Page 47 - UKRRptAug21

Klaipeda, the infrastructure minister of both countries said of the 1,500 km route between the two ports: “The agreement has the potential to make the Klaipeda port in Lithuania the northern gate of Ukraine to exit to Scandinavia, at the same time Odesa - the southern sea gate of Lithuania to the Black Sea region.”
● Cars
In a survey of 10,000 drivers by OLX, 7% of respondents would car pool,
12% agree with bans on cars in city centres, and 73% say the solution is bigger roads and better intersections. As summarized by Ekonomichna Pravda, one third of respondents without car want to buy one, 69% of car owners use them every day, and only 2% let other family members use their car. According to the TomTom Traffic Index, Kyiv’s traffic congestion is only topped in Europe by Moscow and Istanbul.
To promote electric cars, the import of diesel and gasoline cars would be banned by 2030, under a bill of the Infrastructure Ministry. A ban on imports of used diesel cars would start earlier, on Jan. 1 2027. This year, about 7,000 new and used electric cars are expected to be imported into Ukraine, about the same number as last year. This would represent 1.4% of the 500,0000 cars expected to be imported this year.
9.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
Prices of new apartments in Ukraine could increase by 25% this year, as predicted by the National Association of Realtors. During the first half of this year, hryvnia prices increased by 15-18%. In the resale market, apartments may increase by 12% this year. Yuriy Pita, Association President, tells UNIAN that these factors drive prices up: Ukraine’s 9.5% inflation rate; a 14% increase in construction costs for the first half of this year; and a 6% drop in construction work for January-May, compared to last year.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
After a 21% drop in grain exports last year, Ukraine now expects a 25% rebound in the grain exports for the marketing year that started last week. With exports expected to reach 56mn tons over the coming year, Ukraine will return to the record year of 2019/2020, when 56.7mn tons were exported, predicted the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.
Last summer’s drought, provoked declines of Ukraine’s top three grain exports: corn, down 24%, to 23mn tons; wheat, down 19% to 16.4mn tons; barley, down 17%, to 4.2mn tons. Food is Ukraine’s top export.
The FAO’s global food price index has increased by 40% y/y, reaching the highest level in a decade, The Washington Post reports in a story headlined: “Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach, from Nigerian jollof rice to Russian pasta and Argentine steak.” “A variety of factors are to blame, including a surge in orders from China, fluctuating oil prices, a sliding US dollar, and looming above all: the pandemic,” the Post reports, citing the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. “But experts say that in the face of growing populations, globalization and climate change, higher prices may not be a blip.”
47 UKRAINE Country Report August 2021 www.intellinews.com