TOP 20 countries Ukraine has posted the highest surplus of trade in goods in Jan-Aug (thsd usd).
SSC of Ukraine
As of November 30, Ukrainian agricultural producers harvested 80.9 million tonnes of basic crops from an area of 23.8 million hectares, in particular, 62.5 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops were harvested from an area of about 15 million hectares (98% of the forecast).
According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Economy, the following crops were harvested: corn – 26.8 million tonnes from an area of 5.1 million hectares (94%), soybeans – 2.8 million tonnes from 1.3 million hectares (99%), sugar beet – 9 million tonnes from an area of 212,200 hectares (98%).
Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Mykola Kulinich held a number of meetings in Melbourne, the purpose of which is to expand the Ukrainian-Australian cooperation in the trade and economic sphere, the press service of the Ukrainian Embassy in Australia said.
“The meeting with President of the Australian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce Eugene Hawryszko was devoted to the discussion of the prospects for increasing trade between the two countries, the possibility of entering the Australian market for new types of Ukrainian products, as well as the establishment of joint ventures,” the statement says.
In addition, according to the press service of the embassy, during a meeting with head of the Australian-Ukrainian Business Council J. Epp, they discussed attracting Australian investments and technologies to Ukraine, as well as further organizational restructuring of the business council.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2020 halved compared to the same period in 2019, to $3.93 billion from $8.15 billion, in November the foreign trade deficit amounted to $590 million compared to $360 million in deficit in October and $860 million in deficit in November last year. According to the data of the State Customs Service, export of goods from Ukraine for the specified period compared to the same period in 2019 decreased by 3.51%, to $44.45 billion, import by 10.77%, to $48.38 billion.
The State Customs Service clarified that in November this year, compared with October, the volume of exports increased by 2.21%, to $4.73 billion, imports by 6.75%, to $5.32 billion.
At the same time, compared to November 2019, exports increased by 9.15%, imports by 2.43% in monetary terms.
According to the customs data, China remains the largest trade partner of Ukraine in January-November with a trade turnover of $43.9 billion, a deficit of almost $15.6 billion. It is followed by the Russian Federation (a turnover of $39.7 billion, a negative balance of $12.97 billion) and Germany (trade turnover is $28.3 billion, a deficit of $11.86 billion), according to the State Customs Service.
Ukraine will be able to achieve the transfer of entry points for export of gas by Gazprom to the Ukrainian-Russian border only in close cooperation with the European Commission and other European institutions.
This opinion was expressed by representatives of Naftogaz Ukrainy and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) at an online briefing devoted to five years of gas independence held on Friday.
“We believe that the possibility of transferring entry points is technically possible. But there is no political consent on the part of the Russian Federation, because they understand that the European gas market is declining and do not want additional competitors. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to fight against the monopoly position of the Russian Federation together with our European partners and institutions. They will allow us to create such conditions to force the Russian Federation to allow the transit of energy resources through its territory and, if European traders have such a desire, to move the gas entry points to the Ukraine-Russia border,” Director General of GTSOU Serhiy Makogon said.
According to him, European traders have already approached the Russian Federation with a similar proposal, but so far received a negative answer.
According to Lana Zerkal, advisor to the executive board chairman of Naftogaz Ukrainy, it is extremely important for Ukraine to involve the European Commission to cooperate in this process.
“It is the involvement of the European Commission as a moderator of such a discussion that is extremely important, since we already have a positive experience of conducting such trilateral negotiations in the gas sector. And here we should not look like a supplicant. We should do our part of the homework, namely: together with the European Commission conduct full screening and full monitoring of Ukrainian legislation on its compliance with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, which will give us the necessary basis for further joint work,” Zerkal said.
The relocation of Russian gas entry points to the eastern border of Ukraine will allow the country to more closely integrate into the European gas market and, in particular, to even more actively involve European traders in the placement of gas in Ukrainian underground storage facilities, she said.
The list of 103 priority investment projects until 2023, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on Wednesday, includes 14 airports.
According to the accompanying documents to the decree, in particular, in the specified list, the resumption of core activities and further development of the international airport in Cherkasy; reconstruction of the airfield of Ivano-Frankivsk International Airport; reconstruction of the international airport in Chernivtsi (all are funded from the state and local budgets, investor funds).
In addition, the priority is given to modernization of the material and technical base of Kherson International Airport (funding from the state and local budgets, credit funds); reconstruction of the international airport in Vinnytsia, the international airport in Odesa (the third stage of construction); the international airport in the city of Dnipro; construction of a new airport in Zakarpattia; reconstruction of the international airport in Poltava (all are funded from the state and local budgets, investor funds).
In addition, it is planned to renew the infrastructure of Rivne International Airport municipal enterprise (exclusively at the expense of the investor); to renovate the runway, buildings, networks of Sumy Airport municipal enterprise (at the expense of the state and local budgets, investor funds, credit funds); to reconstruct international airports in Kryvy Rih and Mykolaiv (at the expense of the state and local budgets, investor funds); to reconstruct and modernize the airport in Zhytomyr (at the expense of the investor and the state budget).
