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Turkey’s new import tariffs on 115 goods are spurring Turkey and Ukraine to restart talks for a Free Trade Agreement. The two economy ministers, Ruhsar Pekcan for Turkey, and Igor Petrashko, for Ukraine talked week. Taras Kachka, deputy economy minister, writes on Facebook that he will travel to Ankara in coming days to advance talks. Two weeks ago, Turkey hiked tariffs by 15 to 20% for the goods that are non-EU.
Iron ore exports were up 13% through August, compared to the tonnage for the first eight months of last year, reports the State Customs Service. Companies exported 31mn tons, earning $2.5bn. The top three importers of Ukrainian iron ore are: China - 34%; Poland - 12%; and the Czech Republic – 10%.
During the first half of this year, Ukraine’s poultry exports were virtually constant in volume – 212,300 tons – but down 12% in monetary terms, to $271mn, reports Poultry World. At a press conference in Kyiv, Sergey Karpenko, executive director of the Union of Poultry Breeders, warns that a government plan to create a new agency to replace Gosprodpotrebzlyuzba, the state food safety regulator, could disrupt exports as new certificates will have to be negotiated with the veterinary agencies of importing countries.
The Middle East has displaced the EU as the top destination for Ukrainian chicken meat, reports The Poultry Site. The change is due partly because of new EU quotas and an avian flu outbreak in Vinnytia in January. In the first half of this year, the biggest markets were Saudi Arabia - 18%; the Netherlands - 17%; and UAE - 12%. For MHP, Ukraine’s largest producer, poultry exports were down by 10% during the first half, to 170,553 tons. Last year, MHP’s exports were up 25% y/y, to 357,400 tons.
Chinese container trains now arrive at Kyiv at the pace of one a week,
reports Ukrzaliznytsia. Traveling 9,000 km from Nanchang in 15 days, the latest train arrived Saturday at Kyiv’s left bank Liski freight depot. Its 41 containers carried mineral fertilizers, lamps, bulbs, medical cargo and chemical components for filtering water. With three more container trains due to arrive this month, Ukrzaliznytsia is booking return freight of Ukrainian goods for China.
Ukraine exports of corn, wheat, and barley will drop around 9% y/y, to 51mn tons, in the current marketing season, predicts Grainmart, India’s first Grain Trading B2B online marketplace. Based near New Delhi, Grainmart draws on figures from the Ukrainian Grain Association.
5.2.2 Current account dynamics
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects a decrease in the surplus of the current account of the balance of payments in the second half of 2020 to nil, Deputy Governor of the NBU Dmytro Sologub has said.
"We have about $4bn of current account surplus in the first six months, and in the second half of the year we expect it to be reaching nil. By the end of the year, we will have a surplus of about $4bn, that is, at the level of 2-2.5% of GDP. But that was the July estimate. Now, perhaps we will still correct it," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
34 UKRAINE Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com
