In Ukraine, prices for potatoes have started to gradually decline, analysts of the EastFruit project report. It should be noted that a week earlier sellers managed to keep selling prices at a fairly high level, but the activity of trade gradually decreased. It became obvious to producers that at the established price level it will be extremely difficult to realize the volumes of potatoes, especially those that are not suitable for further storage, before the onset of frost. As a result, most of them by the middle of this week began to synchronously reduce selling prices, trying to revive the interest of wholesalers to their goods.
Thus, at the moment farmers in the main regions of production are ready to ship quality potatoes at 18-28 UAH/kg ($0.43-0.68/kg), depending on the volume and quality of products offered, which is on average 10% cheaper than at the end of last week.
At the same time, wholesale companies, many of which succumbed to the hype in this segment, and having in stock volumes of expensive potatoes purchased on the external market earlier, are currently selling excessive quantities at a loss.
At the same time, owners of quality potatoes today prefer not to hurry with the realization of available volumes of their products, waiting for the improvement of the price situation in the market. It should be added that under the current conditions, potato prices in the Ukrainian market at the moment are still on average 2.3 times higher than in early November last year.
More detailed information about the development of the market of potatoes and other horticultural products in Ukraine you can get by subscribing to the operative analytical weekly – EastFruit Ukraine Weekly Pro. Detailed information about the product can be found here.
https://east-fruit.com/novosti/v-ukraine-desheveet-kartofel-2/
Global Build Engineering (Ternopil), Spets-Bud Standard (Ternopil region) and Uniontransbuilding (Lutsk) have received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to create a consortium called Global Roads Group. The relevant decision on granting permission for concerted actions of the companies was made by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on October 31.
According to Opendatabot, the owner and beneficiary of Global Build Engineering LLC is Serhiy Tolstikov. The company is engaged in the construction of residential and non-residential buildings, roads and highways.
According to the financial results for 2023, “Global Build Engineering” reduced net income by 32% – to UAH 45 million, while increasing net profit threefold – to UAH 340 thousand.
Petr Zemba is the owner and ultimate beneficiary of Spets-Bud Standard LLC. The main type of activity is road construction. According to the results of 2023, the net income of the company increased by 24% – to UAH 67 million, while net profit decreased 11 times – to UAH 14.2 thousand.
The owner of Uniontransbuilding LLC is listed as Andriy Podosovsky. The company is also engaged in the construction of buildings. According to the results of 2023, the company increased net income 3.8 times – up to UAH 186 million, net profit – four times, up to UAH 2.7 million.
On November 1, 2024, Ukraine started the season of natural gas withdrawal from its underground gas storage facilities (UGS), according to the data of the Association of European Underground Gas Storage Operators (GSE). While on October 30 and 31 a small filling of storage facilities was recorded, on November 1 the volume of their filling decreased by 0.05%.
On October 31, the head of Naftohaz, Oleksiy Chernyshov, stated on his Facebook page that the heating season was actively starting in Ukrainian cities.
He recalled that Ukraine used about 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas from its subway gas reservoirs during the 2023/2024 heating season, and expects the same figures for the 2024/2025 season.
As reported, Ukraine entered November 2023 with 16 billion cubic meters of gas stored in UGS facilities. In general, during the heating season 2023/24, 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas was withdrawn from storage facilities, of which Ukraine used 6.7 billion cubic meters. The gas withdrawal season lasted a total of 145 days.
Ukraine planned to enter the heating season of 2024/25 with gas reserves in UGS at least 13 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the low activity of gas injection by non-residents forced Naftohaz to buy gas and store it in Ukraine’s UGS facilities in the “customs warehouse” (CU) mode,
Chernyshov noted in his commentary to Energoreforma in early October that as of November 1, the company’s purchase of gas in the TC mode, which is carried out as a reserve at the expense of the EBRD loan, will amount to about 0.5-0.6 billion cubic meters.
