Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, with the support of UN Secretary General António Guteres, agreed to facilitate safe shipping for the export of grain, related food products and fertilizers (including ammonia) from the seaports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny within 120 days from the possibility of extending this period.
The corresponding signing of documents within the framework of the initiative for the safe transportation of grain and food from Ukrainian ports took place in Istanbul on Friday: the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov, in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed a tripartite document with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and the UN Secretary General, who also signed a second such a tripartite document with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
As noted in the text of the initiative, a copy of which is available to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, it is based on agreements between the parties to the 1974 international convention on the safety of life at sea.
In particular, the parties agree on the following:
– maximum security guarantees for all vessels participating in this initiative;
– creation under the auspices of the UN in Istanbul of a joint coordination center (JCC), which includes representatives of all parties;
– Creation and work on the ships participating in the initiative of inspection teams from representatives of the parties, which will inspect the ships in the ports designated by Turkey, when entering / leaving the Turkish Strait to check the absence of unauthorized cargo and personnel on board.
At the same time, all activities in Ukrainian territorial waters will be under the control and responsibility of Ukraine.
The parties will not launch any attacks on merchant and civilian vessels, as well as on port facilities participating in this initiative.
If clearance of approaches to ports is required, a minesweeper from a third country must be involved
Merchant vessels must be pre-registered with the SKC and will be under technical control for the duration of their passage through the maritime humanitarian corridor agreed by all parties.
The RCC will develop and disseminate a detailed operational and communications plan, including the identification of safe havens and medical assistance options along the route.
In order to prevent provocations and incidents, the movement of vessels transiting the maritime humanitarian corridor will be remotely controlled by the Parties.
“No warships, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can approach the maritime humanitarian corridor closer than the distance agreed by the RCC without the permission of the RCC and only after consultation with all Parties,” the text of the initiative emphasizes.
This initiative will be valid for 120 days from the date of signing by all Parties and may be automatically renewed for the same period, unless one of the Parties notifies the other of its intention to terminate the initiative or change it.
At the same time, the achievement of an agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain does not mean a weakening of the security regime in the Black Sea, representatives of Ukraine have repeatedly emphasized.
CHORNOMORSK, EXPORT, GRAIN, ODESSA, PIVDENNY, PORT, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TURKEY, UKRAINE
The export IT industry in January-May 2022 provided foreign exchange earnings to the Ukrainian economy in the amount of $3.2 billion, the IT Ukraine Association reported.
“During the three war months – March-May – the volume of exports of computer services increased by 6% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first five months of 2022, the export IT industry provided foreign exchange earnings to the Ukrainian economy in the amount of $ 3.2 billion. On June 1, 2022, IT companies and individual entrepreneurs working in the IT industry transferred taxes and fees in the amount of about UAH 30 billion,” the association’s website said on Thursday.
According to the ITU, among other things, the stable operation of the industry allowed the IT sector to allocate more than UAH 1 billion for humanitarian purposes and support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“At the same time, the IT industry is fighting on several fronts. 3% of professionals serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, approximately 12-15% are involved in the cyber front,” the association notes.
As reported, IT Ukraine notes the high resilience of the Ukrainian IT market in the conditions of the active phase of hostilities: during the war, 77% of IT companies attracted new customers, more than half of the companies plan to grow by 5-30% in 2022.
IT Ukraine is the largest association of IT companies, uniting 118 members and more than 80 thousand IT specialists.
The Agrotrade agricultural holding has received a certificate allowing it to export soybeans to the EU countries. Initially, it is planned to sell 4,000 tons of soybeans from the last year’s crop residues.
As reported on the Facebook page of the agricultural holding on Thursday, the document guarantees the cultivation of non-GMO soybeans using fertilizers and chemicals permitted in Europe.
It is specified that the certification of exports to the EU was carried out by the Ukrainian certification body Organic Standard.
The Agrotrade group sowed 3.1 thousand hectares of soybeans this year, the harvest from which is also planned to be exported to the EU.
Previously, the company certified rapeseed for supplies to Europe.
The Agrotrade group of companies is a vertically integrated holding of a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade in agricultural products). Processes more than 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkov regions. Profile crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrids of corn and sunflower seeds, barley, and winter wheat. On the basis of the seed farm “Kolos” (Kharkiv region) in 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built. In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
The founder and CEO of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aiming to achieve the signing of an agreement on Ukrainian grain this week, Western media reported on Wednesday.
“As a result of the talks in Istanbul last week, an agreement was reached on the general outlines of the process within the framework of the UN plan. Now we want to consolidate this agreement by signing the document,” Erdogan said. He expressed the hope that the plan will begin to be implemented in the coming days.
At last week’s talks between Russia, Turkey, the UN and Ukraine on the export of Ukrainian grain, the participants agreed to establish a coordination center in Istanbul and reached an agreement on a system of joint grain control in ports.
Ukraine in January-June of this year reduced the export of ferroalloys in quantity terms by 27.2% compared to the same period last year, to 232,596 tonnes.
According to statistics published by the State Customs Service, in monetary terms, exports of ferroalloys increased by 2%, to $420.518 million.
At the same time, the main export was to Poland (55.83% of supplies in monetary terms), the Netherlands (9.72%) and Romania (7.05%).
In addition, during this period, Ukraine imported 14,941 tonnes of these products, which is 45.7% less compared to January-June 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 26.1% to $54.361 million.
Import was carried out mainly from Norway (30.23%), China (16.77%) and Brazil (16.24%).
Ukrainian enterprises in January-June of this year reduced the export of ferrous scrap by 8 times compared to the same period last year – to 28.74 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in monetary terms, the export of scrap metal over this period decreased by 6.8 times – to $12.24 million.
At the same time, 6 months the country reduced the import of scrap metal in physical terms by 8.1 times – up to 1.55 thousand tons. In monetary terms, the import of scrap decreased 6.8 times to $3.28 million.
The import of scrap metal in January-June was carried out mainly from Turkey (78.89% of deliveries in monetary terms), the Russian Federation (14.09%) and Cyprus (5.4%); export – to Turkey (61.35%), Poland (12.49%) and Germany (9.45%).
In addition, in January-June 2022, Ukrainian steel enterprises did not import products of direct reduction of iron from ore under code 7203 – hot briquetted iron (HBI), which is a substitute for pig iron and scrap metal, but exported 258 tons of this product to India (100%) in the amount of $48 thousand
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 increased the export of scrap metal by 17.2 times compared to the previous year – up to 615.69 thousand tons. In monetary terms, the export of scrap metal increased 25.2 times – up to $238.90 million.
In 2021, the country reduced the import of scrap metal in physical terms by 13.1% to 22.96 thousand tons. In monetary terms, the import of scrap increased by 72.4% to $44.88 million.
The import of scrap metal in 2021 was carried out mainly from Turkey (60.42% of deliveries in monetary terms), the Russian Federation (33.44%) and Belarus (1.57%); export – to Turkey (84.85%), Romania (6.66%) and Poland (3.45%).
In addition, Ukrainian steel enterprises in 2021 imported from the Russian Federation 1.60 thousand tons of products of direct reduction of iron from ore under code 7203 – hot briquetted iron (HBI), which is a substitute for pig iron and scrap metal, in the amount of $653 thousand, while in 2020 – 2.65 thousand tons for $805 thousand. At the same time, the export of these products to India amounted to 288 tons for $91 thousand.
