Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of October 26
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Unscrupulous agricultural producers, amid a low harvest, are trying to disrupt the previously concluded forward contracts for the supply of grain, which could collapse the grain market of Ukraine and provoke disastrous results both for the agricultural sector and for the country’s economy as a whole already in the current marketing year, Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) President Mykola Horbachev believes.
“Today, many unscrupulous producers, seeing an increase of market prices, want to refuse to fulfill the previously concluded contracts, in fact to make a default. And we are not talking about those agrarians who lost crops due to drought or other weather disasters, but those who had good harvest,” he explained in an exclusive commentary to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Because of this, Ukraine may lose a source of about $11-12 billion to finance the agricultural sector, he said.
Horbachev also said that companies that did not suffer from drought in some regions of the country are trying not to fulfill the previously signed contracts for the supply of grain, aiming to get excess profits at the expense of counterparties. Such unfair actions will inevitably lead to both economic and reputational losses for the entire economy of the country.
According to the UGA assessment, in the spring, the agrarians contracted about 6 million tonnes of maize of the current harvest on forward contracts at a price of $150-160 per tonne, thus receiving financing for the sowing campaign.
Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest Group, has announced the acquisition of a dominant stake in PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke Chemical Plant (formerly Evraz-Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant, Kamianske, formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk region) and intends to buy out the remaining shares from minority shareholders on the squeeze-out procedure.
According to the information of the plant, the issuer received a notification on October 21 from Metinvest B.V. company (the Netherlands) on the acquisition of a dominant controlling stake in the company.
At the same time, it is specified that the direct stake of Metinvest B.V. increased from 73.37% (500.623 million shares) to 97.01%. The aggregate ownership of shares in the plant by Metinvest (with the affiliated company Barlenco Ltd, Cyprus, which owns another 2.09% of the company’s shares), reached 99.1%.
The shares will be redeemed at a price of UAH 1.62 per ordinary share.
As reported, Metinvest B.V. in April 2019 announced an offer to buy out shares from the plant’s minority shareholders as part of the sell-out procedure (buyout at the request of a minority shareholder on the basis of Articles 68 and 69 of the law on joint-stock companies).
Windrose Airlines (Kyiv) in December will start operating regular flights to the capitals of the Balkan countries.
The press service of the airline reported on Friday that from December 1, in particular, the Kyiv – Podgorica (Montenegro) – Kyiv flight will be launched. Flights 7W747/748 will be operated twice a week: on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
From December 6, the flight Kyiv – Skopje (Macedonia) – Kyiv will be launched. Flights 7W791/792 will be operated on Thursdays and Sundays.
From December 7, the flight Kyiv – Belgrade (Serbia) – Kyiv will be launched. Flights 7W727 / 728 will be operated on Mondays and Fridays.
Flights from Boryspil airport will be operated by Embraer-145 and ATR72-600 aircraft.
In addition, Windrose offers transits from regions of Ukraine, in particular from Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Lviv.
In addition, from December 2020, the airline will introduce additional flights in the following directions: Kyiv – Zagreb (Croatia), Kyiv – Sofia (Bulgaria). Flights to Zagreb will be performed three times a week: every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and to Sofia – every day, except Sunday.
Some 75 observers have already arrived in Ukraine from abroad to monitor the local elections scheduled for October 25, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchinov said, citing data from the State Border Guard Service.
“The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that 75 international observers have already arrived,” Nemchinov wrote in his Telegram channel on Friday.
According to him, a regular, fourth meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group for Coordination of the Activities of Executive Authorities to Create the Right Conditions for the October 25 elections was held online on Friday. During the meeting, the issues of organizing the educational process in the regions, the readiness of election commissions to work, monitoring the decisions of local government agencies on the allocation of funds for anti-epidemic measures, providing election commissions with disinfectants and personal protective equipment, the development and maintenance of budget funds sent to territorial election commissions for organization and conduct of elections.
“There are only two days left before the local elections, so there are final preparations and active coordination of the activities of the central executive authorities and the Central Election Commission. We must consolidate efforts and ensure that local elections are held at the proper level,” Nemchinov wrote.
Ukraine and China have signed a program of cooperation in the field of aerospace for 2021-2025, which consists of 69 joint projects with a total value of contracts of more than $70 million.
As reported on the website of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU), the program was signed at a meeting of the Ukrainian-Chinese subcommittee on cooperation in space of the Commission on Cooperation between the Governments of Ukraine and China on October 22. The Ukrainian side was chaired by SSAU Head Volodymyr Usov, the Chinese – by Administrator of the Chinese National Space Administration (СNSA) Zhang Kejian.
The cooperation program will be the main one for joint activities of the two countries in space exploration in the medium term.
During the meeting, an agreement on the establishment of a joint laboratory of space science was also signed and an agreement to strengthen the exchange of information on space activities of the two countries was reached.
The next meeting of the subcommittee on cooperation in the field of space is scheduled for 2021 in China.
