Exports from Ukraine to JYSK’s distribution centers increased by 60% in 2023, Iryna Romanchuk, Purchasing Manager of the chain, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Over the past 12 months, exports from Ukraine to JYSK distribution centers have increased by 60% compared to the same period. However, this figure could have been higher if the borders had not been blocked at the end of 2023, which extended the delivery time from a week to a month, sometimes up to two, which had a very negative impact on all Ukrainian exporters,” Romanchuk said.
The expert clarified that due to the high cost of transportation to European countries, upholstered furniture made in Ukraine is losing its competitiveness, so now mostly cabinet furniture is exported. In addition, JYSK also buys blankets, pillows and household goods in Ukraine.
“At the beginning of 2022, some manufacturers located in the east of the country were unable to resume operations quickly due to a disruption in the supply chain of both components and finished goods. Therefore, we were forced to stop working with these companies. Today, our main suppliers are located in the central and western parts of the country,” said Romanchuk.
As an example of increasing the network’s work with Ukrainian manufacturers, she cited the furniture manufacturer Akord-Import (Khmelnytsky), with whom JYSK expanded cooperation in 2023 both by transferring the production of some furniture series from Europe to Ukraine and by expanding the range with new items. In total, this manufacturer shipped more than 1200 truckloads of finished furniture to JYSK’s European distribution centers in 2023.
JYSK is a part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group with more than 3.2 thousand stores in 48 countries. Currently, there is an online store jysk.ua and 91 classic format stores in Ukraine, and in 2024 their number will reach 100. JYSK has more than 800 employees in the country.
JYSK’s revenue in the financial year 2022/23 amounted to EUR 5.2 billion.
Since August 2023, the Ukrainian Sea Corridor, created by the Ukrainian Navy, has exported almost 20 million tons of products, including 14.3 million tons of agricultural products, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure reported, citing data from Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“During the six months of the Ukrainian corridor’s operation, 661 vessels exported more than 20 million tons of cargo to 32 countries,” the Ministry said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
In January, 6.3 million tons were exported from the ports of Greater Odesa, almost equal to the pre-war level, the report says.
Another 104 ships are expected to arrive, which should export more than 3 million tons of cargo.
Earlier it was reported that exports through the Ukrainian sea corridor reached 15 million tons. Exports via the new Ukrainian corridor amounted to 6.08 million tons in September-November: 0.28 million tons in September, 2 million tons in October, and 3.8 million tons in November. The Ministry had predicted that in December exports could reach 5 million tons, but according to Kubrakov, in December they were close to 7 million tons.
It was noted that in November, the number of vessels increased to 110 from 52 in October and 5 in September, and the total for the three months was 167.
In the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), which operated earlier, the peak ship passages were 176-180 per month in September-October 2022, and exports were 3.8-4.2 million tons per month.
Corteva Agriscience, an international research and development agricultural company, increased corn seed exports by 50% in 2023 compared to the previous year, its press service reports.
According to the press release, during 2023, the company’s seed production complex in Poltava region shipped more than half a million sowing units of Pioneer® corn seeds, which was a record volume for the 10 years of Corteva’s production in Ukraine.
“Russia’s actions against Ukraine’s agricultural sector prove its outstanding role in ensuring food security in many regions of the world. Corteva considers Ukraine to be one of the largest players in the global agricultural market and in recent years has been consistently increasing production and export of high-quality hybrid corn and sunflower seeds to ensure the ability to produce agricultural products in Ukraine and in those countries where farmers depend on seeds produced in our country,” said Oleksiy Turchynov, Head of Seed Production at Corteva Agriculture in Ukraine.
The company also said that it intends to continue developing the production capacity of the seed complex to increase seed exports through established sales channels to the European Union. To this end, the company has reconfigured its export chains and in 2023, farmers in Europe (Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia) and Central Asia received Ukrainian corn seeds of the Pioneer® brand.
