According to EastFruit analysts, wholesale prices for apples of “Gala” variety in Ukraine, Moldova and Poland are at record levels for this time for the last years. It is the most popular apple variety among exporters, as well as an increasingly popular apple variety among consumers, competing more and more successfully with the “Golden Delicious” variety.
While usually prices for Gala apple vary significantly in these three neighboring exporting countries, this season by mid-October prices in Moldova, Poland and Ukraine are almost identical, ranging from $0.51 to $0.53 per kg for a standard quality apple suitable for domestic fresh market sales.
As for the premium export quality apple, the prices are significantly higher. “The margin for the ‘premiumness’ of the apple is higher than usual in Eastern European countries this season. This is not only due to a general decrease in apple supply, but also to quality problems due to completely atypical weather conditions during the apple growing season,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist in FAO’s investment department.
Read also: Prices for apples in Ukraine set new records
In less than a month, prices for “Gala” in Ukraine rose by 36%. In Moldova, the rise in apple prices began later, but over the past three weeks, prices have strengthened by 11% at once. In Poland, prices for the same variety increased by 6% in two weeks, although before that they tended to decrease from the incredibly high levels from which the season started and were much higher than in Ukraine and Poland.
According to traders, the main reason for the rise in apple prices is the reluctance of producers to rush their sales. Even in Ukraine, where Russian invaders attack civilian infrastructure, including the country’s energy facilities, on a daily basis, farmers are trying to keep their apples for longer, hoping for even higher price levels.
It should be noted that the increase in apple prices at this time of year is atypical for Eastern European countries, as apple supply is usually maximized and farmers are in a hurry to sell off the part of the produce that cannot be stored for a long period of time. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that in the winter-spring period, the prices for apple of popular varieties will unpleasantly surprise consumers.
The development company Creator-Bud has announced the construction of the WOL.100 apartment hotel in Katowice (Poland), with the international management company Ribas Hotels Group responsible for the integrated management of apartments and services, the hotel operator’s press service reports.
WOL.100 apartment hotel with 71 apartments will be located in the center of Katowice (100a Mykołowska Street), with completion of construction and renovation works scheduled for Q4 2025.
“WOL.100 is a modern apartment hotel that provides flexible and mobile living. It fits perfectly into the growing market of Katowice, meeting the needs of tourists, business travelers and those looking for quality mixed-use space. The growing tourist flow, business attraction, development of various industries and high demand for complexes of this format make the hotel an ideal solution for the city,” Dmytro Struk, Development Director of Creator-Bud, was quoted in the release.
As of 2023, about 4.8 thousand rooms in hotels of various categories were registered in Katowice. According to Statistic Poland, the city is visited by about 1.2 million tourists annually, and the average length of stay is two nights. The demand for rooms exceeds the current supply by 37%, indicating high demand and expansion of the room stock.
The WOL concept – home+hotel – provides comfortable conditions for living, working and relaxing in one place, regardless of the length of stay, whether it is 7 days or several months. The infrastructure of WOL.100 in Katowice includes a coffee shop, lobby and reception, gym, rooftop and coworking space on the top floor.
“The biggest competitive advantage of WOL.100 is that it is the first hotel in our chain, and the second in Ukraine, which guarantees investors a minimum yield of 17 euros per square meter in the first two years. Moreover, due to the capitalization of the project, the stable forecasted European market and the recognition of the object, this amount has the potential to grow,” says Artur Lupashko, CEO and founder of Ribas Hotels Group.
The following forms of investment are offered to investors: hotel purchase, investment in apartments, the cost starts from EUR3.8 thousand per square meter.
Founded in 2006, Creator-Bud is a vertically integrated full-cycle holding company with branches in Kyiv, Lviv and Ternopil. According to the LUN new buildings portal, the company has commissioned 36 buildings in 18 residential complexes, and 28 buildings in 14 residential complexes are under construction.
