Page 55 - UKRRptJul22

● Ships
The first ship with Ukrainian corn arrived in Spain through a new export channel. A vessel carrying 18,000 tons of Ukrainian corn has arrived at the Spanish port of La Coruna, the first batch of Ukrainian grain delivered by a new route across the Baltic Sea to avoid Russian ports blocked by Russia. This is the first batch of Ukrainian grain to reach northwestern Spain by sea, using "a new sea route opened in the Baltic Sea to avoid a Russian naval blockade of Ukraine's ports on the Black Sea," the Agafac feed group said in a statement. Dmytro Senik, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, said earlier that Ukraine was trying to establish new routes with Romania, Poland, and the Baltic states to ensure that 22 million tons of grain stuck in Ukrainian seaports "reached its destination."
Russian invaders have seized and blocked 15 Ukrainian ports. Three Ukrainian ports operating on the Danube handled almost 1.3 million tons of cargo in May. According to Deputy Head of the Seaports Administration Dmytro Barinov, "In total, there are 18 ports in Ukraine, five of them were temporarily occupied in 2014, another four were occupied after the start of the war and six more ports are blocked from the sea. However, Ukraine still has three ports along the Danube - Reni, Izmail, and Ust-Dunaisk. In March, together they transshipped 400,000 tons of cargo, in May, about 1.3 million tons. They plan to increase their cargo turnover in June to 1.5 million tons. Barinov noted that it is possible to increase the port cargo turnover only through medium-term and long-term solutions, particularly the construction of new transshipment facilities.
The Modernization of Danube ports requires $200M of funding. Projects to increase the port capacity on the Danube River will require up to $200M of investment. Their modernization will increase capacity to 25 million tons of cargo per year, said the Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov. "Currently, we are focused on improving export opportunities, particularly the ports on the Danube. 400,000 tons were shipped through them in March, and now this figure has reached 1.5 million tons. And I think it will continue to grow. And we achieved this with limited investment. To increase their capacity, we have developed a program for port modernization on the Danube," the minister said. The program's main goals are to deepen the bottom of the Reni and Izmail ports, modernize existing vessels, start building a new navigation fleet, and modernize the ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ustdunaysk to increase their throughput capacity.
9.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
Real estate prices in new developments could grow by up to 20%.
Developers in Kyiv may increase prices by 10-20% compared to pre-war levels, reported Interfax-Ukraine. According to City One Manager Galina Martynenko, most developers left the pre-war price ranges in May. Still, in June, the market saw a gradual revision of pricing policy, returning closer to pre-war levels. According to the company's monitoring of the capital's primary real estate market, prices are gradually beginning to rise. Construction is being resumed and is rising to the same activity level as before the war, though the commissioning has been postponed for several months. Moreover, there is no new demand for housing yet. Sales offices are working with old customers to establish installment payments for properties that have already been
55 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com