Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-August this year reduced revenues from ferrous metal exports by 51.1% compared to the same period last year – to $1 bln 821.054 mln.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), ferrous metals accounted for 7.44% of total export revenues during this period, while in 8M-2022 – 12.86%.
In August, revenues from ferrous metals exports amounted to $200.016 million, while in the previous month – $206.685 million.
At the same time, Ukraine has increased imports of similar products by 53% – up to $855.284 million in eight months of this year. In August, $136.466 million worth of products were imported.
In addition, in January-August Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 11% compared to the eight months of the previous year – to $625.707 million. In August they were exported for $65.114 million.
At the same time, imports of metal products for the first eight months of the year increased by 24.8% to $515.548 million. In August, Ukraine received $82.645 million worth of these products.
As reported, metal enterprises of Ukraine in 2022 decreased revenues from exports of ferrous metals by 67.5% compared to 2021, to $4 billion 533.088 million. Ferrous metals for this period accounted for 10.26% of total revenues from exports of goods against 20.49% for 2021. At the same time, Ukraine last year reduced imports of similar products by 38.3% to $954.387 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of metal products by 18.6% to $1 billion 52.512 million. Imports of metal products for the year fell by 42.9% to $643.162 million.
Ukraine has begun exporting grain through Croatian seaports, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko said during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic at the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest.
“Ukrainian grain has already been exported through Croatian ports. Thank you for this opportunity. This trade route, although niche, is already popular. We are ready to develop it by expanding the capabilities of the transportation corridor. We believe that this logistics route will play an important role in bilateral trade between our countries even after the war,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy and Trade quoted her as saying.
According to the report, the parties discussed bilateral trade and exports of Ukrainian grain through Croatian ports. They also discussed the importance of jointly resolving the issue of export restrictions for Ukrainian exports. The meeting also touched upon the issues of demining, war crimes investigation, and opening new trade routes for Ukrainian grain exports.
The parties raised the issue of accelerating the localization of demining equipment production to start its production at the facilities of domestic enterprises.
“One of the most important tasks for Ukraine in the near future is to demine the territories and return potentially contaminated land to use. Both post-war recovery and further development of the national economy depend on the speed of this process. That is why we are grateful to all partners who help Ukraine resolve this issue,” Svyrydenko emphasized.
Plenkovic offered to assist Ukraine in investigating war crimes. This includes sharing Croatia’s experience and expertise in establishing special prosecutors and special police to investigate crimes committed during the war.
As reported, the main routes for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products after the shelling of port infrastructure on the Black Sea remain land transport and seaports on the Danube.
In May 2023, the European Commission banned imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania at the insistence of these countries. On June 5, the European Commission extended the ban until September 15, 2023.
Ukrainian barley in the season-2023 will be 60% exported by road and rail through border crossing points with Romania, the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, established within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (UAR), reported.
According to the report, such a decision is explained by the rising cost of freight, as well as the threat of Russian attacks on the infrastructure of the Danube ports.
“Farmers are trying to export barley on their own for the most part. (…) Traders are not too interested in barley trade yet. Rising freight costs create powerful constraints. There is a demand for Ukrainian barley, but the grain is too expensive: for liquidity in river ports the price tag should be 110-$120/ton on terms of CPT, but farmers will not supply at such a low price”, – analysts explained.
According to their information, market participants are afraid of repeated Russian attacks on the infrastructure of the Danube ports. Besides, it is more profitable for agrarians to take barley to the borders than to Reni, particularly to Chop, where the price is $140/ton. Even farmers from the central regions have started to be interested in auto-delivery of barley to Romania – logistics is cheaper, experts added.
They also noted the activity of barley processors on the barley market. Their purchase prices are now 4500-5200 UAH/ton.
“In the first week of September, the conditional prices for barley can grow to $195-202/ton on the basis of DAP Constanta, to $142-147/ton – on the basis of SRT river ports”, – predicted in VAR.
Despite a 20% reduction in crop production areas due to the occupation of a number of regions, favorable weather conditions will allow farmers to harvest and export wheat in the 2023/24 marketing year (MY) no less than last season, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said on the air of the United News marathon.
