Ukrainian sugar producers have asked EU countries to reconsider the sugar export ban on domestic EU markets and resume it taking into account the sugar shortage in Europe, Nazar Mykhailovin, acting head of Ukrtsukor, said.
“Not all countries impose an embargo on Ukrainian products. We need a way through which we can sell exports of sugar. We have to forget about the sea route for some time, but the transit through the EU countries, particularly through Poland and Romania is needed,” he commented to Interfax-Ukraine agency about the situation with the export of Ukrainian sugar to the EU.
According to the industry association, during the period from June 2022 to March 2023 almost 99.9% of Ukrainian sugar was sold on the EU internal market.
The top countries that bought Ukrainian sugar in March 2023 included Romania, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Croatia. Poland, one of the first to ban imports of Ukrainian sugar, bought 8,242 tons of the product from Ukraine, Mikhailovin said.
“Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has lost its sea export corridor, which has become inaccessible for Ukrainian sugar. Accordingly, the export was carried out mainly to European countries.
At the same time Mikhailovin reminded that due to the beginning of the war the EU made a decision, thanks to which and the presence of export potential Ukraine has the ability to export sugar to the EU domestic markets.
In the sugar beet sugar production season of the 2022 harvest, the factories produced 1.330 million tons of products, which fully met the needs of the domestic market and export potential, the industry association said.
“In the 2022/2023 marketing year, the export potential will depend on the area sown under sugar beet, weather conditions and yields in both Ukraine and Europe,” Mikhailovin said.
Ukrainian companies in January-March this year increased imports of copper and copper products in value terms by 45.1% compared to the same period last year – up to $ 28.511 million.
According to customs statistics, released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Monday, the export of copper and copper products for the period decreased by 31.2% – to $21.822 million.
In March, imported copper at $ 11.045 million, exported – 7.672 million.
In addition, in January-March 2023, Ukraine reduced the imports of nickel and its products by 88.8% compared to the same period in 2022 – to $3.176 million (in March – $2.020 million), aluminum and its products – by 0.7%, to $82.110 million (in March – $28.530 million). It reduced the imports of lead and lead products by 89.4% to $216 thousand (in March – $12 thousand), imports of tin and tin products by 8% to $648 thousand (in March – $104 thousand) and zinc and zinc products by 51% to $7.698 million (in March – $3.581 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in the first three months of 2023 decreased by 6.6% to $23.103 million (in March – $8.732 million) compared to the same period last year, while lead and lead products decreased by 33.6% to $4.436 million (in March – $1.412 million) and nickel and nickel products – $92 thousand (in March – none) compared to $875 thousand in January-March 2022.
Zinc exports for the three months of this year amounted to $46 thousand (in March – $22 thousand), while in January-March 2022 it was $892 thousand. Tin exports and products totaled $48 thousand (in March – $29 thousand) against $53 thousand in the same period last year.
As reported, the Ukrainian enterprises in 2022, imports of copper and copper products in value terms reduced by 64.3% compared to the previous year – up to $65.370 million, their exports decreased by 56.3% – to $90.245 million.
In addition, Ukraine has reduced imports of nickel and its products in 2022 by 49.9% compared to 2021 – up to $59.754 million, aluminum and its products – by 33.4% to $ 340.398 million, while the imports of lead and its products decreased by 66.6% – to $ 2.839 million.
Imports of tin and tin products fell by 33.5% to $3.312 million, while imports of zinc and zinc products decreased by 58.7% to $38.690 million.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products for 2022 were down 42.7% from 2021, to $96.972 million, lead and lead products were down 68.7%, to $11.970 million, and nickel and nickel products were down 73.9%, to $1.268 million.
Zinc exports for 2022 were $1.331 million, up from $550,000 in 2021. Tin and products exports for 2022 were $424,000, up from $346,000 the previous year.
Ukraine in January-March this year increased the export of pig iron in physical terms by 0.2% compared to the same period last year – up to 449.511 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), exports of pig iron in monetary terms amounted to $166.174 million for the period.
In this case, exports were carried out mainly to Poland (56.83% of supplies in monetary terms), Spain (18.61%) and Italy (11.75%).
In the first quarter of the year, Ukraine imported 10 tons of pig iron worth $22 thousand from Germany.
As reported, Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine reduced the export of pig iron in volume terms by 59% compared to the previous year – to 1 million 325.275 thousand tons, in monetary terms by 61.1% – to $638.774 million.
In 2022, Ukraine imported 40 tons of cast iron worth $23 thousand, while in 2021 – 185 tons of cast iron worth $226 thousand.
Exports were mainly to the United States (38.47% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (32.91%) and Turkey (8.12%), and imports were from Germany (100%).
Ukrainian companies in January-March this year increased exports of scrap ferrous metals 5.7 times compared to the same period last year – up to 40.255 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), the export of scrap metal for the period amounted to $11.725 million in monetary terms.
However, there was an increase in exports of scrap metal in March: 24.8 thousand tons was exported in the first two months of this year, including 8.280 thousand tons in January, and 15.5 thousand tons in the third month of the year alone.
