In January-May 2024, Ukraine exported 589.86 tons of organic honey, which exceeds last year’s figures, the OrganikInfo portal reported, citing data from the Organic Standard certification body.
According to the report, in recent years, the dynamics of growth in organic honey exports has been observed. Thus, in 2021, 269.33 tons of honey were exported abroad, in 2022 – 698.05 tons, and in 2023 – 702.9 tons.
“Organic honey is not among the top 10 products exported from Ukraine, but Ukraine remains one of the leading exporters of honey, including organic honey, and demand in the world is only growing,” said organic market analysts.
According to the data, in 2022, honey ranks 4th in terms of the volume of products imported to the EU and has a share of 9.2% of all organic imports.
Since August 2023, the sea corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy has exported 50 million tons of cargo, with 1,737 vessels handled in ports, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction) reports.
“50 million tons of cargo were exported through the Ukrainian sea corridor in 9 months. Despite constant attacks by Russians, Ukrainian port workers managed to handle 1737 vessels,” the Ministry said in a Facebook post on Saturday, while former Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Ministry of Recovery Oleksandr Kubrakov said that agricultural products accounted for 35 million tons.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the government, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, international partners and all port industry workers, it was possible to establish stable exports of Ukrainian agricultural products by sea, the report said.
The Facebook page of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reports that the Black Sea ports have reached a record volume of cargo handling.
“Starting with the first vessel Joseph Shulte, which sailed through the Ukrainian corridor on August 16, 2023, Ukrainian Black Sea ports have handled this record volume of cargo despite the enemy’s constant attacks on our critical infrastructure. This is 1737 vessels handled!” the USPA said in a statement.
Last Thursday, former Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov announced that exports through the sea corridor had reached 50 million tons.
The head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), Yuriy Lytvyn, said that the results of the Ukrainian “grain corridor” were almost one and a half times higher than the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to him, the rate of grain cargo transportation for eight months is already 10% higher than the results of the grain initiative for the year.
The Ukrainian government has introduced a quota for exports of poultry and poultry by-products to the EU in the amount of about 137,000 tons starting July 1.
According to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 612 of May 30, published on the government portal, the quota for the supply of poultry meat and edible offal to the EU, including chickens, geese, ducks, guinea fowl (UKTZED code 0207), is set at 133.28 thousand tons, and turkey meat and edible offal (UKTZED code 0207 24-27) at 3.76 thousand tons.
The Ministry of Economy will consider applications for licenses to export these goods to the EU within 10 days. Permits will be issued on the basis of applications and approvals provided by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
For the period of martial law, applicants shall prepare and submit documents electronically through the relevant information and communication systems (the Ministry of Economy’s electronic services portal, the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services).
The licensing regime for the export of quota goods to the EU is also mandatory if the non-resident counterparty is registered in the EU under a foreign economic agreement (contract).
At the same time, the volume of quotas approved for the commodity item “Meat and edible offal of poultry: poultry chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl”, excluding the reserve quota of 1400 tons for new exporters, and for the commodity “Turkey meat and edible offal of turkeys” is distributed by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy among exporters in proportion to the actual volume of their exports to the EU in the first quarter of 2024. Information on the actual export volumes of these products for the first quarter of 2024 must be provided by exporters to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with supporting documents by June 25, 2024.
The reserve quota of 1400 tons will be distributed among exporters who did not export these products in the first quarter of 2024.
If there is an unused balance of the quota as of November 1, 2024, it is distributed among exporters in proportion to the actual exports of these products to the Member States of the European Union for the three quarters of 2024.
As reported, on May 13, the EU Council finally approved the extension of the autonomous trade measures for another 12 months – until June 5, 2025. At the same time, restrictions have been imposed on the duty-free supply of a number of agricultural products – poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, cereals, corn and honey – in the amount of the average export volume for the period from the second half of 2021 to the end of 2023.
Railcar-building company Dneprovagonmash JSC (DVM) plans to sell up to 100 railcars for export to Europe, businessman Sergiy Tigipko has said.
“Today we produce 80 railcars a month for the domestic market, but we have already started to produce for export… The European market is 8-9 thousand railcars a year, and we have set a goal of selling 100 railcars a month there. In terms of money, the average car is about EUR 100 thousand,” he said during the “Money for Victory” forum organized by Forbes Ukraine.
According to him, the Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine provides lighter and stronger metal for railcar construction, which is a competitive advantage in the European market.
For its part, the group is investing in the modernization of the enterprise (metal work, welding, painting) and staff training.
As reported, at the beginning of 2023, TAS Group became a strategic investor in the TransAnt GmbH railcar building joint venture of Austrian Voestalpine and ÖBB Rail Cargo with a 40% stake, and in the spring of 2024 it became the majority owner of TransAnt, increasing its stake to 61%.
In October 2023, as part of an innovative project with Austrian partners, Dniprovagonmash, a member of the TAS group, shipped the first lightweight modular freight cars (MultiBOX) for operation on the EU railways, and by the end of the year it had a full line of platform freight cars for the EU market.
According to TAS Dneprovagonmash’s financial report for 2023, this year it plans to invest UAH 100.2 million in the development of the European direction, including the purchase of equipment.
In 2023, the company produced 378 freight cars (including for the EU market), which is 34.8% less than in 2022, while sales decreased by 40.6% to 370 units.
Net income from sales of railcars and other products decreased by 2.8% to UAH 1 billion 77 million, while net profit increased slightly to UAH 49.2 million.
TAS Group was founded in 1998 by businessman Tigipko. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance) and the pharmacy sector, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
Since August 2023, the sea corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy has exported 50 million tons of cargo, according to Yuriy Vaskov, former Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction).
“According to my information, exports via the grain corridor have already reached 50 million tons,” Vaskov said at the Grain Ukraine-2024 conference on Thursday.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reported that from August to May 10, 45 million tons of cargo were exported to 44 countries through the grain corridor.
Last Tuesday, the head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), Yuriy Lytvyn, said that the results of the Ukrainian “grain corridor” were almost one and a half times higher than those of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to him, the rate of grain cargo transportation over eight months is already 10% higher than the results of the grain initiative for the year.
As of May 24, Ukraine exported 45.402 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of 2023/24 marketing year (MY, September 2023 – August 2024), of which 3.997 mln tonnes were shipped in May, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine reported, citing the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of the same date last year, the total shipments amounted to 44.593 mln tons, including 2.707 mln tons in May.
In terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, 16.949 million tons of wheat have been exported (in May, the figure was 1.163 million tons), 2.363 million tons of barley (161 thousand tons), 1.4 thousand tons of rye (0.2 thousand tons), 25.563 million tons of corn (2.662 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour as of May 24 are significantly lower than last year’s figure (138.9 thousand tons) and are estimated at 90.9 thousand tons (4.3 thousand tons in May), including 85.9 thousand tons of wheat (3.9 thousand tons).