As reported, the company’s seed complex in Poltava region was officially opened in June 2013. More than $56 million was invested in its construction. The annual capacity of the plant is about 500 thousand sowing units of corn seeds and 250 thousand sowing units of sunflower seeds.
Corteva Agriculture is a global agricultural company. It offers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active ingredients in its portfolio.
The company’s presence in Ukraine includes the headquarters in Kyiv, a research center in Liubarky (Kyiv region) and a seed production complex in Stasi (Poltava region).
In April 2022, the company decided to leave the Russian market due to the full-scale war against Ukraine unleashed by Russia.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised its forecast for Ukrainian wheat production in the 2023/24 marketing year (MY, September 2023 – August 2024) by 0.9 million tons to 23.4 million tons and for exports by 1.5 million tons to 14 million tons.
According to the USDA’s January report, Ukraine’s ending stocks will also increase by 1.8 million tons to 4.38 million tons.
For corn, the USDA left the harvest, exports and ending stocks in Ukraine unchanged: 30.5 million tons, 21 million tons and 6.82 million tons respectively.
In general, the updated global wheat crop forecast for the 2023/24 grain year was improved by 1.9 million tons to 784.91 million tons, due to the positive revision of estimates for Ukraine and Russia, while the forecast for China was lowered. The forecast for global wheat exports was also raised by 2.35 million tons to 209.54 million tons. The experts also revised the forecast for global wheat ending stocks upwards by 1.83 million tons to 260.03 million tons.
For corn, the forecast for global production in January was raised by 0.0137 million tons to 1.235 million tons, while exports were lowered by 0.57 million tons to 200.89 million tons. Ending stocks will rise by 10 million tons to 325 million tons.
Since August 2023, the new Ukrainian Sea Corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy has exported almost 15 million tons of products, including 10 million tons of agricultural products, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.
“Over the five months of the corridor’s operation, 469 new vessels have entered our Ukrainian ports for loading. Currently, 39 vessels are being loaded in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi,” Kubrakov wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
He noted that another 83 vessels have confirmed their readiness to enter the ports and export 2.4 million tons of cargo.
Earlier, on December 30, Kubrakov said that the volume of exports amounted to 13 million tons by 400 vessels, and a total of 430 vessels passed through the corridor for loading.
According to previously published statistics from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, exports via the new Ukrainian corridor amounted to 6.08 million tons in September-November: 0.28 million tons in September, 2 million tons in October, and 3.8 million tons in November. The agency expected that in December it could reach 5 million tons, but, according to Kubrakov, in December it was close to 7 million tons.
It was noted that in November, the number of vessels increased to 110 from 52 in October and 5 in September, and the total for the three months was 167.
In the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), which operated earlier, the peak ship passages were 176-180 per month in September-October 2022, and exports were 3.8-4.2 million tons per month.
In 2023, Ukraine reduced exports of dairy products in monetary terms by almost 30% compared to 2022 and increased imports by more than 15%, the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine (UDEP) reported on Facebook.
“In 2023, the negative balance of exports and imports of dairy products amounted to $77.2 million, while a year earlier this figure was positive – $28.2 million. Thus, the consumption of dairy products last year “washed out” funds from Ukraine,” the industry association said.
The UMPA emphasized that import growth in 2023 occurred in almost all categories of dairy products. The difference between exports and imports (balance – IF-U) ranged from -289 tons in September to -615 tons in March for fermented milk products and from -1398 tons in January to -2902 tons in December for cheese.
Imports of butter exceeded exports for the first time in a year in October 2023, and in November showed the most negative balance for this commodity.
In addition, in 2023, exports of butter decreased by 45%, while exports of other types of dairy products did not change significantly. In general, due to unfavorable price conditions in 2023, export revenues from sales of this product decreased by 1.4 times compared to the level of 2022.
“In 2023, the volume of imports of butter and whey increased significantly (2.4 times). The volume of cheese imports in physical terms remained at the same level, but increased by 10% in value. In general, this led to an increase in imports by more than 1.15 times compared to the previous year, 2022,” the UUL stated.
