Business news from Ukraine

World Steel Association has published global statistics for February 2024

The top ten steel-producing countries at the end of February are as follows: China (81.181 million tons, up 3.5% on Jan-Feb-2023), India (11.799 million tons, up 11.4%), Japan (6.989 million tons, up 1.1%), USA (6.453 million tons, down 1.2%), Russia (5.7 million tons, down 4, 4%), South Korea (5.128 million tons, down 1.5%), Germany (3.124 million tons, up 4.4%), Turkey (3.084 million tons, up 46.6%), Brazil (2.779 million tons, up 13.1%), and Iran (2.239 million tons, up 14.3%).
Cumulatively, steelmaking in February 2024 increased by 3.7% y-o-y to 148.838 million tons in 2023.
In January-February 2024, the top ten steel-producing countries are as follows: China (167.960 million tons, up 1.6% on Jan-Feb-2023), India (24.469 million tons, up 10%), Japan (14.253 million tons, up 0.8%), USA (12.998 million tons, down 2.6%), Russia (11.738 million tons, down 3, 2%), South Korea (10.849 million tons, up 0.2%), Turkey (6.332 million tons, up 34.5%), Germany (6.194 million tons, up 4.6%), Iran (4.842 million tons, up 26.5%) and Brazil (5.506 million tons, up 6.4%).
Overall, in 2M-2024, steelmaking increased by 3% y-o-y to 306.883 million tons.
Ukraine produced 1.076 million tons of steel in 2M-2024, which is 52% higher than in the same period of 2023 (708 thousand tons in 2M-2023). The country is ranked 21st in 2M-2024.
As reported, for 2023 China produced 1 billion 19.080 mln tons at the level of the previous year), India (140.171 mln tons, +11.8%), Japan (86.996 mln tons, -2.5%), USA (80.664 mln tons, +0.2%), Russia (75.8 million tons, +5.6%), South Korea (66.676 million tons, +1.3%), Germany (35.438 million tons, -3.9%), Turkey (33.714 million tons, -4%), Brazil (31.869 million tons, -6.5%), and Iran (31.139 million tons, +1.8%).
In total, 71 countries produced 1 billion 849.734 million tons of steel in 2023, 0.1% less than in 2022.
At the same time, Ukraine produced 6.228 million tons of steel in 2023, which is 0.6% lower than the volumes for 2022. The country is in 22nd place for 2023.
In total, 64 countries produced 1 billion 831.467 million tons of steel in 2022, 4.3% less than in 2021.

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Number of children deprived of parental care did not change significantly during war – Minister

The average number of children deprived of parental care has not changed significantly during the full-scale war, the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Oksana Zholnovych said.

“In general last year, according to the statistics that we received, the average number of children who are removed has not changed much, it is approximately the same format as every year. It’s about 8,000 to 9,000 children a year,” Zholnovich said on national telethon Tuesday.

The Minister noted that, as a significant number of families with children have gone abroad, identification of difficult life circumstances for them is carried out outside Ukraine, and the Ministry of Social Policy only accompanies this process.

As for the deprivation of parental care, which is associated with new challenges because of the war, there are about 500 such cases today, according to Zholnovych.

Inflow of citizens to Ukraine is growing – statistics of the State Border Service

The net inflow to Ukraine in the week of April 1-7 rose to a record 97,000 people from 18,000 a week earlier, which can be explained by Easter holidays and school vacations in Europe.

According to the State Border Service in Facebook, the flow to leave Ukraine in that week decreased from 247 thousand to 241 thousand people, while the flow to enter jumped from 265 thousand to 338 thousand people.

According to the Ministry, the number of cars crossed the western Ukrainian border, in the 14th week of the year also increased, but not so significantly – from 127 thousand to 132 thousand, and the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargoes declined – from 688 to 522.

The largest net inflow to Ukraine – from 15 to 27 thousand people per day – was fixed on April 1-3, when 47-58 thousand people daily entered the country, which resulted in queues at the border, especially from Poland.

Polish Border Guard Service also recorded a significant net inflow to Ukraine for the last seven days – 87.7 thousand people compared to 18.6 thousand a week earlier.

According to the Polish Ministry, the weekly flow from Ukraine to Poland reduced from 165.8 thousand people to 155.3 thousand, whereas the return flow from Poland to Ukraine increased from 184.4 thousand people to 243.0 thousand.

In total, since the beginning of the war, by April 7, 2023, 10.95 million people had arrived in Poland from Ukraine, while in the opposite direction 9.17 million people were transported.

