U.S. car sales in the first quarter increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year, MarketWatch wrote.
In January-March 2023, automakers sold 3.59 million cars compared to 3.34 million cars a year earlier.
General Motors sales were up 17.6%, Nissan sales were up 17.3%, Honda Motor Co. sales were up 11.7%, Hyundai sales were up 15.5% and Kia sales were up 21.8%. Stellantis and Toyota worsened by 9.1% and 8.8%, respectively.
The average car loan interest rate reached a 15-year high of 7%, and the average monthly payment for a new car was a record $730.
In 2022, automakers couldn’t meet demand due to a chip shortage and sold only 13.9 million cars. Previously, about 17 million cars were sold in a year. This year, sales will total 14.8 million cars, analyst firm Edmunds predicts.
Sales of new electric cars in February this year have tripled compared to the same month in 2022 – up to 413 units, which is also 40% more than in January this year, reports Ukravtoprom in Telegram channel.
According to the association on Monday, the best-seller in the new electric car market remains the Volkswagen ID.4 – 134 units.
Dong Feng (Honda) M-NV is second with 86 units, and Volkswagen ID.6 is third with 33 cars registered.
The fourth most popular model is compact Honda E (27 units), and the third one is Mercedes-Benz EQC (16 units).
According to Ukravtoprom, a total of 708 new electric cars were sold in Ukraine in January-February 2023, which is 2.6 times more than during the same period in 2022.
As earlier reported, according to Ukravtoprom, in 2022, the share of new electric cars in their total sales in Ukraine (13.6 thousand units) rose to 17% from 14% a year earlier (i.e. to more than 2.3 thousand units – IF).
A drop in sales of more than 30% due to Russian aggression was experienced by 47% of Ukrainian companies, including 19% with a drop exceeding 50%, agriculture, retail, mining and metals industries suffered the most, these are the results of a new business resilience survey presented by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).
“The war has taken a huge toll on Ukrainian businesses, but companies have shown extraordinary resilience and some have even found opportunities for growth,” the report said.
According to a study conducted jointly with McKinsey & Company Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of the war, in 2022, 3% of companies increased sales, while 10% either maintained them or kept the decline within 10%. Opportunities for growth were noted by representatives of the banking and financial sectors and IT.
Only 4% reduced the number of employees by more than 30%, while 29% of the companies had the figure in the 10-30% range and 2% even increased the number of staff.
It is indicated that 4% of companies have stopped operations and do not know when they can resume them, while 30% stopped, but have already resumed.
According to respondents, in 2023 the pressure of war on business will remain or even increase. Also among the discouraging forecasts is the reduction of aggregate demand, as GDP growth remains uncertain and the purchasing power of consumers may decline due to depletion of savings, rising unemployment and reduced wages.
As stated in the survey results, 90% of companies have developed internal “contingency plans,” but more than 40% of respondents believe they are not effective enough.
As part of these plans, 61% created pre-war special task forces (multifunctional teams or with a specialization in the risk management function), 33% developed such plans with business units, and 6% enlisted professional outside help to prepare plans. Also, 40% of companies admitted the plan did not work as expected, including 29% who did not foresee the extent of failure and 7% who did not have the necessary resources to implement the plan.
According to the published information, the main military challenge for 25% of respondents was decrease in demand for products or services (60% in machine building, 42% in retail), for 23% – physical damage to facilities (67% in FMCG, 50% in transport/machinery), 19% – disruption of supply chains (pharma – 50%, machine building – 40%).
The problem of energy supply was named as the main problem by 10% of respondents (IT – 30%, banks – 25%), but among the top three problems it is in the lead with 66%, ahead of supply chain disruption 60% and reduced demand 52%.
Among the key priorities for effective contingency planning, companies highlighted an agile operating model and a strong corporate culture.
“While an agile operating model is seen as the most useful factor for overcoming the ongoing crisis, among the priorities companies see for their future development, respondents cited diversification, better contingency planning and building resilient teams,” the survey noted.
In the future to overcome the crisis 46% of companies will pay attention to the strategy and diversification of business, which requires rethinking investment plans, 29% more effectively plan their actions, 18% will attract and maintain a sustainable team and workforce.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine is the most influential international business association serving over 600 member companies in Ukraine since 1992, bringing the united voice of American, international and Ukrainian companies that have invested over $50 billion in Ukraine and remain committed to the country.
