Denmark will provide Ukraine with a financing package in the amount of EUR 13.5 million, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said.
“I am pleased to announce today that we will provide a financing package in the amount of EUR 13.5 million to support concrete measures before the start of winter,” he said on Tuesday during a conference on the restoration of Ukraine, which is being held in Lugano, Switzerland.
he Welsh government has allocated GBP 35 million for military assistance to Ukraine, Scotland has allocated GBP 65 million. Wales has accepted 3,000 Ukrainian refugees, Scotland – 6,000, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “The Welsh Government has contributed £35m to our military support for Ukraine, and Welsh families have taken in 3,000 refugees,” Johnson said on Twitter Monday.
According to him, he discussed with the First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford the continuation of joint work against Russian aggression.
Johnson also wrote that he also talked with the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon.
“I’ve just spoken to Nicola Sturgeon to herald the success of UK collaboration supporting Ukraine. I thanked the Scottish Government’s £65 million contribution in upping UK’s military aid to Ukraine to £2.3 billion & efforts to help house 6,000 Ukrainian refugees,” he wrote.
Earlier, materials appeared in the media that allegedly the Welsh government did not agree on the allocation of GBP 35 million as part of a new package of British military assistance to Ukraine for GBP 1 billion.
Against the background of the war and with the aim of reconstruction, Switzerland will strengthen support for Ukraine, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said.
“Switzerland will double the funding in the framework of bilateral cooperation with Ukraine to more than 100 million francs by 2023 … Responding to the call of the Prime Minister (Denis Shmyhal), we will allocate at least 15 million francs for digital transformation,” he said at the Conference on the restoration of Ukraine in Lugano on Tuesday.
The President added that Switzerland also allocates funds to Ukraine on a multilateral basis through the UN, the World Bank, the EBRD and other organizations.
Cassis noted that the principles formalized later on Tuesday in the Luhansk Declaration would make it easier for Ukraine to raise funding for the Recovery Plan.
Transit of natural gas through the GTS of Ukraine in June 2022 amounted to 1.25 billion cubic meters. m, which is the minimum monthly volume since 1991.
According to the GTS Operator of Ukraine, the volume of transit for the last month is three times less than in June 2021 (3.72 billion cubic meters), and a quarter lower than in May 2022.
At the same time, Gazprom in June used only 38% of the booked capacity (3.29 billion cubic meters) under a long-term contract. “Combined with the restriction of transit through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, this leads to a “drainage” of the EU gas market and an increase in prices. As a result of the manipulative actions of Gazprom, gas prices in Europe have increased by almost 42% since the beginning of June,” noted in OGTSU.
“Obviously, Russia continues to blackmail Europe with a reduction in gas supplies, which is why its exchange price today already exceeds $1,600. “with the redirection of flows through Ukraine and Poland,” added the head of the operator Sergei Makogon.
As reported, the transit of natural gas through the GTS of Ukraine in 2021 amounted to 41.6 billion cubic meters. m, which is 25.4% less than in 2020 (55.8 billion cubic meters). In general, the transit capacities of the Ukrainian GTS in 2021 were used by less than 30%.
On the Ukrainian gas transport corridor in 2021-2024. there is a mandatory “reservation” for “Gazprom” – 40 billion cubic meters. m (109.6 million cubic meters per day) after 65 billion cubic meters. m (178 million cubic meters/day) in 2020.
Ukrainian exports in January-June 2022 decreased by 23.7% compared to the first half of 2021 and amounted to $22.8 billion, Deputy Economy Minister – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“Over the first half of this year, exports from Ukraine decreased by 23.7% compared to the first half of 2021 and amounted to $22.8 billion. At the same time, export volumes in the second quarter amounted to $8.782 billion, which is 37.4% less than in first quarter of 2022,” Kachka wrote on Facebook.
Compared to the second quarter of last year, the reduction in exports in the second quarter of this year was even more than 45.8% (-$7.42 billion), he noted.
At the same time, in physical volumes, the decrease in quarterly exports was even more significant – 55.6%, that is, by 20.8 million tons. In the second quarter, we exported 16.6 million tons of cargo,” Taras Kachka said.
He added that the main reason for the fall in exports is the blocking of Ukraine’s seaports by Russia.
“The reduction in shipping by sea in the second quarter compared to the first amounted to 86.5% (minus 21.6 million tons). At the same time, it is important to note that the situation with exports has stabilized and even improved by months,” the trade representative emphasized.
Exports resumed growth in May and June after a sharp fall in March. At the same time, exports grew both in terms of value and volume, according to data from the Ministry of Economy. So, in June, Ukraine exported 5.8 million tons of cargo worth $3.177 billion.
“At the same time, one should pay attention to the fact that in June there was a significant decrease in the export of iron ore – 1.75 million tons against 2.27 million tons in May. At the same time, exports of sunflower seeds increased significantly to 537 thousand tons in June. At the same time, oil remains the most profitable export item – $437 million,” Kachka said.
According to him, the top 10 export commodity positions of Ukraine in June included: oil, corn, sunflower seeds, ore, steel (semi-finished products), wires, poultry meat, pipes, cast iron, soybeans.
“Trade remains diversified. Exports of 223 items at the four-digit level exceeded $1 million during the month. Geographically, exports are fully focused on the EU. 78% of our exports in the second quarter of 2022 were to the EU. The total value of exports to the EU in the second quarter is $6 .86 billion, up 6.4% from the second quarter of last year,” the sales representative wrote.
However, he noted that trade with other countries of the world decreased in April-June compared to the second quarter of 2021 by 80%.
Wheat and its mixture with rye (meslin) are excluded from the list of goods whose export is subject to licensing, the Cabinet of Ministers made the corresponding decision at a meeting on Friday, Taras Melnychuk, a government representative in parliament, said.
“The commodity items “Oats” and “Mineral or chemical, nitrogen fertilizers” have been excluded from the volume of quotas of goods whose export is subject to licensing. These items are included in the List of goods whose export is subject to licensing,” he added in his telegram message.
As reported, on March 7, the Government of Ukraine expanded the list of goods the Ministry of Economy will issue export permits for: wheat, corn, poultry meat, chicken eggs and sunflower oil were included in the list of licensed exports.
Already in March, corn and sunflower oil were excluded from this list, but wheat remained, despite the requests of market participants.
As for oats, on March 5, a ban was introduced on its export in the form of a zero quota.
Nitrogen fertilizers were also banned for export at first, but at the end of March the government allowed their export within the quarterly quota of 210,000 tons, or 70,000 tons per month.
In June this year, Ukraine managed to increase grain exports by 23% by May – up to 1.4 million tons. In terms of crops, corn accounted for 86%, wheat – 10%, barley – 3%.
