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Used car imports continue to flood into Ukraine. In July, 34,300 used imports were registered for the first time, 17% more than in June, and 43% more than in July 2019. So far this year, 173,600 used cars have been registered in Ukraine four times the number of new car imports, reports Ukravtoprom, the car industry association.

Flaunting the $8 speeding fine, one driver broke the speed limit 60 times in 50 days, says Volodomyr Karavaev, chairman of the National Road Safety Forum. As a result, Rada deputies are discussing a bill that would suspend the driver licenses of repeat offenders. For excessive cases, the law would require mental exams.

Ukraine is on track to reach this year the symbolic target of a 100 million ton harvest of grain and oilseeds, predicts the Ukrainian Grain Association. This would be 2% higher than last year’s overall harvest. Whilst drought is pushing the nation’s wheat harvest down 5% yoy, to 26.8 million tons, corn, Ukraine’s largest crop, is expected to grow by 10.5.% to 38.9 million tons.

Ukraine harvested 27 million tons of grain from 48% of its sown area as of July 30, reports Successful Farming, an Iowa-based news site. This volume included 18.3 million tons of wheat, harvested from 72% of the area sown, and 6.9 million tons of barley, from 82% of the area sown, reports Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture.

Kernel has doubled its grain exports in two years, becoming Ukraine’s largest grain exporter. In the recently completed marketing year, Kernel exported 8 million tons, or 13.3% of Ukraine’s total grain exports. “Two years! This is exactly how much time it took to double our exports,” the company reports. Kernel now has 2.7 million tons of storage capacity, second only to the State Food and Grain Corporation.

With domestic consumption flat, exports are to increase by 5% this year, to 61 million tons. Increasingly seen as a world food power, Ukraine was second only to the US last year in grain exports. Ukraine $9.6 billion, Argentina exported $9.3 billion, and Russia exported $7.9 billion.

In “Feed and Rule,” an essay on ZN site, Foreign Minister Kuleba says Ukraine’s new status of a food power allows it to gain “authority and influence on the world stage.” Noting that the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted food marketing networks and incomes, he writes: “The issue of food security has every chance to become more relevant than the issue of energy prices.” In the arena of food politics, he writes: “In June, Ukraine’s trade representative was elected Deputy Chairman

In China, a move by a local unit of Sinograin to ban smartphones and cameras from its granaries has provoked national worries about levels of reserves. A cellphone video that showed moldy and dirty grain at a granary went viral in recent days, reports the South China Morning Post. “China corn video stokes food security fears amid coronavirus pandemic, flooding and drought,” headlines the story. In recent years, Ukraine was the largest supplier of corn to China. But to redress

DCH, one of the largest investment groups in Eastern Ukraine, has reached a deal to develop airplane engine maker Motor Sich with Chinese investors Skyrizon Aircraft Holdings Limited. Last year, the US sought to block a Skyrizon takeover the company, which makes advanced engines for fighter jets. Erik Prince, a US private security contractor and informal adviser to President Trump visited the Zaporizhia plant several times over the last year. “Both parties will conduct comprehensive cooperation by carrying out activities

The FBI raided offices yesterday of U.S. companies belonging to Ukrainian oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholyubov in Cleveland and Miami, reports RFE/RL and Cleveland.com. “I can confirm that we are at both locations,” FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson-Gregg told RFE/RL from Cleveland. Last month, Privatbank filed a lawsuit in a Delaware court charging that the duo, former owners of the bank, laundered $760 million in the US, largely buying commercial real estate and steel companies. Through this weekend, RFE/RL

No surprises at yesterday’s weekly auction of hryvnia domestic government bonds. The auction raised the equivalent of $370 million, slightly less than last week, the Finance Ministry reported on Facebook. Yields were unchanged: 6 months – 7.74%; 1 year – 9.2%; and 2 years – 10.25%.

SkyUp, Ukraine’s discount airline, lost more than $30 million in the first half of this year, the airline tells Interfax-Ukraine. During the first half of this year, SkyUp’s passenger count fell 15% yoy, to 568,900 passengers. It also laid off 10% of its staff. The airline reports flights on his domestic routes average 62% full. Charging $18-28 for a one-way ticket, SkyUp serves Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Lviv, Odesa, and Zaporizhia. Its international flights — to Tirana, Albania and to Burgas,

With the EU largely closed to Ukrainians, UIA has cancelled its flights to 10 cities for the rest of August: Athens, Barcelona, Baku, Berlin, Chisinau, Frankfurt, Larnaca, Prague, Rome and Vienna. Ukraine’s flag carrier is also cutting frequencies from Kyiv Boryspil to these EU cities: Amsterdam, London, Milan Naples, Nice, and Paris.

Turkish Airlines resumed its pre-lockdown network of flights from Istanbul to Ukraine, with direct flights from the new Istanbul Airport to Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Lviv, Odesa and Zaporizhia. For Americans and Ukrainians holding US visas, Turkish offers convenient service, with transfers for flights to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For passengers flying to Ukraine, transfer times often allow for taking a Coronavirus test, needed for dispensing with two weeks of quarantine after

In the latest effort to rebuild the East, the European Investment Bank is planning to lend €100 million to Ukravtodor to finance almost two thirds of a road building project in government-controlled Luhansk. Separately, the state highway agency is rebuilding 343 km of roads this year in government-controlled Luhansk.

August drivers will encounter almost 400 speed cameras across Ukraine. In addition to 116 speed guns held by police, more than 250 stationary cameras are being activated, reports TSN.ua. During the week of July 20-26, cameras clocked 187 cars traveling at more than 170 kph (105 mph). The most egregious case was the driver of a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG who was clocked going 227 kph (141 mph) on the Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. During the week of July 23-29, police stopped 10,000

Next Monday, the long-delayed cross Danube ferry crossing will open between Isaccea, Romania, and Orlivka, Odesa region. For drivers between Odesa and Constanta, Romania, the ferry will cut out a 2-hour, 100 km detour through Moldova. It will also be Odesa’s first border crossing with the EU.

UIA has returned another Boeing 737-800 to the lessor, trimming its fleet to 33 planes. Of the 33, 14 Boeings are in storage – in Ukraine, Spain and the Czech Republic. UIA has 26 Boeings and seven Embraer commuter jets. Last month, UIA cancelled its lease agreement for three Boeing ‘Super’ Max jets. The planes had not been delivered.

Sandwiched between Guatemala and the Philippines, Ukraine has the world’s second most dependent economy on remittances from overseas workers, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing World Bank statistics. In a recent story headlined Developing World Loses Billions in Money From Migrant Workers, the Journal reports the remittances last year accounted for 11% of Ukraine’s economy, compared to 13% for Guatemala and 10% for the Philippines.

With barriers erected to block coronavirus, remittances worldwide will drop 20% this year, estimates Dilip Ratha, the World Bank’s lead economist on these money flows. The Journal writes: “That drop would be four times as big as the fall that followed the 2008 financial crisis and the largest drop since the World Bank began recording remittance data in the 1980s.”