Sales of medicines in 2022 amounted to 46 billion UAH.
According to the company SMD, according to their study, in particular, in the retail segment in the category of pharmaceuticals market decline was 37% in volume and 28% in money terms.
At the same time in public procurement the fall in drug sales was 26% in volume and 21% in monetary terms.
“Despite the difficult situation, the state has even increased budgetary support and already one third of the entire drug market has state funding. Also the share of reimbursement has increased significantly due to the expansion of the program “Affordable Medicines” in such categories as diabetes (insulin), mental and behavioral disorders”, – the company said.
As reported, the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market in 2022 decreased by 42% in volume terms and by 23% in monetary terms, the cumulative sales in the pharmaceutical market in 2022 amounted to about 61 billion UAH in pharmacy entrance prices.
MHP agricultural holding, the largest chicken producer in Ukraine in October 2022 increased production of chicken by 1% compared to the previous month – to 59.61 thousand tons, while its sales reduced by 2% – to 62.36 thousand tons, according to the statement of agricultural group on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.
It is noted that the volume of chicken production in October 2022 is still 12% behind the same month of the “pre-war” 2021, but its sales exceeded last October’s figures by 11%.
It is specified that the share of chicken export shipments in October this year increased by 4 percentage points (p.p.) over September 2022, and by 3 p.p. over October 2021, to 60%.
A total of 37,69,000 tons of poultry were exported this October, up 6% from September 2022 and 18% from October 2021.
The domestic market sold 24,67 thousand tons of chicken meat in October 2022, 11% less than the previous month but 2% more than last October.
The average price of poultry meat sold in October 2022 was similar to the level of September this year – $1.93/kg, while in October a year earlier it was $1.70/kg (down 14%).
During the reporting period, MHP has reduced the sales of processed meat products and semi-finished products by 9% compared to September – up to 2.97 thousand tons, and this figure is still 40% lower than in October 2021.
According to agroholding, in October 2022 the sunflower oil sales fell by 71% against September this year, and by 51% against October 2021, to 12,800 tons, while soybean oil sales increased by 81% against September this year and by 86% against October last year, to 7,38 thousand tons.
MHP also pointed out that this season the holding is harvesting 335 ths. ha, with sunflower harvesting fully completed, the soybean harvesting is almost finished and corn is harvested on 75% of the area.
The winter crops sowing campaign is completed on about 74 thsd. ha (winter wheat – about 55%, winter rape – about 45%).
MHP is the largest producer of poultry in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of grain, sunflower oil, and meat processing products. To the European market, MHP supplies chilled half-carcass chickens, which are processed, including at its facilities in the Netherlands and Slovakia. In February 2019, the agroholding completed its acquisition of Slovenian company Perutnina Ptuj.
MHP posted a net profit of $393 million in 2021, compared with a net loss of $133 million in 2020, while its revenue rose 25 percent to $2.37 billion.
Ukrainian businessman Yuriy Kosyuk is the founder, majority shareholder and board chairman of MHP.
Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine this week fell to $166.1 million from $295.0 million a week earlier.
According to the National Bank on its website, it bought $16.1 million from November 14 to 18, which is slightly higher than usual purchase volumes during the war ($7-8 million), while it sold $182.2 million, compared to $326.5 million a week earlier.
At the cash market, the hryvnia appreciated by about UAH 0.3 during the week to about UAH 40.25 / $1. The spread between the selling and buying rates remains narrow.
The National Bank’s interventions in October amounted to $2.03 billion, as compared to $2.75 billion in September, $1.33 billion in August, and $1.2 billion in July, and remain far less than in June ($3.96 billion) and May ($3.4 billion).
In total, since the beginning of the year to November 18 inclusive, the NBU bought $3 billion 226.9 million and EUR111.0 million in the market, and sold $22 billion 427.0 million and EUR1 billion 789.1 million.
Since the beginning of the war the purchase of currency reached $2 billion 570.0 million and EUR111.0 million, while the sale reached $19 billion 656.8 million and EUR1 billion 789.1 million.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of November 1, 2022, according to the NBU, amounted to $25 billion 244.2 million (in equivalent), which is 5.5% more than at the beginning of October.
