Ukraine in January-June this year increased exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 61.6% compared to the same period last year – up to 888.016 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, in monetary terms, exports of semi-finished carbon steel products increased by 47.3% to $439.909 million.
The main exports were to Bulgaria (35.49% of shipments in monetary terms), Poland (11.74%) and Italy (8.56%).
In January-June 2024 Ukraine imported from Egypt 5 tons of semi-finished products worth $5 thousand, while in January-June 2023 it imported from China 72 tons of semi-finished products worth $133 thousand.
As reported, Ukraine in 2023 reduced exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 36.7% compared to 2022 – to 1 million 203.454 thousand tons, exports in monetary terms decreased by 48.9% to $608.516 million. The main exports were to Bulgaria (36.66% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (23.01%) and Italy (9.60%).
In addition, in 2023 Ukraine imported 96 tons of semi-finished steel products from China (98.26%) and Turkey (1.74%) for the amount of $172 thousand.
Ukraine in the 2023-2024 marketing year, ending June 30, 2024, exported 57.5 million tons of grains and oilseeds from a harvest of 82.8 million tons, with transitional stocks of about 7 million tons, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) said.
“Last season, the most important factor for Ukrainian grain exports was the opening of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Corridor, which allowed exports by sea from the deep-water ports of Odessa. The second most important factor was the introduction by Ukraine together with international partners of a working mechanism of insurance of ships entering Ukrainian ports, which reduced the cost of exporters and, accordingly, Ukrainian agricultural producers on export logistics”, – said the association.
According to UZA analysts with reference to the information of the State Customs Service, in monetary terms exports of grains and oilseeds in 2023/2024 MY amounted to $10.76 billion, and exports including products from them, including sunflower oil and other oils, cakes and meal, amounted to $17.86 billion.
Wheat exports totaled 18.4 million tons worth $3 billion, with production of about 22 million tons. The top 3 importing countries of Ukrainian wheat included Spain, which purchased 5.899 million tons, Egypt – 1.721 million tons, Indonesia – 1.515 million tons.
Barley Ukraine supplied abroad almost 2.5 million tons for $376 million, with production of 5.8 million tons. The most active buyers were China – 702 thousand tons, Indonesia – 460 thousand tons, Cyprus – 221 thousand tons.
Last season Ukraine exported 29.3 million tons of corn worth $4.7 billion, while last year’s production was 29.6 million tons. Its main buyers were Spain – 6.011 million tons, China – 4.832 million tons, Egypt – 3.874 million tons.
Nearly 3 million tons of soybeans were sold to other countries for the amount of $1.1 billion, with a harvest of 4.9 million tons. The top 3 buyers were Egypt – 956 thousand tons, Turkey – 674 thousand tons, Germany – 235 thousand tons.
On the eve of the NATO summit in Washington, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signed a bilateral security agreement in Warsaw. “Those who are defending Ukraine today are also defending themselves,” Tusk said.
The President of Ukraine called the agreement “ambitious”. “It is able to protect the lives of our people and resist Russian evil,” Selenskyy said. The agreement provides for the development of a mechanism by which “Russian missiles and drones fired in the direction of Poland can be shot down in Ukrainian airspace.”
Zelenskyy arrived in Poland on the day of fierce Russian missile attacks on his country that killed at least 26 people. A major children’s hospital in Kyiv was damaged. “There are no words, no documents, no political statements that would be enough to condemn the aggressor,” Tusk said.
Poland, a member of the EU and NATO, is one of the staunchest political and military supporters of Ukraine under attack by Russia. It also serves as an important hub for Western military aid to Kyiv. Poland has also hosted nearly a million refugees from its neighboring country.
Ukraine has concluded security agreements with the EU and 19 individual states, including the United States, Japan, and Germany. They formalize the military and civilian support already provided and offer the prospect of further assistance for an initial period of ten years.
In the afternoon, Selensky will meet with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. The NATO summit on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the defense alliance will be held in Washington from July 9 to 11. The heads of state and government of the alliance’s 32 member states are expected to discuss, among other things, further assistance to Ukraine. Zelenskyy is also invited to the meeting. With the airspace over Ukraine closed since the start of the war, Zelenskiy must use the land route through Poland for all foreign travel before he can continue his journey by plane from there.
Source: https://www.zeit.de/news/2024-07/08/polen-und-ukraine-unterzeichnen-sicherheitsabkommen
Yaroslava Maguchikh from Dnipro, the bronze medalist of the 2020 Olympic Games in high jump, on Sunday set a world record by clearing the bar of 2m 10cm.
At the Diamond League stage in Paris, where the Olympic Games will start soon, she broke the record of Stefka Kostadinova from Bulgaria, which had been held since 1987 – 2 m 9 cm.
Before that, at the same competition, Maguchichykh renewed her personal record of 2m 7cm.
Currently, already 30 thousand square kilometers of de-occupied territories of Ukraine are recognized as such, which do not contain evidence of contamination by explosive objects, it is more than 17% of the preliminary assessment of contamination, reported in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“Today, thanks to our joint work, the area of contaminated territories has already decreased by 30 thousand square kilometers. This means that in these territories were not found or were neutralized detected explosive objects,” – said the head of the Main Department of mine action, civil protection and environmental safety of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Colonel Ruslan Beregulia.
He also emphasized that now the most contaminated remain Kherson, Kharkiv and Mykolayiv regions, where more than 50% of all incidents with explosive objects among civilians have occurred.
According to the colonel, while carrying out demining activities, a comprehensive approach is applied, which, among other things, provides for chemical analysis of soils of agricultural lands for the presence of hazardous substances.
The head of the Main Department of Mine Action also noted that now 78 mechanized demining vehicles of both domestic and foreign production are used for demining of de-occupied territories from explosive objects by demining groups of security and defense forces, as well as by mine action operators.
The ministry recalled that initially the area of potentially explosive contaminated de-occupied territories in Ukraine was estimated at 174 thousand square kilometers, of which 14 thousand square kilometers are water areas.
Speaking at the Dubrovnik Forum on Saturday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković assured of continued support for Ukraine and recalled the assistance already provided to Kyiv in various areas.
In his speech, Plenković pointed to the negative consequences for Europe and the world of the Covid-19 pandemic, “prolonged by Russian aggression against Ukraine, which has devalued the importance of international law and fundamental principles.”
“On behalf of the Croatian government, I would like to once again express my support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, the President, the entire government and thank Minister Kuleba for coming to Dubrovnik today,” the Croatian prime minister said.
He emphasized that there is unity in support of Ukraine among a huge number of countries. Thus, Plenković recalled the recent Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, where, as he noted, about a hundred international organizations and countries were represented, supporting the project of finding a peaceful solution to the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine, rather than a solution that would reward the aggressor and thus send a negative signal to other potential aggressors.
“Croatia is helping Ukraine in the political, diplomatic, technical, humanitarian, economic and military spheres, and we will continue to provide all forms of support. Especially given our specific interests in the investigation of war crimes, in humanitarian demining, which we have been facing for 30 years and which we will complete only in March 2026,” Plenković emphasized.
