In January-February, the volume of marketable output of Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill (Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill, Obukhiv, Kyiv region), Ukraine’s industry leader in this indicator, amounted to UAH 1 billion 210 million, down 2.4% year-on-year.
According to Ukrpapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, corrugated box production in physical terms decreased by 5.7% to 33.45 million square meters over the period, but the plant confidently retains its leadership in corrugated packaging production in Ukraine.
Cardboard production decreased by 20% to 23.2 thousand tons, due to a drop in containerboard production by almost 23% to 18.68 thousand tons, and boxboard production by 4.8% to 4.52 thousand tons.
At the same time, the output of base paper for sanitary and hygiene products increased by 19.4% to 7.8 thousand tons, and the production of toilet paper in rolls increased by 20.5% to 42.47 million units.
The mill continues to be a leader in the production of this product in Ukraine, with 105.71 million rolls produced in just two months, up 20.8%.
According to UkrPapir, in February, the plant increased its paper and cardboard output by 5% compared to February 2023 and by 8.6% compared to January 2024, to 16.14 thousand tons, while corrugated boxes decreased by 7.7% and increased by 2.4%, to 16.93 million square meters.
According to the association’s data from the main industry enterprises, in January-February, paper and cardboard production in Ukraine decreased by 2.2% compared to January-February 2023, to 87.93 thousand tons, while cardboard boxes increased by 12.3%, to 87.29 million square meters.
Kyiv Pulp and Paper Mill is the parent company of Kyiv Pulp and Paper Group, one of the largest cardboard and paper products producers in Europe with a staff of over 2,500 people.
It has, in particular, a cardboard production facility with a capacity of 240 thousand tons per year and a corrugated packaging plant with a capacity of 355 million square meters, a production facility for the production of base paper and finished products with a capacity of 70 thousand tons of base paper annually.
As reported, in 2023, the plant produced products worth UAH 7 billion 568 million, up 1.8% year-on-year.
Benchmark crude oil prices are rising on Monday morning.
Despite a slight downward correction in trading on Friday, crude rose by about 4% last week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
“The most turbulent part of the rally is still ahead,” said Alex Kupcikiewicz, senior market analyst at FxPro, as quoted by MarketWatch.
The price of May futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:00 a.m. was $85.64 per barrel, which is $0.3 (0.35%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Friday, these contracts fell by $0.08 (0.1%) to $85.34 per barrel.
Quotes for WTI futures for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning increased by $0.35 (0.43%) to $81.39 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, the price of these contracts fell by $0.22 (0.3%) to $81.04 per barrel.
The market was boosted, in particular, by the news of a decline in US oil inventories for the first time in seven weeks.
Other factors contributing to the growth of quotations are the persistence of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries and the extension of production restrictions by OPEC+ countries, experts say.
In addition, the International Energy Agency has raised its 2024 demand forecast by 200 thousand barrels per day to 103.2 million bpd. As a result, the IEA now expects the global market to face a deficit of about 300 thousand bpd this year instead of the previously expected small surplus if OPEC+ restrictions continue.
Population structure of Ukraine (data from Ukrainian institute of future)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
India imported $6.15 billion worth of gold in February 2023, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This is 2.3 times more than in February last year, 3.2 times more than in January this year and in general about twice the traditional average monthly levels.
That said, India Bullion and Jewellers Association president Prithviraj Kothari predicts that imports may not be significant in March due to record high gold prices. “Consumers cannot digest the current price level. If prices remain this high, it will affect demand in the current wedding season,” he told Reuters. – It makes no sense for banks and refiners to import.”
In January-February, India’s gold imports totaled $8.06 billion, 2.4 times the result of the corresponding period last year.
By the end of 2023, India imported almost 744 tons of gold worth $42.58 billion. In physical terms, the volume increased by 4%, in value terms – by 16%.
India is one of the largest consumers of gold in the world, practically not producing it itself.
Earlier, the analytical center Experts Club presented an overview of world economies over the past decades. More video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=vsiB0zGYh0NI2tu0
The number of IT specialists working in Ukraine in 2023 increased by about 2.7% to 346.2 thousand people, according to the research Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT, prepared by the IT Association.
Executive Director of IT Ukraine Association Maria Shevchuk specified that such statistical data were provided at the request of IT-Association and the Ministry of Digital Transformation by the State Statistics Service.
“At the same time, the same IT specialist can be an individual entrepreneur (FOP), a salaried employee employed in the staff of an IT company, and a specialist working under a gig contract. This duplication is not reflected in the statistics figures,” Shevchuk specified.
According to the research data, the biggest growth was observed among specialists working in IT on gig-contract. Their number in 2023 increased by 3.9 times – up to 23.2 thousand. At the same time, the number of specialists registered as entrepreneurs (FOP) decreased to 265 thousand against 272.8 thousand in 2022.
The study points out that there are no new data on the number of employees employed in the staff of IT companies for 2023, but in 2022 their number reached 58.1 thousand people.
In general, for five years from 2018 to 2023, the growth in the number of IT-specialists in Ukraine amounted to 78.4%, stated in the study Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT.
The number of taxes paid by the IT industry in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion has decreased – according to the data given in the study as of January 1, 2022, $1.018 billion was paid, January 1, 2023 – $996.7 million, January 1, 2024 – $982.6 million.
The number of M&A deals in IT in 2022 decreased from 19 for $146 million to 11 for $161.2 million in 2023.
IT in Ukraine remains an important partner for foreign companies despite the ongoing war, said Stepan Mitish, vice president of EPAM Ukraine, at the presentation of the study.
“When our clients need to do something impossible, they go to Ukraine, against all odds. With all due respect to other countries and nationalities, but Ukrainians are about creativity, about knowledge and technology, result-oriented, indestructible and productive, which the last two years have proven,” Mitish said.
As an example, he cited US-based MedTech, which specializes in healthcare products. According to him, the company, realizing “the uniqueness of Ukrainian talents,” increased the size of its team from 25 to 200 people during the two years of full-scale invasion. Mitish did not specify the name of the company.
Ukraine has fulfilled all obligations for the third revision of the EFF extended financing program and expects a positive decision by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the allocation of the fourth tranche of about $900 million in the near future, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.
“We are expecting a meeting of the board of the International Monetary Fund in the near future. It seems to me that the date of such a meeting is planned for March 21, at which a decision on Ukraine will be made,” he said on the national telethon.
According to Marchenko, these funds will be received immediately after a successful discussion at the Executive Board.
“So far we are fulfilling all our obligations. And I don’t see any particular problems for us to continue to fulfill these obligations in 2024,” the Minister of Finance emphasized, predicting further cooperation with the IMF under the EFF program.
He also noted that Ukraine still considers the basic option of receiving direct budget support from the United States this year, about which it receives constant assurances from the American side.
“We hope that a solution will be found in the lower house (of the U.S. Congress). There is now every reason for this. We hope that direct budget support will continue, this is important for cooperation with the IMF, for forming a pool of partners,” Marchenko said.
