The Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on September 29 approved a bill banning exports of raw amber, which foresees focusing of legal production on existing mining sites, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said.
“The main idea is to simultaneously comprehensively criminalize the illegal export of amber from Ukraine,” Honcharuk said at a press briefing on Monday.
The bill provides for a ban on the export of unprocessed amber (raw), criminalizes the illegal export of amber, and simplifies the procedure for obtaining official documents for the development of existing prospecting mining sites for legal business.
The bill will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada in the near future, Honcharuk said.
In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a bill on the legalization of gambling and will soon introduce it to the Rada.
“We want the slot machines to disappear from the streets… Yesterday we voted in favor of it. And in the near future it will be submitted to parliament,” Honcharuk said.
Ukrainian enterprises cut exports of titanium ore by 2% in Jan-Aug
KYIV. Sept 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-August 2019 decreased exports of titanium containing ore and concentrate in kind by 2.1% compared to January-August 2018, to 410,261 tonnes.
According to customs statistics released by the State Fiscal Service, over the period exports of titanium ore and concentrate in monetary terms increased by 14.2%, to $100.226 million.
Major exports were made to Egypt (18.72% of deliveries in monetary terms), the Czech Republic (17.56%), and Russia (16.5%).
Ukraine in January-August 2019 imported 602 tonnes of similar products worth $428,000 from Senegal and Vietnam, while in January-August 2018 it imported 15,677 tonnes of titanium ore and concentrate worth $3.005 million from Senegal.
As reported, Ukraine in 2018 increased exports of titanium containing ore and concentrate in kind by 2.7% compared to 2017, to 599,494 tonnes. Last year exports of titanium ore and concentrate in monetary terms increased by 19.5%, to $125.722 million. Major exports were made to the Czech Republic (19.41% of deliveries in monetary terms), Turkey (17.96%), and Russia (15.68%).
Ukraine in 2018 imported 15,874 tonnes of similar products worth $3.142 million from Senegal and Mozambique, while in 2017 it imported 202 tonnes of titanium ore and concentrate worth $143,000 from Senegal (87.41%), Finland (10.49%), and Iran (2.1%).
Vilnohirsk state mining and metallurgical combine (Dnipropetrovsk region), Irshansk state mining and processing combine (Zhytomyr region), Valki-Ilmenite and Mezhdurechensk Mining and Concentration Complexes (both are located in Irshansk, Zhytomyr region) are the main producers of titanium ore in Ukraine.
Dnipro-based Velta production and commercial firm built a mining and processing complex at the Birzulivske ilmenite deposit, which has a 240,000-tonne ilmenite concentrate capacity per year.
Holding company Velta Group Global Ltd. was registered in London in November 2011.
Ukraine in January-August 2019 decreased exports of pig iron in natural terms by 25.8% compared to the same period in 2018, to 1.567 million tonnes.
According to customs statistics released by the State Fiscal Service, during this period exports of cast iron in monetary terms fell by 31.1%, to $507.943 million.
Exports were mainly made to the United States (53.39% of deliveries in monetary terms), Italy (15.45%), and Turkey (9.91%).
In January-August 2019, Ukraine imported 836 tonnes of similar products for $502,000, while in January-August 2018 some 997 tonnes worth $569,000. Imports were carried out from Russia (76.29% of deliveries in monetary terms), Germany (20.92%), and Poland (2.79%).
As reported, in 2018, Ukraine increased exports of pig iron by 28.4%, to 3.006 million tonnes, and in money terms it rose by 42.6%, to $1.053 billion. Exports were mainly made to the United States (59.88% of deliveries in monetary terms), Italy (11.85%), and Turkey (10.92%).
In 2018, Ukraine imported 1,375 tonnes of pig iron for $796,000, while in 2017 – 2,000 tonnes for $1.02 million. The goods were imported from Russia (78.02% of deliveries in monetary terms) and Germany (21.98%).
Ukraine since the beginning of the new 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of September 6, 2019 had exported 9.792 million tonnes of grain and legumes, which is 1.6 times more than on the same date of the previous MY.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, farmers also exported 5.63 million tonnes of wheat, 1.86 million tonnes of corn, 2.28 million tonnes of barley. As of September 6 this year, 52,600 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, in the 2018/2019 marketing year, Ukraine exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour, which is 23% more than in the previous MY.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in August raised its forecast for grain exports by 2.65 million tonnes compared with the July forecast, to 54.04 million tonnes.
Ukraine in January-July 2019 decreased electricity exports by 2.3% (by 83.6 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2018, to 3.543 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP Energy Island in the direction of Hungary, Slovakia and Romania increased by 3.8% (by 86.9 million kWh), to 2.382 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland decreased by 9.2% (by 76.3 million kWh), to 755.6 million kWh.
Electricity supplies to Moldova amounted to 404.8 million kWh, which is 18.9% (94.1 million kWh) less than in January-July 2018.
For the seventh months of 2018 and 2019, Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus and Russia.
In addition, for the aforementioned period Ukraine imported 15.9 million kWh of electricity from the Russian Federation and 0.7 million kWh from Belarus.
Ukraine exported 3.8 million tonnes of sunflower oil worth $2.6 billion, which is 16% higher than the same period in 2018, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said. Supplies of soybean oil increased by 81% over this period, to 238,000 tonnes, the ministry said in a press releaes.
“Now farmers haven’t started harvesting sunflower seeds and soybeans yet, but the forecasts are rather optimistic. A reduction in areas under these crops by 4.4% in the case of sunflower seeds and 8% in soybeans was balanced by favorable weather conditions,” the ministry said.
As reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts growth in vegetable oil exports from Ukraine by 250,000 tonnes, to 6.3 million tonnes at the expense of sunflower oil in the 2019/20 marketing year (MY, September-August) whose share in total oil exports may reach 5.85 million tonnes (data for August 2019).