According to former Energy Minister Olga Buslavets, in general, the reserves in Ukraine’s UGS facilities as of November 1, 2024 amounted to 12.9 billion cubic meters.
natural gas withdrawal, UKRAINE, underground storage facilities
Increased trade activity stimulates the growth of prices for carrots in Ukrainian farms, according to analysts of the EastFruit project. According to the producers themselves, at the moment this root vegetable is actively purchased by both wholesale companies, which put it in storage, and the population, which forms stocks for the winter. In addition, sales to retail chains remain quite stable.
Today, farmers in the main regions of production ship quality carrots at 18-25 UAH/kg ($0.16-0.22/kg), which is on average 12% more expensive than at the end of last week. However, industry experts emphasize that the trend of price growth is observed only in the segment of high quality carrots, which are purchased for storage.
It should be noted that at the moment prices for quality carrots in Ukraine are already on average 3.3 times higher than in the same period last year. At the same time, some producers plan to further increase prices for carrots, provided the current sales rates are maintained.
You can get more detailed information about the development of carrots and other fruit and vegetable products market in Ukraine by subscribing to the operative analytical weekly – EastFruit Ukraine Weekly Pro. Detailed product information is available here.
https://east-fruit.com/novosti/v-ukraine-rastut-tseny-na-kachestvennuyu-morkov/
Ukraine and China are working on opening the Chinese market for Ukrainian peas, poultry meat, corn and fish products, the press service of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection said.
“China is an important market for agro-products for national exporters, therefore, on behalf of the Chairman of the State Consumer Service Sergiy Tkachuk, constant interaction between the service and the competent authority of the PRC continues. Our goal is to open seven new markets. This is a long-term process of coordination, but step by step we are succeeding,” said First Deputy Head of the State Consumer Service Oleg Osiyan at a meeting with representatives of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC).
The parties discussed draft bilateral international agreements on export of peas, wheat flour, pet food, beef, corn, poultry meat, wild-caught aquatic products from Ukraine to China. Each of the above documents is at a different stage of elaboration and harmonization.
“While the protocol on peas is at the stage of finalization of domestic harmonization in Ukraine, the texts have been sent for consideration to the competent authority of China. This is one of the markets at the final stage of opening. After the signing of the bilateral protocol, new opportunities for Ukrainian agrarian business to export peas will open up,” Deputy Head of the State Consumer Service – Chief State Phytosanitary Inspector of Ukraine Vadym Chaykovskyy emphasized.
It is recalled that the last Ukrainian product, for which the access to the Chinese market was opened, was honey. The form of health certificate for its export was agreed earlier this year.
Requirements of the destination countries of the export of food products of animal and plant origin are publicized on the official web portal of the State consumer service.
“Currently under consideration of Chinese colleagues – draft protocols on the export of poultry meat and fish. The State Consumer Service sent its proposals on the text of the protocol in the fall. The protocol on wild-caught aquatic products has already undergone domestic harmonization and is at the stage of final approval by the Chinese side. The texts of protocols on beef and pet food are also undergoing the stage of domestic approval,” said Volodymyr Kusturov, Deputy Head of the State Consumer Service – Chief State Veterinary Inspector of Ukraine.
Representatives of the State Consumer Service and GACC discussed in detail the steps of further cooperation, draft bilateral agreements, and agreed to continue active cooperation on the development of international trade between Ukraine and China.
DW Akademie has been active in Ukraine since 2014, promoting freedom of expression, media viability and balanced reporting. It supports the public broadcaster in informing the population during the ongoing war.
The Ukrainian media landscape has changed fundamentally since the war broke out in February 2022. However, despite wartime censorship and additional restrictions on press freedoms, the country’s ranking has moved up significantly on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. Ranked in 2022 at 106 out of 180 countries, it rose to position 79 in 2023 and to position 61 in 2024.
These higher rankings are mainly due to oligarchs losing their influence on the journalism and editorial policies of national TV stations. Their political and economic influence has declined sharply since the war began, and few public political disputes are now conducted via the media. As a result, oligarchs have lost interest in their own media (especially national TV channels) as platforms for political strife. This growing gap is being filled by Ukraine’s public broadcaster UA:PBC (Suspilne) and local media.