“The carry-over stocks of crops in 2023 are about five times less than in the 2022 season, when there were 27 million tons of agricultural products in the country as of mid-summer. On average, agriculture has been bringing in about USD2 billion a month to the state budget since the grain corridor started working properly,” he said.
Assessing the prospects for the 2023 harvest, the Minister noted that this season, 20% less production area has been allocated for crops than in pre-war 2021, due to the areas in Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and the south of the country that are currently under occupation. He also clarified that during the fall 2022 sowing campaign, winter crops were sown 25% less than in 2021.
“Thanks to the weather, we got a significantly higher yield on these areas. It was not a harsh winter, there were no sharp temperature drops, and there was enough humidity, which led to the increase in yield. It was difficult for farmers to save on seeds, herbicides, and fertilizers. But one factor compensated for the other,” explained Solsky.
Speaking about this season’s spring crop harvest, the Minister emphasized that a combination of natural and climatic factors, including a wet summer and average temperatures, affected the quality of grain, which will be worse than last season.
“We have less milling wheat and more feed wheat. But this is a standard situation for Ukraine, when the season depends primarily on weather conditions,” said the head of the agriculture ministry.
According to him, the tonnage of wheat for export to Ukraine in 2023/24 MY will be not less than last season.
Assessing the readiness of the agricultural business for the autumn-winter period, Solsky reminded that since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has been receiving many donor programs, some of which were implemented through the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. Therefore, the supply of generators, in particular, is many times higher than at the beginning of winter last year.
According to the Minister, gas will be the main challenge for business in the autumn and winter period. A positive factor was its low cost in 2022/23 MY, which was several times lower than before the war. However, in the last few weeks, the price has risen, which will affect the operation of elevators, Solsky explained. However, this factor, in his opinion, will also depend on the weather and the skill of entrepreneurs.
“When we talk about grains, the demand for gas (for the agricultural sector) will depend on the conditions under which corn will be harvested. It will be a wet autumn or not,” the minister said, adding that many farmers are now actively advancing and buying gas.
He stated that there are no gas subsidies for business, as the priority is to provide gas to the population. However, the situation will become clearer in late October and early November, and the agricultural market is preparing for it.
Ukraine in the season-2023 can export more than a third of the produced sugar, as about 1 million tons is enough to meet the needs of the domestic market, while the production forecast is 1.6-1.7 million tons, CEO of Astarta agroholding Viktor Ivanchik said.
“The opening of the sugar market by the European Union (in 2022 – IF-U) has significantly helped Ukraine. We can export a third, if not more, of this year’s crop. We have enough in Ukraine about 1 million tons. This year’s production forecast is 1.6-1.7 million tons. This potential should be unambiguously used. We need to gain a foothold in the markets. Both for the near and distant future – this is a serious factor of Ukraine’s entry into the European Union with its goods, services and labor force,” he said during the Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraina on Wednesday.
Commenting on the investigation by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) regarding possible cartel collusion between sugar producers, Ivanchyk noted that the AMCU “constantly observes, conducts this or that research.”
“Today we do not see such a problem. It was not there before. We have convincingly proved to AMCU, with whom we have been in communication for the last five years, that there are no violations of antimonopoly legislation. It makes no sense for us to agree on prices and volumes. We compete hard on the Ukrainian market, as it is surplus,” Ivanchyk explained and added that sugar producers are in contact with each other on the basis of the industry association “Ukrtsukor”, but do not discuss the issues of prices or sales volumes.
The CEO of Astarta also noted that with the opening of the market to the European Union, sugar producers and exporters fall under the European regulatory policy. This forces the management of the country’s largest sugar producer to “look even more meticulously at our and all our employees’ compliance with these requirements.”
“I don’t see any risks of coming under investigation,” he stated.
Asked about pressure, particularly from law enforcement agencies on business, Ivanchik declined to voice specific cases, but confirmed that Astarta also has to face such problems.
“To be in society and be free from problems in the business community is unrealistic. “Astarta tries to build relationships on a legislative basis. We are as law-abiding as possible. There is absolutely no reason to suspect us of anything,” he assured and confirmed that his colleagues have to face more complicated problems.