As it was reported, since May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine was replaced by an inflow, which lasted until September 23 and amounted to 409 thousand people.

However, during the last week of September, the net outflow was 28 thousand people at once, and one of the possible reasons was a reaction to mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then the probable reason for the continued net outflow was the massive shelling of the energy infrastructure. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December and early January for the period of the holidays, but from the second week of January it resumed again and cumulatively since late September by the anniversary of the full-scale war reached 223 thousand people.

However, since that moment 130 thousand more people entered Ukraine than left.

As Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Sobolev noted in early March, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home gives a 0.5% increase in GDP.

According to UNHCR data as of April 4, a total of 20.19 million people left Ukraine since the war began (not including the flow of people into the country), of which 10.61 million left for Poland, 2.85 million for Russia (data as of October 3), 2.45 million for Hungary, 2.19 million for Romania, 1.28 million for Slovakia, 0.80 million for Moldova and 0.02 million for Belarus.

At the same time, according to the UN data, 11.63 million people arrived in Ukraine from February 28, 2022 to April 4, 2023 (excluding the data of Hungary, Russia and Belarus).

The number of Ukrainians registered in Europe with temporary protection status or similar reached 5.027 million on April 4, increasing by 19 thousand during the week.

More people still come to Ukraine than leave – border service statistics

The flow to enter Ukraine through its western border for the week from July 30 to August 5 amounted to about 304 thousand, while to exit – about 283 thousand, compared to last week, both indicators increased by 8%, reports State Border Service on Facebook.

As a result, net inflows into the country increased to about 21,000 from about 19,000 a week ago, according to its data.

The number of cars passing through the border increased by 9% to about 130,000 in a week, while the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargo cleared by 4% to 447.

Such data is confirmed by the Polish border service. According to her, from July 30 to August 5, 167 thousand entered Poland from Ukraine (a week earlier – 162 thousand), while from Poland to Ukraine – 191 thousand (173 thousand).

In general, since the beginning of the war, 5.297 million have arrived in Poland from Ukraine, while in the opposite direction – 3.409 million.

According to the State Border Service, the flow to enter Ukraine is more than the flow to exit on Saturday-Tuesday, while in the opposite direction – on Wednesday-Thursday.

As reported, since May 10, the flow to enter Ukraine through its western border has steadily exceeded the flow to exit for almost a month. Net inflow during this time amounted to 188 thousand. In the following weeks, there was no such unambiguous trend, and net inflow over the next two months decreased to 81 thousand.

According to UNHCR data, as of August 2, a total of 10.35 million people have left Ukraine since the beginning of the war (excluding entry flow), of which 5.106 million went to Poland, 1.968 million to Russia, 1.089 million to Hungary, 964 to Romania, 9 thousand, Slovakia – 648.5 thousand, Moldova – 557.2 thousand, Belarus – 16.7 thousand.

At the same time, according to the UN, from February 28 to August 2 July, 4.272 million people entered Ukraine (excluding data from Hungary, the Russian Federation and Belarus).

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Club of Experts analyzed main macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine and other countries – video

In its new video, the Expert Club YouTube channel reviewed the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine in the 6th month of the war, and also analyzed the July IMF report on the global economic outlook in 2022 and 2023.
As we wrote earlier, the state authorities of Ukraine have temporarily suspended the publication of most statistical information for the period of martial law and for three months from the moment it ends. The exception is the publication of data on the consumer price index, separate information on indicators of foreign trade in goods, etc.
Thus, from the data published by the State Employment Center, it follows that the number of registered unemployed in Ukraine is approximately at the level of last year, while the number of available vacancies has sharply decreased.
This, according to the founder of the Club of Experts Maksim Urakin, has led to the fact that now about 12-13 unemployed people apply for one vacancy.
“The estimate of the unemployment rate by the National Bank in the second quarter of 2022 is 35% according to the methodology of the International Labor Organization,” Maksim Urakin added.
In addition, according to Urakin, the current forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2023-2024, published by the National Bank, is based primarily on expectations of an increase in international support for Ukraine and the implementation of programs to restore war-damaged infrastructure.
On the situation in the global economy, the Club of Experts analyzed the report of the International Monetary Fund, published in July. In particular, there is a possible recession in the US economy. a slowdown in GDP growth in China and India, as well as a deterioration in the situation in the euro area, provoked by rising energy prices.
See this and much more in a new video on the YouTube channel “Experts Club” at the link:

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