Nevertheless, ongoing reports jointly produced by and aired on six national TV channels, that are controlled by the president’s office and financed by the state budget, have undermined people’s trust in the media.
Observers point to two clear trends in the media market since 2022: people are moving away from television as their main source of information and towards social and online media (especially Telegram). At the same time, people’s trust in and the relevance of independent (online) media is growing. Although countering (Russian) disinformation is a major challenge as people increasingly consume news via (anonymous) Telegram channels, strengthening the relevance of local media in Ukraine is encouraged.
Our activities
DW Akademie has been active in Ukraine since 2014, supporting local independent media, public broadcasting (UA:PBC) and freelance journalism. Its ongoing projects help improve standards for journalistic qualifications and make basic and advanced training more practice oriented. It also provides comprehensive and needs oriented support to local independent media outlets.
Independent, reliable information is vital in times of war. As a result, the public broadcaster UA:PBC informs people about attacks, even if the alarm system is not working. DW Akademie keeps in close contact with its staff and partner organizations in Ukraine, including UA:PBC.
DW Akademie is supporting the project sponsor Ukrainian Institute for Media and Communication (UIMK) in developing training formats. The aim is to increase the media and digital skills of people over and to break old rigid ways of thinking. An accompanying study is analyzing the needs and ways to reach this target group. One example is for younger relatives to support older people in becoming more involved in social discourse and transformation processes.
Via the Journalism Teachers Academy (JTA), the UIMK offers training in methodology and didactics to teachers from Ukrainian university journalism faculties. The aim is for media outlets to draw from young better-trained media professionals. Cooperation is being planned with six Ukrainian universities.
The Educational Center Nakypilo continues to offer training positions that are practice-oriented and part of the School for Universal Editors (SUR) to enable trained editors to support staff at independent media outlets. The school’s financing is ensured through financial consulting and organizational development.
DW Akademie provides extensive support to local independent media outlets in Ukraine. It offers needs-oriented training for journalists and media managers as well as seminars and study trips to Germany to give space for discussions, reflection and networking. Together with “Maje Sens”, a new project partner and non-governmental organization, media managers will receive training and support in fundraising. The project runs from 2024-2025.
DW Akademie, together with the Ukrainian public broadcaster (Suspilne) and media organization Lviv Media Forum, is conducting the project “Strengthening Independent Media for a Strong Democratic Ukraine” (2024-2026). It is funded by the European Commission with the support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
The project aims to increase the long-term capacity of independent media, including the Ukranian public broadcaster, and promote an open constructive dialogue within the Ukrainian population. It also aims to support the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting as it strives to meet EU standards.
DW Akademie and Ukraine’s Lviv Media Forum are applying their expertise in supporting independent regional media in Ukraine, with a focus on niche media, constructive journalism and social participation. Suspilne is working more on investigative reporting and children’s content, and advancing its digital modernization process.
The project “MIL Initiative for Youth” by DW Akademie in partnership with Suspilne’s Public Academy Juniors is for young people (12-18 years old) and gives them a voice in local democratic processes.
Funding: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), German Federal Foreign Office (AA), European Commission (EU)
Program Directors: Dr. Kyryl Savin (BMZ), Hélène Champagne (EU)
Locations: Kyiv, Lviv, Cherkassy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Mariupol, Donesk, Luhansk
Local Partners: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine UA:PBC (Suspilne), Educational Center Nakypilo, NGO “Maje Sens”, Ukrainian Institute for Media and Communication (UIMC),Lviv Media Forum (LMF)
Focus: Qualification and training for journalists, media viability, business journalism, civic participation (local), social participation, (local) participatory media formats and community media, media and information literacy (MIL), professionalism and journalist networks
https://akademie.dw.com/en/dw-akademie-in-ukraine/a-18549630
