1. During President Zelenskyi’s visit to Canada, the countries concluded a new free trade agreement, which should expand the involvement of domestic business in international supply chains. In particular, it provides for introducing digital trade mechanisms, which we had before only with Great Britain.

2. The Government has already registered the draft Law on the State Budget for 2024. It assumes that from January 1, the minimum monthly wage will be UAH 7,100. Therefore, when calculating the salary of an employee who is not a person with a disability and works at the main place of work, employers will need to pay the tax at the rate of 22% not lower than UAH 1,562.

3. The Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of Moldova extended the agreement on “transport visa-free” between the countries until the end of 2025. The agreement provides for two-way and transit transportation by motor vehicle without special permits.

4. The Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution to facilitate and speed up the process of obtaining authorizations for customs simplifications. A key change is the introduction of an additional model for assessing the financial condition of enterprises, which will allow more enterprises to obtain authorization for general guarantees with a reduction in the level of coverage to 50%, 30% and exemption from guarantees.

5. How the country’s foreign trade changed during the year and a half of the war and how the government plans to support and expand exports. What prevents businesses from entering international markets today? These and related topics will be the subject of discussion at the conference “The Future of Ukrainian Exports”, which will be held in Kyiv on October 3.

6. Even more large and small businesses will be able to join the “eRecovery” financial aid program for repairs – according to the government’s decision, the list of relevant categories and IAS codes has been expanded. Furniture industry companies have not yet entered this list. Entered manufacturers and suppliers of paint products and related goods (code 5198).

7. The Ukrainian Universal Exchange, conducting open competitive auctions in the direction of “Unprocessed wood and lumber”, tries to create the most comfortable conditions for auction participants. For this purpose, UUB introduced indices of weighted average prices, in particular for raw wood, which helped to form a national benchmark in this market and make it more transparent.

8. The production facilities of “Kronospan Rivne” were visited by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Austria to Ukraine Arad Benkö. The guest was told that Kronospan Ukraine invested in new production facilities even during the war. The logistics centre in Kalynivka in the Kyiv region, the chipboard line has been put into operation, and the OSP line in the Rivne region is being completed.

9. In recent years, retro furniture has become more and more popular, because people want to have special, timeless items. To meet this demand, “IKEA” launched the simple, functional, colourful NYTILLLVERKAD collection, returning to its origins in the year 80th anniversary.

10. “A banquet during the furniture plague” – this is how the Estonian press reacted to opening a new giant furniture store with an area of 4,500 square meters in Peetri, Rae parish. “This is when the Estonian furniture industry and retail collapsed: volumes fell by a third – and that’s at best.”