Dynamics of reserves of Ukraine from 2012 to 2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In 2023/24 marketing year, Ukraine exported 31.887 mln tonnes of grains and pulses, down 6.8% compared to the previous year, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the operational data of the State Customs Service.
According to the press service, 2.217 mln tons of grains and pulses were shipped this month, which is 11.4% more than last year.
According to the report, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 12.761 million tons of wheat (989 thousand tons were shipped to foreign markets in March); barley – 1.782 million tons (159 thousand tons); rye – 1 thousand tons (0); corn – 17.059 million tons (1.064 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour as of March 13 are also lower than last year and are estimated at 75.7 thousand tons (1.7 thousand tons in March), including 71.9 thousand tons of wheat (1.6 thousand tons).
Ambassadors of the European Union member states have approved the allocation of 5 billion euros of military aid for Ukraine under the European Peace Facility.
The decision was taken on Wednesday in Brussels on the sidelines of a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Belgian Presidency said on its social media page X.
“A deal! EU ambassadors agreed in principle to reform the European Peace Facility to support Ukraine with a €5 billion budget for 2024. The European Union remains determined to provide long-term support to Ukraine and to ensure that the country receives the military equipment it needs to defend itself,” the presidency said.
The European Union should think about reducing access to the European market of sugar from third countries at least by 10%, then there would be a place for Ukrainian sugar in the EU, which would not allow this market to collapse, said the director of the National Association of Sugar Beet Producers of Poland Rafal Strahota in the program “Between Brussels and Kiev” on farmer.pl.
“The European Union has opened up the market in recent years. It has signed a number of trade agreements with various third countries. I know it is difficult, but if we reduced access to the EU market by at least a dozen percent, there would be enough room for Ukrainian sugar, and at the same time it would not destroy the EU market,” he said.
The director of the industry association noted that no one in the European Union had raised this topic.
Strakhota recalled that the European Commission is developing a regulation on protective measures, which provides for the introduction of a limit on sugar imports from Ukraine, taking into account export data, which are based on 2022-2023. Taking these data, Strachota calculates that Ukraine will be allowed to supply Poland with 320,000 tons of sugar per year.
“This is too much,” he stated.
According to the National Association of Sugar Beet Producers of Poland, in 2023-2024, the structure of Poland’s sugar imports looked like this: 32% accounted for Ukraine, 23% – Brazil, 9% – Eswatini, 7% each – Mauritius and Colombia, 18% – other countries.
At the same time, Poland grew 2.34 million tons of sugar beet in 2023 by expanding the production area under it, which amounted to 265 thousand hectares. The average beet yield was about 64 tons/ha, with very large yield differences between individual regions. In Poland, more than 26,000 people grew beet last year.
“At the same time, from October to December 2023, average sugar prices in Poland fell by 12%, and when packaged in 1 kg packages, the price drop exceeded 20%,” said the director of the industry association.
Strahota expressed concern that before the Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM) come into effect in June 2024, the Polish market could face a problem due to Ukrainian sugar.
“We fear that by that time a lot of sugar may come from Ukraine. Let me remind you, the action has ended (the sugar season – IF-U) and sugar has been produced. It is in warehouses, and in fact in these warehouses there are still about 600 thousand of sugar, which can easily get to the EU,” – Strahota emphasized.
He recalled that in 2023 in Ukraine was sown about 250 thousand hectares of sugar beet, produced about 1.8 million tons of sugar. Domestic consumption is less than 1 million tons, so the export potential is 800 thousand tons.
“In the first three months of the current marketing year, about 200 thousand tons of sugar from Ukraine entered the EU,” the expert said.
The publication cited data according to which Ukraine supplied to Poland in 2021 17.777 thousand tons of sugar, in 2022 – 15.278 thousand tons, and in 2023 it reached 468.97 thousand tons.
