The volume of imports to Ukraine in January-September 2023 amounted to $46.6 billion, up 18.9% or $7.4 billion compared to the same period a year earlier, the State Customs Service reported on its website on Friday.
At the same time, the volume of Ukrainian exports decreased by 18.1% or $6 billion to $27.1 billion, according to the published information.
The negative balance for the first 9 months of this year amounted to $19.5 billion, which is 3.2 times more than in the same period last year.
According to the State Customs Service, exports of goods fell by 15% to $24.5 billion over the first eight months, while imports grew by 19% to $41.1 billion, and the negative balance of trade in goods almost tripled to $16.6 billion.
“At the same time, taxable imports amounted to $38.3 billion, which is 82% of the total volume of imported goods. The tax burden per 1 kg of taxable imports in January-September 2023 amounted to $0.48 per kg, which is 47% more than in the same period in 2022,” the agency said on Friday.
It is specified that most of the imported goods during the reporting period came to Ukraine from China – $7.4 billion ($5.8 billion for 9 months of 2022), Poland – $4.9 billion ($3.8 billion) and Turkey – $3.7 billion (last year the top three included Germany with $3.3 billion).
Most of Ukraine’s goods were exported to Poland – $3.7 billion ($5.1 billion), Romania – $3 billion ($2.6 billion), and Turkey – $1.9 billion ($2.2 billion).
According to the State Customs Service, in January-September 2023, 65% of total imports of goods were machinery, equipment and transport – $14.1 billion (UAH 100.6 billion, or 31% of customs revenues, was paid to the budget during customs clearance), chemical products – $8.4 billion (UAH 57.2 billion, or 17% of customs revenues) and fuel and energy products – $7.9 billion (UAH 68.0 billion, or 21% of customs revenues).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine are food products – $16.1 billion, metals and metal products – $3 billion, and machinery, equipment and transport – $2.3 billion.
The agency added that UAH 472.9 million was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties.
In 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) may raise salaries by 10% if the Cabinet of Ministers supports the decision, UZ CEO Yevhen Lyashchenko said at the International Economic Forum in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to him, the total payments to employees of shortage professions, such as fitters and electricians, have already been increased by 30-40%, thanks to a performance bonus program.
“We understand that there are 90,000 people without whom UZ will not operate. These people are the focus of our raises, and they are very significant. We have launched a program to increase the level of bonuses for the work done, for the real result. In about three months, we have increased total payments for acutely shortage professions by 30%, and even by 40% for electricians,” said Lyashchenko.
Personnel costs account for about 50% of UZ’s total expenses, the CEO said, which is a big financial burden on the company.
The average salary in the company is currently UAH 14.5 thousand. The company has 220,000 employees, but, according to Lyashchenko, 190,000 people work for UZ and 5,500 for affiliated companies.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” announced Dutch auctions through “Prozorro.Sales” 300 grain carriers of the branch “Center of transport logistics” for the transportation of agricultural products to ports.
According to the message on the electronic trading platform, 40 lots of 5 wagons and 10 lots of 10 wagons in group shipments in the direction of ports (except for Izmail and Reni) are offered at the auction. The starting rate is 600 UAH/day and may decrease to 354 UAH/day.
Loading is possible in the period of October 19-31, 2023.
The auction is scheduled for October 13. Applications for participation in the auction are also accepted until October 13 inclusive.
In January-September this year, Ukraine reduced exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 44.5% year-on-year to 924,463 thousand tons.
According to the statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), exports of carbon steel semi-finished products amounted to $476.690 million in monetary terms over the period (down 54.8%).
The main exports were to Bulgaria (35.56% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (26.50%) and Italy (9.88%).
In January-September, Ukraine imported 92 tons of semi-finished products from China worth $169 thousand, while no imports were made in September.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine decreased exports of carbon steel semi-finished products in physical terms by 72% compared to the previous year – to 1 million 899.729 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 70.9% – to $1 billion 191.279 million. The main exports were made to Bulgaria (26.55% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (13.97%) and Italy (12.13%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 5,558 thousand tons of similar products in 2022, which is 85.7% less than in 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 86% to $3.634 million. Imports were carried out from the Russian Federation (96.92% of supplies before the war), China (1.84%), and Romania (1.21%).
In the first half of 2023, DTEK Renewables reduced its gross revenue by 5.2% compared to the same period in 2022 to UAH 1.787 billion, which happened in the absence of generation at the temporarily occupied wind farms and the crisis of non-payment for renewable energy.
As noted in the company’s report published on the Irish Stock Exchange on Friday, the level of payments to renewable energy companies in Ukraine for the period February-August is in the range of 42-52%, which is significantly lower than expected.
The company clarified that the nominal debt of SE Guaranteed Buyer to it for the sold electricity as of June 30, 2023 amounted to UAH 2.57 billion against UAH 1.53 billion at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, DTEK Renewables received UAH 179 million of net profit in the first half of 2023 against UAH 18 billion of loss in the same period of 2022 due to the absence of impairment charges on non-current assets in the amount of UAH 17.36 billion last year.
“The loss in the first half of 2022 was caused by the accrual of expenses in connection with the occupation of some of DTEK Renewables’ power plants, revision of plans for the construction of Tiligulska wind farm and economic depreciation due to the deteriorating economic situation,” the company said.
At the same time, exchange rate differences in financial and investment activities in January-June this year turned out to be negative for DTEK Renewables – UAH 285 million, while in January-June 2022 they were recorded plus UAH 300 million.
The amount of debt for the reporting period decreased from UAH 21.57 billion to UAH 20.31 billion, and the amount of free cash increased from UAH 3.44 billion to UAH 4.69 billion.
It is noted that during the reporting period, solar power plants increased electricity output due to more favorable weather conditions, a decrease in dispatch restrictions in the face of electricity shortages, and a decrease in the level of imbalances. It is specified that sales of SPPs were four times higher than sales of wind farms.
It is also indicated that in early spring, DTEK Renewables commissioned 19 wind turbines at Tiligulska WEP with a total capacity of 114 MW.
The ports of the Greater Odesa Ports have received three more bulk carriers that have passed through the temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy, said Andriy Klym, Head of the Sanctions and Freedom of Navigation Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute.
According to him, the vessels in question are Peter S (Greek shipowner), Xin Shun (Chinese shipowner) and Bull (Singaporean shipowner).
According to MarineTraffic, the 71.6 thousand dwt Peter S was heading to the Chornomorsk port under the flag of Liberia, and the 75.8 thousand dwt Xin Shun was heading to the Pivdennyi port under the flag of Panama.
Falcona with a deadweight of 82 thousand tons, according to the resource, arrived at the port of Odesa under the flag of Liberia.
Earlier on Thursday, two bulk carriers left the ports of Greater Odesa with cargo: Beaver with a deadweight of 81.8 thousand tons under the flag of Liberia (shipowner: Marshall Islands) and Castor with 78.9 thousand tons under the flag of Liberia (shipowner: Liberia).
As reported, since September 16, 23 vessels with a total deadweight of 898.3 thousand tons have arrived at the ports of Greater Odesa via the new Ukrainian corridor, while 14 vessels with a total deadweight of 466.9 thousand tons have left.
