The State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine has said that it is necessary to annul a moratorium on export of unprocessed logs imposed in 2015.
“It is necessary to lift the moratorium, give a free market for logs – this will stimulate price growth and the work of our industry enterprises, and not only those that are coordinated by the State Forest Resources Agency. This will give an impetus to the development of the economy,” Deputy Head of the State Forest Agency Volodymyr Bondar said in a statement of the agency.
According to him, the moratorium on the export of unprocessed logs in the form it was accepted did not give an economic breakthrough, and created a “criminal situation for the state’s economy” in the issue of logs.
“Forestry enterprises today have the remains of 1.2 million cubic meters of logs. We have reduced logging, because we cannot sell what was logged in Ukraine,” Bondar said.
He said that if the legislator wanted to stock logs and give impetus to the development of local business, then this had to be done not through a ban, but through stimulating the development and deepening of processing.
“For this, it is necessary that investments come to Ukraine. Without making any decisions on creating an investment climate in Ukraine, simply banning the export of logs, this only leads to a decrease in the domestic price, a decrease in logging. We do not even remove logs, which we mark in the forest, because it does not have its own consumer,” the deputy head of the State Forest Resources Agency said.
According to Bondar, due to lower prices for logs and the inability to sell it, the question of stopping enterprises of various types arises.
Ukraine in January-August 2019 exported 275,470 tonnes of poultry, which is 28.4% more than in the same period in 2018, the State Fiscal Service has reported.
According to its data, in monetary terms exports of these products increased by 20.4%, to $401.78 million.
Poultry and offal imports for the seven months fell by 4.4%, to 82,200 tonnes, in monetary terms by 3.7%, to $32.86 million.
According to the State Fiscal Service, exports of pork in January-August 2019 rose by 4.2% compared to the corresponding period of 2018, to 1,410 tonnes. In monetary terms exports of this product amounted to $3.13 million compared with $2.96 million a year ago.
Pork imports to Ukraine during this period grew by 3.9%, to 16,330 tonnes. The country received this meat for a total of $31.1 million compared with $29.5 million in January-August 2019.
Main trade partners of Ukraine in % from total volume (export from Ukraine to other countries) in Jan-June 2019
Ukrainian foreign trade in services by countries in I half-year 2019 (export)
Ukraine exported 5.602 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops from July 1, 2019, when the new 2019/2020 marketing year started, to August 15, 2019. Some 1.65 million tonnes of maize, 2.53 million tonnes of wheat, 1.42 million tonnes of barley were exported over the period, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said. Over the same period of the pervious marketing year, Ukraine exported 3.961 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops.
As of August 15, 2019, farmers shipped 34,100 tonnes of flour abroad.
As reported with reference to the Ministry of Agriculture, Ukraine exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour during the 2018/2019 marketing year, which was 23% more than in the previous MY.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in August reviewed upwards its forecast for grain exports by 2.65 million tonnes compared with the July forecast, to 54.04 million tonnes.
Commodity pattern of Ukrainian export in Jan-May, 2019
