A Ukrainian delegation will study best practices in trading in commodities futures in the United States, Yulia Vitka, the deputy head of the USAID Financial Sector Transformation project, wrote on Facebook. “A delegation from Ukraine is once again leaving for Chicago to get in-depth knowledge of the activities of commodities futures trading giants such as stock exchanges (CME), elevators (COFCO), traders (ADM) and to talk to the biggest U.S. associations in these areas, such as the National Grain Association and the National Futures Association,” Vitka wrote.
She stated the delegation will focus on the agricultural and power industries, in which Ukraine “has got all the prerequisites to turn into a regional hub.” According to her, the implementation of such an instrument will allow to promote fair competition and reasonable pricing and to attract investors.
“What can be done as of today? First of all, vote for draft law No. 9035 that not only introduces financial instruments but also creates respective safety levers so that the trade would remain within the established rules, which will be trusted and respected,” Vitka said.
As was earlier reported, experts from the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market and the USAID Financial Sector Transformation project announced in late 2017 that within a span of five years Ukraine stands a good chance to create a futures contracts market for agricultural products that will be worth $8 billion and for energy products worth about $20 billion.
Retail trade turnover in Ukraine in January-August 2018 increased by 5.4% in comparable prices in comparison with January-August 2017, the State Statistics Service has said. According to its data, in August 2018 in comparison with July 2018 retail trade turnover rose by 5.7%, compared with August 2017 by 7.5%.
The largest increase in retail trade turnover for the eight months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 was observed in Luhansk (27.9%), Donetsk (13.3%), Poltava (10.8%), Zakarpattia (10.2%), and Kyiv regions (10%). As reported, retail trade turnover in Ukraine in 2017 increased by 8.8%, amounting to UAH 816.554 billion.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has set up the Council for Trade and Sustainable Development, which will be headed by Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister and Ukraine’s Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry has reported on its website. The government made the decision on Wednesday.
“The Council’s task is to organize the work of the advisory group on trade and sustainable development in accordance with the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on the support of civil society, trade and development,” the report says.
The council will include representatives of government bodies and civil society.
Ukraine and Sri Lanka will sign an agreement on the establishment of a joint intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. The corresponding decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in Kyiv on May 10. The draft agreement establishes the procedure for the establishment and functioning of such a commission, its authorities, the frequency of meetings and the legal status of the decisions it takes.
As reported, in late March, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko approved the composition of the delegation to participate in the negotiations with Sri Lanka on the harmonization of the draft interstate agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.
Ukraine in January-March 2018 increased goods flow with the European Union (EU) countries by 17.7% year-over-year, to $8.581 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said on its website. The central bank said that both exports grew by 26.5%, to $4.058 billion and imports rose by 10.7%, to $4.523 billion. The deficit of balance of trade with the EU narrowed to $465 million from $878 million.
In addition, goods flow with Russia grew by 14.9%, to $2.615 billion. Imports rose by 28.4%, to $1.906 billion, while exports fell by 10.1%, to $0.709 billion. The deficit of balance of trade with Russia grew to $1.197 billion from $692 million.
The share of goods flow between Ukraine and the EU of total Ukraine’s foreign trade in January-March 2018 grew to 37.7% from 35.3% and with Russia to 11.5% from 11%.
In general, exports of goods from Ukraine in January-March 2018 grew by 10.4%, to $22.782 billion, imports – by 11.9%, to $12.359 billion and exports – by 8.6%, to 410.423 billion.
EU, GOODS FLOW, GROWS, RUSSIA, TRADE
Ukraine and Israel have technically initiated an agreement on the free trade area (FTA), Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said. “This is a technical but important procedural issue that enables us to conduct legal reconciliation of the text of the agreement for further translation it into three languages and prepare the agreement for signing,” she wrote in the Facebook social network on Friday. Mykolska said that before signing the agreement, the parties have no legal obligations.
As reported, Ukraine and Israel completed talks on the signing of the FTA agreement. The agreement foresees the annulment of import duties for 80% of industrial goods from Ukraine to Israel and some agricultural products within quotas. There will be a gradual cancellation of import duties during the transitional periods – three, five and seven years. After these terms end, the duties will be leveled to nil. A certain category of goods falls under partial liberalization.
In turn, Ukraine opens 70% of the industrial goods market for Israeli producers and also abolishes duties on a number of agricultural products immediately after the FTA agreement enters into force, for some products – within three or five years. In particular, Ukraine will partially reduce tariffs for certain seasonal vegetables and fruits from Israel.