Ribas Hotels Group is an international management company established in 2014 in Odesa, whose flagship service is the operational management of hotel and restaurant complexes. The company also provides services in concept development, design, support of all stages of project implementation, consulting, and franchising for developers.
The company has 28 city, beach, and ski hotels under the Ribas, Ribas Hotels, Ribas Rooms, WOL home + hotel, and Mandra Glamping brands under integrated management and exclusive booking. The operator’s total room capacity is over 1000 rooms. In total, the portfolio includes 55 projects, including those under design and construction.
The company is currently developing facilities in Poland, Moldova, and Indonesia.
On the border with Poland, at the Ustyluh-Zosin checkpoint, the passage of persons and vehicles is temporarily suspended due to a malfunction of the database on the Polish side, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.
“At night, the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland reported a malfunction in the database. In this regard, registration and passage is not carried out,” the State Border Guard Service said in a statement on Telegram.
The State Border Guard Service informs that measures are currently being taken to eliminate the malfunction.
“We ask citizens and carriers, if possible, to choose other checkpoints to cross the border,” it concludes.
World central banks in July, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), increased the amount of gold in their gold reserves by 37.1 tons.
The largest buyers were Poland (14.3 tons), Uzbekistan (9.6 tons) and India (5.4 tons). Jordan (4.3 tons), Turkey (3.8 tons), Qatar (2.3 tons), Czech Republic (1.6 tons), Egypt and Malta (0.1 tons each) also increased their reserves
Kazakhstan (3.9 tons) and Mongolia (0.7 tons) sold gold.
“Central banks have remained committed to hoarding gold in recent months. While the overall level of demand cooled slightly as the gold price continued to rise to new highs, it nevertheless remained positive,” WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul said in a review.
Tovkachevsky Mining and Processing Plant (TMP, Pershotravneve, Zhytomyr region) intends to supply quartzite and crushed stone to WENGA SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA (Poland) for a total of EUR 2 million.
According to the company’s announcement in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, on September 2 this year, the Supervisory Board of TGOK gave its consent to the Management Board to conduct a significant transaction – the conclusion of a supply agreement between the company and WENGA SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA (Poland).
At the same time, it is specified that the contract is for the supply of the following quartzite products: quartzite TK 97-100 fraction 25-120 mm, 25-100 mm, 25-100 mm, 2 mm; crushed stone fraction 5-10 mm, 5-40 mm, 20-40 mm, 25-60 mm, with a total contract value of EUR 2 million.
“To entrust the Chairman of the Management Board of the company to perform all actions and sign all documents necessary to conclude the above-mentioned agreement for the supply of quartzite products with WENGA SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA (Poland). The market value of the subject of the agreement is EUR 2 million, at the NBU exchange rate as of September 2, 2024, it amounts to UAH 91 million 3.6 thousand,” the company said in a statement.
TGOK is a quartzite mining, processing and beneficiation company. It is the main supplier of raw materials for the production of ferroalloys, refractories and dynamite in Ukraine.
TGOK develops the Tovkachivska area of the Ovruch quartzite deposit located in Pershotravneve village using the open-pit method.
According to the second quarter of 2024, Navaro Development Limited owns 5.1898% of the company’s shares, Lucrino Investments Limited – 9%, Mantara Holdings Limited – 72.0629%, Duxton Holdings Limited (all Cyprus) – 12.1891%.The company’s authorized capital is UAH 1.6 million, the share price is UAH 2.25.
Optima School has received permission to conduct educational activities in Poland and will start teaching high school students (grades 10-11) at the beginning of the school year in September, Optima School director Olga Bilodid said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
“The Polish school will be enrolling high school students. It will start at the beginning of the school year. We have already realized what we dreamed of last year, and we intend to move to other EU countries,” Bilodid said.
Optima School founder Roberts Weishla noted that Optima will share its experience with other countries, positioning itself not only as an international school with universal content, but also creating local content that meets local curricula.
According to him, Optima has the capacity to serve up to 500 thousand students at a time.
Optima School was established and licensed in 2015. The school currently has 20 thousand students.
