The volume of Ukrainian exports of goods in October amounted to $4.69 billion, which is 1.31% higher than the same month in 2019 and 10.41% higher compared to September this year.
Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said on Facebook, so far in the first 10 months of the year (year-on-year), exports showed a decline of 4.82%, imports – 12.21%.
“More good news: we have reduced the deficit by $3.97 billion, that is, more than a half,” he wrote.
The Belarusian side has limited the admission of foreign citizens to its territory since October 29, arguing such actions by the need for additional measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, in connection with it there is a decrease in the number of travelers at checkpoints wishing to enter the territory of Belarus, the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported.
“Compared to last weekend, the passenger traffic has decreased by an average of 15%. Such situation is observed even at checkpoints, where traffic is usually heavy. Namely, in Novi Yarylovychi (Chernihiv region), Vystupovychi (Zhytomyr region) and Domanove (Volyn region),” a statement, released on Monday by the press service of the border department, said.
Now, at the checkpoints to exit Ukraine, the border is mainly crossed by participants in international road transport.
On average, Ukrainian border guards during the day register more than 1,700 people and about 1,000 vehicles at the Novi Yarylovychi checkpoint, about 300 people and almost 180 vehicles at the Vystupovychi checkpoint, and more than 600 people and nearly 100 vehicles at the Domanove checkpoint. There are no trucks and cars queues.
“We add that during the past weekend, the Belarusian side did not let in and returned to the territory of Ukraine 20 citizens of Ukraine and two foreigners,” the press service said.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) put 10 distilleries up for an online auction on the Prozorro.Sale platform in November.
According to the post of Head of the State Property Fund Dmytro Sennychenko on Facebook on Monday, the initial sale prices for lots are from UAH 8 million to UAH 54 million.
“In October, in just half a month, we have got an excellent takeoff. Six objects of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt have already found new owners at privatization auctions and brought more than UAH 268 million to the state budget. The price that is formed by the market and which sometimes swells two or three times, this is the main characteristic that now unites alcohol privatization,” he wrote.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on December 11, 2019 signed a law on abolishing the state monopoly on alcohol production from July 1, 2020, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 3, 2019.
The debut auction for the privatization of the first object of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt Nemyriv distillery (Vinnytsia region) was held on October 15. The plant was sold to LVN Limited LLC, shareholders of Nemiroff, for UAH 55.08 million, which is UAH 5 million higher than the starting price. The winning company was the only one to apply to participate in the auction.
On the whole, starting from October 15, six Ukrspyrt’s plants have been successfully privatized at online auctions. Two auctions did not take place. As for distilleries, they will be put up for re-bidding with a reduction in the starting price.
The SPF expects to attract about UAH 2 billion from the privatization of distilleries of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt and the concern Ukrspyrt.
At the end of the fourth five-year period, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) will revise anti-dumping restrictions on the supply of Certain Cut-to-length Carbon Steel Plate to the American market from Ukraine, Russia and China.
According to the USITC report in the Federal Register bulletin, the start of the review is set for November 2, the deadline for responses from participants in the review procedure is December 2, 2020.
During the revision procedure, USITC will determine the possibility of abolishing anti-dumping duties on these products from China, as well as ending the suspension of the investigation on this type of rental from the Russian Federation and Ukraine – to what extent this may lead to the continuation or renewal of damage to local manufacturers of these products in the United States.
On October 30, the Ukrainian company WindFarm and the Chinese company PowerChina signed a contract on the joint implementation of a project for the construction of an 800 MW wind farm with a capacity of over $1 billion in Manhush and Nikolske districts of Donetsk region, Board Chairman of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association (UWEA) Andriy Konechenkov has said.
“The specifics of this project is that it does not provide for a feed-in tariff. This is the first robin in the electricity market, the first project that will compete with conventional generation in real conditions,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, according to him, the project provides for local content policy or local components, which gives rise to the development of national wind energy production.
“How the payment for this local component will be carried out remains to be decided,” Konechenkov said.
He also said that the Chinese company is participating in this project “as an investor in a large, transparent project that does not depend on the ffeed-in tariff,” which, according to him, has already exhausted itself given the crisis of non-payments.
“It is necessary to start working on new technologies. Moreover, the issue is related to the reintegration of the regions, the launch of new environment-friendly production,” the board chairman of the UWEA said, noting that investors are currently not considering the possibility of participating in “green auctions” due to weak predictability of conditions and timing of their implementation.
At the same time, he expressed the hope that the experience and capabilities of the Chinese investor will contribute to the implementation of the project as soon as possible, noting that PowerChina is ready to work on the basis of the support of a domestic manufacturer and financing of European wind turbines.
Konechenkov said that this project, which has been in preparation for about a year, will become the largest onshore wind farm in Europe.
According to the data on the UWEA website, PowerChina, which specializes in the design and construction of energy and transport facilities, is in the top 100 largest companies in the country and in the top 500 largest companies in the world. In particular, it owns the Three Gorges, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam with a capacity of 22.5 GW.
The WindFarm team has developed a portfolio of wind power plants with a total capacity of 1.3 GW, of which more than 400 MW have already been put into operation.
Both companies are members of the UWEA.
Ukraine exported 15.97 million tonnes of grains and legumes since the beginning of the new 2020/2021 marketing year (July-June) and as of October 30, which is 2.67 million tonnes less than on the same date of the last MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, 10.33 million tonnes of wheat (less by 850,000 tonnes), 3.37 million tonnes of barley and 2.22 million tonnes of maize (less by 1.73 million tonnes) have been exported.
As of October 30 of this year, 61,800 tonnes of flour were exported as well.
As reported, Ukraine exported record 57.2 million tonnes of grains, legumes and flour in the 2019/2020 marketing year, which is 13.5% more than in the previous marketing year.
