Federation (13.25%) and Cyprus (5.08%); exports – to Turkey (38.97%), Poland (34.25%) and Greece (10.12%).
External financing of the state budget as of June 14, 2023, USD bln
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Kyivstar has urged to trust only official information as fraudsters have become more active in Internet messengers, the company’s press service reports. “Currently, fraudsters have become more active in various messengers, so we ask you to trust only official information,” the company said in a Facebook post.
It is reported that news about compensation and the timing of the network upgrade will come exclusively from the company’s official pages.
“Kyivstar urged users not to share phone numbers and personal data with suspicious people. “They may turn out to be fraudsters,” the press service said.
Earlier it was reported that the largest Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar partially restored the operation of fixed-line services after a large-scale failure at 20:00 on Tuesday, and the company promised to complete the restoration of other services during the day on December 13.
Sales of apartments in Ukrainian new buildings in the third quarter of 2023 recovered by 24% from the pre-war level, while demand for housing is already at 70-80%, according to a study by the LUN real estate portal.
“We compared the sales of developers with the figures for 2021. At the end of 2022, sales recovered to 11%. In 2023, sales grew rapidly and as of the third quarter recovered by almost a quarter to 24%. We see the market recovering in all segments in 2023. Now people are buying ready-made housing or with a commissioning period of up to 1 year. But it is already obvious that deferred demand is forming. In the absence of escalation, we can expect the market to stabilize,” said Olga Okhrimenko, LUN Sales Director, at the RED Online Meeting “Housing Market: Results 2023 and Forecasts 2024”.
According to the study, sales in Kyiv and Kyiv region are recovering at a slower pace and are currently at 17% of the pre-war level. At the same time, sales in Lviv and the region reached 42%.
To date, sales have been opened in 83% of residential complexes in Ukraine, and construction has resumed at 77% of construction sites, LUN notes. In December 2023, 916 residential complexes are under construction, of which 4% have already been sold out, 3% have not yet started sales, and 5% have stopped sales.
The largest number of residential complexes with open sales is in the Kyiv region: 230 in Kyiv and 182 in Kyiv region. Other leaders are Lviv region (238 objects for sale), Odesa (135), Ivano-Frankivsk (91), Khmelnytsky (88) and Ternopil (80).
According to LUN, after the start of the full-scale invasion, sales started in 275 residential complexes, most of them in Lviv region (79), Kyiv region (43), Ternopil region (29), Ivano-Frankivsk region (24) and Zakarpattia region (23). During this period, 294 residential complexes completed sales.
Okhrimenko noted that over the past six months, the issuance of mortgage loans under the eHouse program has been showing active dynamics, which has a positive impact on the demand for housing.
“As for the interest in buying an apartment, today it has recovered to the level of 70-80% after falling to 30% in February 2022. People are now interested in buying an apartment again, both in the primary and secondary real estate markets,” the expert said.
At the same time, the slow pace of housing commissioning may provoke a shortage of new apartments for participants in the 7% government program, under which the chosen house must be no older than three years. Thus, according to LUN, in January-September 2023, 15% less housing was commissioned in the capital than last year, 35% less in Kyiv region, and 38% less in Lviv.
Average prices for new buildings increased in almost all regions over the year, according to the study. Prices remained at the same level in Kyiv (UAH 47.3 thousand per square meter), Lviv region (UAH 35.8 thousand per square meter) and Dnipropetrovs’k region (UAH 39.2 thousand per square meter). At the same time, prices decreased by 6% (to UAH 33 thousand per square meter) in Odesa region, by 8% (to UAH 31.1 thousand per square meter) in Vinnytsia region and by 21% (to UAH 26.9 thousand per square meter) in Mykolaiv region.
The largest increase in average housing prices was recorded in Kharkiv region – by 35% (to UAH 28.3 thousand per square meter), Kirovohrad region – by 26% (to UAH 31.5 thousand per square meter), Khmelnytsky region – by 22% (to UAH 24.3 thousand per square meter).
According to LUN, Lviv holds the lead in terms of the high cost of new buildings with 48.5 thousand UAH/sq. m. This is followed by Kyiv at 48 thousand UAH/sq m, Uzhhorod at 41.5 thousand UAH/sq m, Dnipro at 40 thousand UAH/sq m and Odesa at 36.2 thousand UAH/sq m.
In the secondary market, average housing prices increase depending on the distance from the area of active hostilities, Okhrimenko noted.
“The farther the region is from the fighting, the higher the prices are. The exception is the capital. Many Kyiv residents are not returning yet and have not decided to buy housing. That is why Kyiv is not raising prices yet, and has even reduced them a bit,” she explained.
The largest increase in prices in the secondary market over the past six months was shown by Lviv – a “plus” of $6.4 thousand, up to $58.5 thousand for a one-bedroom apartment. Prices also increased significantly in Ivano-Frankivsk (+$4.7 thousand, up to $31.7 thousand), Chernihiv (+$4 thousand, up to $31 thousand) and Cherkasy (+$3.4 thousand, up to $38.4 thousand).
Average prices for two-bedroom apartments in the secondary market increased the most in Vinnytsia (+$8.9 thousand, to $59.9 thousand), as well as in Chernivtsi (+7 thousand, to $62 thousand), Lviv (+$7 thousand, to $87 thousand) and Cherkasy (+$7 thousand, to $57 thousand).
Three-bedroom housing on the secondary market has risen in price the most in Vinnytsia (+$8.8 thousand, to $75.8 thousand), Lviv (+$7.7 thousand, to $108.7 thousand), Ivano-Frankivsk (+$7 thousand, to $60 thousand). At the same time, the average price of three-bedroom apartments in the secondary market in Kyiv fell by $8 thousand to $135 thousand.
“Ukrburgaz (a division of Ukrgasvydobuvannya) has set records in daily, monthly and annual penetration this year, said Oleh Tolmachov, UGV CEO.
“Next year, UGV plans to maintain the trend of increasing gas production and increase drilling penetration. Already this year, we see that our major projects, such as large-scale 3D seismic, are yielding results – a powerful well in western Ukraine. And next year, we expect even more data and will plan new drilling wells,” the company’s press service quoted him as saying on Facebook.
An important component of the company’s success in overcoming the production decline trend is the revision of the drilling site preparation cycle, which has reduced the time spent working with wells.
UGV is also working to shorten the well construction cycle, reduce capital expenditures and improve safety.
As reported, in February this year, UGV CEO Oleh Tolmachov said that the company plans to increase drilling by 1.5 times compared to last year – up to 300 thousand meters in 2023.
In 2023, Ukrgasvydobuvannya is tasked with increasing natural gas production by 1 bcm to 13.5 bcm. In 2022, the company produced 12.5 bcm of natural gas (commercial), which is 3% less than in 2021.
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine owns 100% of Ukrgasvydobuvannya shares.
