Ukraine in January-July 2019 exported 3,670 tonnes of cheese, which was 19.4% less that in January-July 2018. According to customs statistics released by Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service (SFS), cheese exports in monetary terms amounted to $13.08 million, which was 23% lower than the figure for the first seven months of 2018.
At the same time, imports of cheese in January-July 2019 totaled 10,380 tonnes, which was 1.6 times more than in January-July last year. The imports in monetary terms increased 46.2%, to $47.79 million.
Exports of Ukrainian creamery butter in January-July 2019 decreased 32.9%, to 12,890 tonnes. The exports in monetary terms decreased 35.3%, to $53 million. Imports of creamery butter, according to the SFS, decreased by 7.2%, to 591 tonnes ($3.7 million).
In January-July 2019, exports of condensed milk and cream grew by 19.1%, to 26,640 tonnes. Ukraine supplied condensed milk and cream to the tune of $56.64 million, which was 1.5 times more than in January-July 2018. Their imports decreased 9.5%, to 1,100 tonnes ($2.37 million).
As reported, Ukraine in 2018 imported 13,720 tonnes of cheese (37.1% up from 2017) and exported 8,340 tonnes of cheese (7.8% down from 2017). Last year, exports of butter remained at the level of 2017, imports increased slightly, to 1,100 tonnes. Exports of condensed milk and cream totaled 35,550 tonnes (24.1% down from 2017), imports were 2,360 tonnes (38.6% up from 2017).
Ukraine in January-July 2019 exported 243,710 tonnes of poultry, which is 32% more than in the same period in 2018, the State Fiscal Service has reported. According to its data, in monetary terms exports of these products increased by 23%, to $356.57 million.
Poultry and offal imports for the seven months fell by 2.9%, to 71,240 tonnes, in monetary terms by 2.3%, to $28.62 million.
According to the State Fiscal Service, exports of pork in January-July 2019 rose by 2.7% compared to the corresponding period of 2018, to 1,200 tonnes. In monetary terms exports of this product amounted to $2.65 million (1.3%).
Pork imports to Ukraine during this period grew by 11.7%, to 13,580 tonnes. The country received this meat for a total of $25.71 million that is 14% more compared to the previous seven months.
Germany’s low cost bus operator FlixBus (Berlin) has signed an agreement of cooperation in Ukraine with Gunsel company, according to which starting from August 19, 2019 three joint bus lines will be serviced, FlixBus Managing Director in Poland and Ukraine Michal Leman and Gunsel Group General Manager Kocak said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported.
Leman said that, in particular, in cooperation with Gunsel, the following lines will be added to the FlixBus network: Kyiv-Warsaw (via Lublin, daily), Kyiv-Wroclaw (via Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lviv, Krakow, Katowice, three times a week), Kyiv-Prague (via Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lviv and Hradec Králové, three times a week).
“The new lines that will be added to our network will allow Ukrainian FlixBus passengers to get access to several hundred of our European destinations, thanks to transfers that can be made at FlixBus hubs in Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw and Prague,” Leman said.
He added that currently FlixBus services five routes from Kyiv in conjunction with the Euroclub company (Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow and Paris). At the same time, FlixBus plans to open routes from Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro by the end of 2019.
“I am very glad that today the Ukrainian company Gunsel became a FlixBus partner in Ukraine. This is only the beginning of the journey… I had a conversation yesterday with the new governor of Kyiv region, Mykhailo Bno-Airiian, and he is very interested in meeting with FlixBus and launching internal trips in Kyiv region. I am interested to hold a meeting of your office [FlixBus] with Kyiv carriers,” Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan said at the press conference.
Production of natural gas in Ukraine in January-July 2019 increased, according to recent data, by 1.8% (by 216.3 million cubic meters) compared to the same period in 2018, to 12.188 billion cubic meters, according to data from JSC Ukrtransgaz.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, gas production by Ukrgazvydobuvannia amounted to 8.868 billion cubic meters (0.3% more compared to January-July 2018), by PJSC Ukrnafta to 672.7 million cubic meters (10.2% more), and other companies to 2.648 billion cubic meters (5% up).
In July 2019, gas production amounted to 1.697 billion cubic meters (4.1% less compared to July 2018), in particular by extraction by Ukrgazvydobuvannia totaled 1.207 billion cubic meters (7.4% less), Ukrnafta some 97.1 million cubic meters (7.8% more), and other companies some 392.9 million cubic meters (up by 4.7%).
A world-wide Russian-language channel will be created in Ukraine to strengthen the position of the state in the informational struggle, said Deputy Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, such a channel is needed so that Ukraine could fight both for the minds of Ukrainians in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, and for the minds of Russians in the territory of the Russian Federation. “We have developed a launch option for the Ukrainian Russian-language channel, with which we will be able to cover the Russian-speaking population all over the world,” said Tymoshenko.
According to him, the team of President Volodymyr Zelensky wants it to be a state channel. “But we are negotiating with private channels about the handover of rights to use their coolest content,” Tymoshenko said.
The position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on negotiations with Ukraine on the resumption of funding remains the same: the Fund is awaiting the formation of a new government and wants to see priorities of its policy.
IMF Spokesperson Gerry Rice said at a press briefing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday that the IMF team was ready to return to Kyiv to continue discussions after the parliamentary elections as soon as the new government is able to decide on its policy priorities.