“At stake is the fate of the extension of the EU trade liberalization with Ukraine for another year, that is, until June 2025 with the restriction of sugar imports from this country, but in this case, the average figures of 2022 and 2023, when imports of this raw material from Ukraine were huge, are taken as benchmarks,” regretted the director of the National Association of Sugar Beet Producers of Poland and added that the country asks the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Union to use the volume of supplies for 2021-2022 to calculate the allowable sugar imports.
Cherkasy Bus JSC ended 2023 with a net profit of UAH 182.44 million, which is 2.8 times higher than in 2022, according to the information on the agenda of the general meeting of shareholders of the JSC for 2021-2023.
According to the draft decision of the meeting scheduled for April 17, published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the shareholders intend to keep the profit at the disposal of the company. The net profit of UAH 65.019 million received in 2022 and UAH 22.84 million for 2021 is also planned to be retained by the company.
The meeting also intends to approve the planned net profit for 2024 in the amount of UAH 52.72 million.
According to Cherkasy Bus, at the beginning of this year, its retained earnings amounted to UAH 151.3 million, while in 2022 and 2021, the uncovered loss amounted to UAH 22.6 million and UAH 88.9 million, respectively.
According to the agenda, the company’s shareholders intend, among other things, to approve the report of the Supervisory Board for 2021-2023, measures to improve the financial condition of the JSC in 2024 and maintain production facilities.
In addition, it is planned to introduce the position of corporate secretary, exclude the audit committee from the JSC’s bodies, and re-elect the supervisory board.
According to the company, in 2023, its assets increased by 53.6% to UAH 805.12 million, including total receivables, which almost doubled to UAH 342 million, and inventories increased by 43.8% to UAH 377.22 million.
The company has increased its current liabilities by 34.8% to UAH 358.8 million by 2022, while long-term liabilities grew slightly to UAH 116.9 million.
Founded in 1994, Cherkasy Bus produces small class Ataman buses (including school buses), as well as other wheeled vehicles based on Japanese Isuzu units.
The plant reportedly planned to invest UAH 200 million in the production of larger buses.
According to the Clarity-project website, in 2023 the company doubled its net income by 2022 to UAH 1 billion 725.8 million.
According to the NSSMC, as of the third quarter of 2023, Oleksandr Dorosh, business manager of Isuzu-Ataman Ukraine, owns 42.2883% of the shares of Cherkasy Bus, three individuals, including long-time Chairman of the Board Vitaliy Raabe, own 7.9275% each, and two others own 5.3999% and 8.2498%, respectively.
The authorized capital of the company is UAH 162.97 million.
During the four months of the 2023-2024 heating season, electricity consumption by the Ukrainian industry amounted to about 9.38 billion kWh, which is 23% more than in November-February 2022-2023 (7.61 billion kWh).
“Due to the stable operation of the power grid, the Ukrainian industry increased electricity consumption by 23% during the heating season,” the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine said on Wednesday.
At the same time, in November 2023, the growth was 25.75% compared to the same period of the previous year, in December – 37.56%, in January 2024 – 27.58%, and in February – 6.17%.
“The development of industry and the economy is impossible without the stable operation of the power system. This is ensured primarily due to large-scale repairs in the energy sector, which will continue in the future, and our military, which protects the infrastructure from enemy attacks,” said Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
During this period, electricity consumption by households also increased by almost 12% – 12.64 billion kWh versus 11.3 billion kWh.
According to the Ministry of Energy, in November-February 2023/2024, Ukrainian power generating enterprises produced more than 41.53 billion kWh of electricity, which is 16% higher than the production volume for the same period in the autumn-winter period (AWP) 2022/2023.
More than half of this electricity was generated by Ukrainian NPPs – 22.17 billion kWh, which is 22% more than in the four months of the previous Winters.
At the same time, HPPs increased electricity production by 7.5% to 4.16 billion kWh, TPPs by 10% to 13 billion kWh, and RES by 25% to 2.03 billion kWh.
