By the end of 2020, the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine will grow by 5-6% in national currency, while at the beginning of the year a growth of 14% was expected, Director of AstraZeneca Ukraine LLC Yevhen Gaidukov has said.
“If we had a forecast of about 14% growth in the national currency, now we believe that by the end of the year the market will grow by 5-6% in hryvnia, but growth will depend on the U.S. dollar exchange rate,” he said during the European Business Association (EBA) Global Outlook event held in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Gaidukov said that the key challenge faced by the pharmaceutical market in 2020 was the almost complete absence of patients in clinics since April-May and “absolutely panic demand in March.”
“We, as an industry, were not ready for this. Telemedicine and other means of remote communication between a doctor and a patient were undeveloped. This is the reason for the market decline,” he said.
Under the optimistic scenario, Gaidukov predicts the growth of the pharmaceutical market by 10-11% in 2021.
“For 2021, we believe that the market will grow by 10-11% under the optimistic scenario. With regard to our company, we want to grow and this year, we will grow several times faster than the market,” he said.
At the same time, Gaidukov said that the pace of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market “will strongly depend on the reform of the healthcare system, which has slowed down this year, taking into account the prioritization of other things, in particular COVID-19.”
Factoring reform has the potential to address the market gap in receivables finance in Ukraine, currently estimated at between EUR 1.5 billion and EUR 3.4 billion, and developing the factoring sector will help expand access to finance for businesses and save jobs, Head of the Trade Facilitation Programme of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Rudolf Putz said during a webinar held jointly by the EBRD and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Tuesday.
According to the EBRD, in Ukraine, receivables finance represents only 0.1% of the country’s GDP, compared to 8% of output in neighboring Poland, where the factoring market remains the fastest-growing financial sector, worth EUR 66.1 billion and serving more than 18,000 businesses.
“The demand from smaller businesses, which typically find it difficult to secure bank loans, will grow exponentially as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of slowing down,” Putz said.
The EBRD said that the webinar brought together more than 100 trade professionals, bankers and international experts. The two-day virtual event called for sound policy and a good regulatory framework to enable the healthy development of factoring, to expand access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to strengthen their financial resilience.
The event was delivered by the factoring working group at the National Banking Association of Ukraine in cooperation with FCI, the largest global representative body for factoring and financing of open-account domestic and international trade receivables.
According to the report, drawing on the experience of Greece, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, the working group and the National Bank of Ukraine agreed the next steps in reforming the sector.
These include the separation of factoring from debt collection; business education and marketing of factoring; the promotion of paperless and automated document flows; the protection of creditors’ rights; the rethinking of factoring-related risk assessment; the establishment of a factoring risk insurance framework; and improved legislative regulation.
FCI expressed a strong view that Ukraine needs to develop an effective regulatory policy governing the factoring business and to adopt a factoring law.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 15 billion through 466 projects in the country.
The EBRD launched two Solidarity Packages in response to the COVID-19 crisis and now expects to dedicate its total business investment of up to EUR 21 billion in 2020-21 to overcoming the economic impact of the crisis.
The supplier of electricity and energy saving solutions YASNO (DTEK) will also sell natural gas.
According to the company, it has already received a package of licenses for the supply of natural gas and is negotiating the conclusion of the first gas contracts with legal clients.
YASNO is also preparing to supply natural gas to households.
“We understand how convenient and profitable it is for clients to have a single supplier that simultaneously provides electricity, gas, and also helps to save money thanks to energy saving solutions and products. This is a modern European practice that YASNO will implement in Ukraine in combination with a high level of service,” Business Development Director of YASNO Oleksandr Onyshchenko said.
Sales of new commercial vehicles (including heavy vehicles) in July increased by 11% compared to July 2019, to 1,163 vehicles, reports the Ukrautoprom association.
According to the association, the July sales result is 53.3% higher than the June one of the current year.
This increase in sales is primarily due to the results of the rating’s leader – Fiat, whose primary registrations grew 2.7 times by July 2019 and 2.3 times compared to June of the current year, to 257 units.
According to the data provided by Ukrautoprom, Peugeot moved to the second position in July from the fourth in June, pushing aside Renault. The demand for Peugeot vehicles doubled both compared to July 2019 and June 2020, to 164 units.
Renault has lost 38.6% of sales, ending the month with 127 registered vehicles (20% more than in June 2020). Mercedes-Benz came fourth (from the 11th position in July of the previous year) with 80 registrations against 43.
Ford entered the top five market leaders, having sold 72 vehicles in Ukraine – one unit more than a year ago.
Among the Ukrainian brands, only ZAZ entered the top twenty best-selling commercial vehicles with sales of 11 vehicles against 28 units in July 2020.
According to the statistics of the association, the market of buses of all classes in Ukraine in July decreased by almost 20% compared to July of the previous year but increased by 7.4% compared to June 2020, to 101 units.
The first place, as well as the last month, is occupied by Otaman buses of Cherkasy Bus Plant with the registration of 43 buses compared to 24 in July of the previous year and 45 buses in June of the current year.
Ford takes the second position climbing from the fourth in June, the demand for buses of this brand increased to 25 units – from 19 units in July 2019 and 10 units in June 2020, and the Ukrainian Etalon, which takes the third position, sold 10 buses comparing to six and 11, respectively.
The Ukrainian Ruta was fourth (five units against eight a year earlier), Hyundai was fifth with five buses (and none in July 2019).
Singapore has opened its market for Ukrainian pork. “For the first time since long a foreign market has opened for Ukrainian pork. Singapore’s regulator has accredited a Ukrainian enterprise for export of thermally processed/tinned pork and chicken meat,” the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection said.
It also said that those were the first steps towards the opening of the global market for Ukrainian pork.
The sales of new commercial vehicles (including heavy vehicles) in June decreased by 21% compared to June 2019, to 760 units, Ukrautoprom reports.
According to the association, at the same time, the June sales result is 11.8% more than in May this year.
In June, Fiat demonstrated the best sales result, pushing Renault into the second position and managing to increase registrations by 16%, to 118 units.
Renault lost 35% of sales, completing the month with 106 registered cars, in third place, as a year earlier, was occupied by Ford with the registration of 82 cars against 80 in June 2019 and 50 in May this year.
Peugeot ranked fourth, having improved the position in the rating by one step and increased sales by 22%, to 77 vehicles. Belarus’ MAZ closes the top five of the June market of new commercial cars, with 64 registrations in its classification (15% less).
Ukrainian commercial vehicles were not included in the list of the 15 best-selling commercial cars, and Russia’s GAZ ranks 14th with the registration of 12 cars against 39 units in June 2019 and nine units in May of this year.
In total, in the first half of the year, the Ukrainian fleet of trucks and special vehicles was replenished with 4,100 new vehicles, which is a quarter less than in the same period last year.
At the same time, according to the statistics of the association, the bus market of all classes in Ukraine in June decreased by 5% compared to June last year, and almost doubled compared to May of the current year, to 94 buses.
