Agriculture, forestry and the food industry could immediately employ up to 50,000 Ukrainian refugees, Agriculture Minister Zdenek Nekula said yesterday.
“Some men are getting call-up orders. This will certainly have an impact. On the other hand, we expect the flow of people to come in the other direction too,” Nekula said.
“Ukrainian workers are essential especially in year-round animal production and in highly seasonal agricultural sectors, such as fruit and vegetable farming and spring field work,” said Martin Pycha, chairman of the Agricultural Association.
“Should the Ukrainian workers leave, it would be a big problem as there’s no one to replace them,” Martin Ludvik, chairman of the Fruit Growers Union.
Some 5,000 people including seasonal workers are employed in fruit growing, and about half of them are Ukrainians, according to Ludvik. These people are mostly needed for the autumn apple harvest, he said.
Ukrainian workers do not have short-term visas, for instance for three months, but they stay in Czechia all year round, he added.
Other foreigners employed in fruit growing come from Bulgaria and Romania.
Retail chains and e-shops are presently encountering no problems because of Ukrainians returning home, according to a CTK poll of companies.
They said they are watching the situation and preparing different scenarios to secure smooth operation, and also reckon with supporting Ukrainian employees depending on what they need, said the retailers.
In trade, Ukrainians are mostly working in logistics.
According to Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, 200,000 Ukrainians stay in Czechia with a long-term visa and 60,000 with a shorter-term visa.
The Chamber of Commerce is gathering information on how many Ukrainians in Czechia have already received their call-up papers, which is quite difficult to find out as the documents are distributed exclusively by the Ukrainian authorities without cooperation with Czech institutions, Miroslav Benes said on behalf of the chamber.
The state-run agency CzechTrade stops providing support for Czech exports to Russia, and closes its office in Yekaterinburg, Russia, said CzechTrade CEO Radomil Dolezal.
The office in Kiyv will remain closed during the conflict, too, he said.
The state-run agency CzechInvest closed its representative office in Russia earlier.
Czech travel agencies are cancelling trips to Russia, expecting no tours will be taking place this year over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a CTK poll.
Over the past two years, there were no trips because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some travel agencies have suspended sale of the Russian airlines’ tickets, the poll showed.
Betting shops Sazka, Tipsport and Chance have stopped offering bets on all Russian competitions including the Continental Hockey League, and Fortuna vowed to send the income from bets on the Russian competitions to Ukraine, according to a CTK poll and information on the firms’ betting sites.
Fortuna spokesman Petr Srain said the company today sent CZK 4m to People in Need (Clovek v tisni), a Czech humanitarian organisation. It is the income from the bets on the Russian competitions in January and February this year.
Some hotel chains are offering accommodation and other support to families of their Ukrainian employees as their departure would add to their problem with a lack of staff, hoteliers said. The Russian attack may further weaken demand for services, mainly from overseas tourists who perceive the conflict as a war in Europe, they said.
TV operators O2 TV and T-Mobile stopped broadcasting the Russian public station Pervy Kanal, the firms’ representatives told said, but would not elaborate.
T-Mobile also switched off the Russian-subsidised programmes Russia Today and RT Documentary. The Russian channels TNT and Russian kino remained in O2’s offer, the firms said.
Other TV operators mostly offer no Russian state TV channels.
The Railway Research Institute (VUZ), a subsidiary of Ceske drahy (CD) national rail operator, ended its trade relations with Russia and Belarus as part of which it had certified components of railway vehicles produced in these countries, VUZ said yesterday.
Source: CTK