Exports of scrap metal in January-March 2023 was carried out in Poland (96.65%), the Netherlands (1.31%) and Slovakia (0.95%).
In the first two months of the year, the country did not import scrap metal, but in March it imported 46 tons of scrap metal worth $16 thousand from Slovakia.
Earlier, the president of Ukrmetallurgprom Alexander Kalenkov in his column on the Interfax-Ukraine noted that scrap metal is exported through the European Union, which has a preferential export duty of EUR3, and from there the raw material is redirected to the real customers. To export raw material directly to customers would cost EUR 180 export duties, and the Ukrainian budget has already lost 350 million hryvnias on it.
According to him, the State Bureau of Investigation has already taken interest in such export schemes.
The head of “Ukrmetallurgprom” urged to temporarily ban the export of scrap ferrous metals to provide the strategically important raw materials in the ongoing war.
“If scrap metal will remain in the country – more than 500 thousand people will have jobs, and the country will have millions of foreign exchange earnings from the export of steel. At the same time, the military also benefits – because metallurgists help the fighters a lot, buying for them equipment and cars, and even producing body armor. Nobody benefits from the export of scrap metal. That is why now the authorities should be proactive and temporarily ban the export until the situation stabilizes and stops threatening the national economic security”, says Kalenkov.
He noted that 1 ton of scrap metal, processed into steel, provides the budget 10 times more than the export duty in the EU – about $300 per ton.
As reported, Ukraine in 2022, reduced exports of scrap ferrous metals in 11.5 times compared to the previous year – up to 53.557 tons, in monetary terms down to 12.4 times – to $ 19.271 million. At the same time last year, the country reduced the import of scrap metal in kind by 12.6 times – to 1.824 tons. Imports of scrap metal in 2022 was carried out mainly from Turkey (78.92% of supplies in monetary terms), Russia (13.25%) and Cyprus (5.08%), while exports – to Turkey (38.97%), Poland (34.25%) and Greece (10.12%).
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko signed a decree authorizing the start of the process of resumption of electricity exports in conditions of a surplus of generating capacity.
“The Ukrainian energy system has been operating without consumer restrictions with a capacity surplus for almost two months now. We achieved this result thanks to the titanic work of power engineers, our international partners, helping to restore the system. The most difficult winter is over. The next step is to open the export of electricity, which will attract additional financial resources for the necessary reconstruction of the destroyed and repair of the damaged energy infrastructure, “- said Galushchenko, as quoted in a message of the Ministry of Energy in Telegram channel late Friday night.
At the same time, the energy minister stressed that meeting the power needs of Ukrainian consumers is a priority.
“The export of electricity will work under the condition of providing the resource to Ukrainian consumers and may be terminated in the event of a change in the situation,” the minister assured.
As reported, export of electric power, which began last June, was stopped by order of the Ministry of Energy since October 11 after the beginning of massive attacks of Russian invaders on the energy system of Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Energy, the export of electricity to Moldova and EU countries during this time amounted to 2.6 billion kWh. Exporters of electricity directed 80% of the income from exports to maintain tariffs for the population within the framework of special obligations. As a result, according to calculations of the ministry, 2.8 billion hryvnias were allocated for this purpose.
The allowed European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E capacity for exports is 400 MW, Ukraine on its part seeks to increase this capacity by several times.
Ukraine exported 3.8 million tonnes of agricultural products under the grain deal in March, 500,000 tonnes more than in February, the Agrarian Policy Ministry of Ukraine reported on March 31.
This included 908,000 tonnes of wheat and 2.3 million tonnes of corn.
The ministry said 374,000 tonnes of wheat, 120,000 tonnes more than in February, was shipped to countries in need, including 60,000 tonnes shipped to Yemen and Ethiopia under humanitarian programs.
At the same time, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said that over the past three months of the functioning of the corridor, the number of vessels passing the Bosphorus has been steadily fluctuating in the range of less than 3 instead of 6-7 possible, and the worst figure was in January – 2.5.
“Today is the end of the 8th month of the grain corridor. The indicators for March differ little from February. In particular, the statistics of the number of ships passing per day have not changed for the better. We have an indicator of 2.8,” the ministry said.
A total of 26.3 million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural products, including 7.3 million tonnes of wheat and 12.9 million tonnes of corn have been exported in the eight months since the agreement on the grain corridor for Ukrainian exports was struck, the ministry said. Almost 2 million tonnes or 26.4% of this wheat was shipped to countries in need, it added.
“However, there are countries where the supply of our grain has dipped due to the unpredictability of the functioning of the corridor and the unwillingness of buyers to take risks. Among them is Indonesia. If before the war we sent 2.6 million tonnes of wheat there, which was 24% of their annual needs of 11 million tonnes , then only 341,000 tonnes went there during the last marketing season, which is only 4%,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said.
The UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed two documents in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 on the creation of a corridor to ship out grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny, as well as to lift barriers to exports of Russian foodstuffs and fertilizers. The arrangement was extended for 120 days in November 2022, and in March 2023 Russia agreed to another extension of 60 days.
