Stabilization of the Ukrainian energy system and a certain reserve of capacity allow discussing the opening of electricity exports to Europe, Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said.
“The issue of opening exports is already on the table today. It is being considered,” the minister said on the air of the national telethon “Unified News” on Friday.
Depending on the volume of imports, he said, it could bring Ukraine up to $70 million a month and help restore energy facilities after Russian attacks.
At the same time, the head of the Energy Ministry stressed that Ukraine would refuse to export electricity in case of shortages.
As earlier reported, export of electric power was stopped by order of the Minister of Energy since October 11, 2022, after the beginning of massive Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. The capacity allowed by European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E for export is 400 MW, for import – 850 MW.
The head of Ukrhydroenergo, Igor Sirota, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine noted that Ukraine has been experiencing a 24-hour power surplus for several weeks in a row, which would be advisable to sell. Nevertheless, he stressed that “there is a lot of politics in this issue,” as there are a number of consumers who do not receive electricity. At the same time, the head of the general company explained that such consumers are deprived of power supply not because of the resource shortage, but precisely because of low network capacity.
Imports of drugs to Ukraine in 2022, after five years of growth, decreased by 38% compared to the previous year – to $ 1.9 billion from $ 3.1 billion.
This is evidenced by the research conducted by the marketing agency Top Lead together with the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa”.
According to the study, the largest importers of medicines to Ukraine are Germany with the import volume of about $ 368 million, India ($ 173 million), France ($ 31 million), Italy ($ 125 million) and Slovenia ($ 110 million).
At the same time, export of Ukrainian medicines in 2022 decreased by 24% as compared with 2021, and amounted to $ 238 million.
The biggest buyer of Ukrainian medicines is Uzbekistan, where Ukrainian companies exported products worth almost $52m, which is 36% less than a year earlier.
At the same time, other top three buyers of Ukrainian medicines increased export – Kazakhstan by 12% (to $ 32 million), Lithuania – by 324% ($23 million).
“In 2022, Ukrainian companies stopped selling medicines to Russia and Belarus, export to Lithuania and Latvia increased. But despite this, most of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical export goes to Asia”, – report’s authors emphasize.
They also noted that, although the largest manufacturers of medicines in Ukraine have GMP-certificates issued by Gosleksluzhba, that confirm the production and control of drugs in accordance with international quality standards, the EU does not yet recognize these certificates. “Therefore, to export to the EU, a manufacturer has to undergo an additional check by the regulatory authorities of one or another EU country. The task for Ukraine in the near future is to achieve recognition of Ukrainian certificates in the EU,” the authors of the study stressed.
Ukrainian companies in January-February this year, imports of copper and copper products in value terms decreased by 3.8% compared to the same period last year – up to $ 17.466 million.
According to customs statistics, released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Thursday, the export of copper and copper products for the period decreased by 39.7% – to $ 14.150 million.
In February, imported copper at $ 11.096 million, exported – to $ 7.743 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-February 2023, imports of nickel and its products decreased by 95.3% compared to the same period in 2022 – to $ 1.156 million (in February – $ 844 thousand), aluminum and aluminum products – by 81.6%, to $ 14.373 million (in February – 7.596 million). At the same time, the imports of lead and lead products decreased by 89.9% to $204 thousand (in February – $173 thousand), while imports of tin and tin products dropped by 8.5% to $544 thousand (in February – $371 thousand) and zinc and zinc products – by 72.6% to $4.117 million (in February – $1.879 million).
Exports of aluminum and its products for the first two months of 2023 increased by 2.4 times to $53.512 million (in February – $26.983 million) compared to the same period last year, lead and lead products decreased by 50.4% – to $3.023 million (in February – $1.391 million) and nickel and products – $92 thousand (in February – $89 thousand), whereas in January-February 2022 it was $875 thousand.
Zinc exports during two months of the current year amounted $24 thsd. (in February – $23 thsd.), while in January-February 2022 it was $402 thsd. Tin exports and products totaled $18 thsd. (in February – $1 thsd.) against $33 thsd. 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.
In a March report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) increased its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 1 million tons from February data to 23.5 million tons from 22.5 million tons, while for wheat it kept its estimate at 13.5 million tons.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report on its website Thursday that its forecast for corn production for the current MY is maintained at 27 million tons and wheat at 21 million tons.
Also in the March forecast, the estimate of transitional corn balances in Ukraine at the end of 2022/2023 MY was reduced by 1 million tons to 2.39 million tons from 3.39 million tons, and by 0.04 million tons for wheat to 4.17 million tons from 4.21 million tons.
At the same time, the estimate of domestic consumption of corn in Ukraine in 2022/2023 MY remained at 5 million tons, and wheat – 4 million tons.
In general, the forecast of fodder grain exports in Ukraine in 2022/23 MY in the March forecast was increased by 1.1 million tons – to 26.03 million tons from 24.93 million tons in February, and the forecast of its production was kept at 34.16 million tons.
Since the beginning of 2022/2023 marketing year (July-June) and until March 3, Ukraine exported 32.54 million tons of cereals, including 18.8 million tons of corn (-1% compared to the same period a year earlier), 11.38 million tons of wheat (1.58 times less), 2.06 million tons of barley (2.73 times less), 16.1 thousand tons of rye (10 times less) and 100.5 tons of flour (+47.8%).
Ukraine in January this year reduced the export of pig iron in physical terms by 29.6% compared to the same period last year – to 135.073 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCCS), exports of pig iron in monetary terms fell by 47.4% to $48.513 million for the period.
At that, exports were carried out mainly to Spain (38.10% of supplies in money terms), Poland (37.40%) and Italy (21.10%).
In the first month of the year, Ukraine did not import pig iron, as in January 2022.
As reported, Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine reduced the export of pig iron in volume terms by 59% compared to the previous year – up 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 this year increased the export of scrap ferrous metals by 45.5% compared to the same period last year – up to 8,280 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in terms of money exports of scrap metal decreased by 8.5% – to $ 2.362 million.
At the same time, the country did not import scrap metal in the first month of the year.
Exports of scrap metal in January-2023 was carried out in Poland (95.68%), Slovakia (2.58%) and Germany (1.10%).
As reported, Ukraine in 2022, scrap exports of ferrous metals decreased by 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 thousand 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%).
