News From Agro-Industrial Complex

In December 2022, consumer inflation remained at the level of the previous month - 0.7% per month. Annual inflation amounted to 26.6%. This figure was significantly lower than the figures predicted in the first half of the year. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine told what put pressure on prices and gave a forecast for the coming months.

On October 29, Russia announced it had quit the “grain deal” brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to allow Ukraine to export grain by the Black Sea. Moscow presented its move as a response to an alleged attack by Ukraine on the Russian fleet around Sevastopol city. Despite Russia’s warnings, a group of ships loaded with grain nonetheless exited through the safe corridor, exporting grain that had been loaded in Ukrainian ports. Shortly thereafter, Russia made a U-turn and announced it would return to the agreement after negotiations with Turkey. Moscow cited “written guarantees” from Ukraine that Kyiv would not use this corridor for military purposes or attacks against Russia.

This brief spat over the deal, which to that point had worked for all parties, left a mixed impression. On the one hand, Russia’s actions underscored that the agreement was vulnerable and weak, and made clear Moscow’s readiness to abandon it at any moment it saw fit. On the other hand, Turkey’s intervention, which secured the continuation of the deal and convinced the Kremlin to rejoin it, illustrated the significant influence Ankara wields in the Black Sea, both as a key interlocutor between parties and as a counteracting player to Russia.

The energy system of Ukraine, despite everything, continues to work stably. There are 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas in storage, and 1.2 million tons of coal in warehouses, which makes it possible to successfully overcome the challenges of winter.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this at a government meeting on January 6.

Mr. Taras Vysotskyi, the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, spoke in the national information telethon «United News» about the upcoming spring sowing campaign, the problems with grain exports and why the food initiative «Grain from Ukraine» supports not only African countries, but also Ukrainian farmers.

According to his opinion, while last year as of February 24, 2022 the agrarians were fully prepared for the sowing campaign, now there is a problem with liquidity, availability of finance, which complicates and slows down the preparation for field work. At the same time, the farmers are strongly intended to work.