According to the head of the agricultural holding, there is an initiative to create a public association on the basis of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU), which is called “Manifesto-42” (from Art. 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine on the right of every citizen of Ukraine to conduct entrepreneurial activity – IF-U) to protect Ukrainian business from unjustified encroachments by law enforcement and controlling bodies.
Ivanchyk reminded that business has the right to publicly and legally defend its interests. “Especially since Ukrainian business has now shown very good examples of patriotic attitude, help, selflessness. This should be respected by the state in a partner-like manner,” he emphasized.
The CEO of Astarta noted that business received understanding from the state leadership, in particular, a month ago at a meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, teams of the Office of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers.
“We (representatives of business – IF-U) were assured that the state controlling bodies will pursue a legitimate policy on this matter, communicating with us through the business ombudsman and through our joint structures, such as the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business, European Business Association, CEO Club Ukraine. We will be able to build such relations absolutely openly, honestly and transparently”, – the head of Astarta is convinced.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural farms with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and biogas complex.
In the first half of 2023, Astarta’s revenue from sales of key products increased by 64.8% year-on-year to UAH 10.72 bln. The main contribution was made by sales of sugar – UAH 3.27 bln, which increased by 75.5%, corn – UAH 2.66 bln (+53.2%) and soybean meal – UAH 1.96 bln (+84.5%).
Ukraine within the framework of the meeting Ukraine – USA – European Commission – Romania – Moldova in Romanian Galati identified among the priority areas of work to increase Ukrainian exports the realization of the potential of the Danube and checkpoints on the border with Romania, said Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“Today in Romanian Galati within the framework of the meeting Ukraine – USA – European Commission – Romania – Moldova worked on ways to increase Ukrainian exports. The Romanian part of the Danube in conditions of limited navigation is important for the reorientation of exports,” he wrote in Facebook.
According to him, the key areas of work are the acceleration of the passage of ships through the channels, increasing the capacity of the Sulina channel and the organization of additional places for the raid transshipment of ships near the Romanian port of Constanta.
Deputy Prime Minister noted that for the realization of these plans investments are needed. To attract them, work with European partners is underway, in particular, on the inclusion of the Ukrainian part of the Danube in the maps of the Trans-European Network of Inland Navigation Routes (TEN-T).
“This is one of the important conditions for the full-fledged operation of business on the Ukrainian Danube transportation market,” he stressed.
Kubrakov added that work is also underway with the Romanian side on the full-fledged launch of freight transportation at the road checkpoints on the border with Romania “Krasnoyilsk – Vicovu de Sus” and “Diakivtsi – Rakovets”. There are plans to increase the capacity of “Porubnoye – Siret” by at least 20% and to open two more new checkpoints, the report said.
In the railway transportation direction, active work is being carried out both in the Romanian and Moldovan directions, the deputy prime minister said. He recalled the resumption of the passenger trains’ movement on the border with Romania on the Rakhiv-Delovoye-Valia-Visheului section, as well as the works on the resumption of the passenger traffic at the Teresva border crossing point.
As it was reported at the meeting of the Exporters’ Office at UZ, a number of measures are also planned to increase the volume of cargo transshipment in the direction of the port “Izmail”. In particular, the reconstruction of dead-end tracks No. 8 and No. 9 at the station “Izmail” is planned by the end of the year. It is envisaged that UZ will perform the works at the expense of the investor. In 2024 it is planned to build an additional extraction track parallel to the existing No. 13 in the park “Izmail-Portovyi”. In addition, it is planned to build two marshalling tracks between tracks #11 and #15. There are plans to electrify the Artsiz-Izmail line with a length of 202 km.
“All our actions are aimed at achieving one goal – to provide as many opportunities as possible for Ukrainian exporters,” Kubrakov emphasized.
Deputy Prime Minister expressed gratitude to US sanctions coordinator Jim O’Brien, US Ambassador to Ukraine Brigitte Brink, European Commission Director General for Transport Magda Kopczynska, Romanian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindian and Moldovan Minister of Agro-politics Vladimir Balea for their support.
He also recalled that recent Russian attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure destroyed more than 200,000 tons of grain.
