The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine are developing a program for a radical renovation of the country’s railway industry.
At present, working groups have been created in the ministries, and regular meetings are held for relevant discussions, the press service of the Ministry of Economy said on Thursday.
“The tasks of developing the railway industry are to increase the economic efficiency and safety of transportation, as well as to protect national interests. The result should be the preservation of jobs, the revival of the car-building industry and the support of the added value of related sectors of the economy,” the press service quoted head of the department Ihor Petrashko as saying.
According to him, the specified program concerns the renovation of the park of passenger and freight cars, the purchase of new diesel trains.
Thus, the initiative to solve the problems of the freight car market is based on the introduction of restrictions on the operating age for the main groups of freight cars; encouraging demand for new railcars from Ukrainian manufacturers due to government compensation for the interest rate on loans for the purchase of railcars; restricting the import and operation of old wagons from neighboring states to Ukraine; the use of a technical tool for additional repairs and inspections of old cars, which will become more expensive in service.
“The result of the initiative should be a radical renewal of freight cars in the next 10 years and an additional GDP growth of 2.7% per year,” the minister said.
According to him, to solve problems in the passenger carriages market, one of the options may be to renew the rolling stock through partial government funding under government guarantees.
“Previously, such a program for the renewal of passenger rolling stock requires the commissioning of at least 100 new passenger cars per year … It is only possible to make our railway industry safer, more efficient and technologically advanced by concentrating the integrated efforts of all market participants. Renewal of this area is not an easy task, but especially relevant in the period of economic recovery,” the minister said.
Naftogaz Ukrainy Executive Board Chairman Andriy Kobolev estimates the proceeds from PJSC Gazprom for the transit of Russian gas through the gas transmission system (GTS) of Ukraine at about $2 billion in 2020.
“I think this year the figure will be close to $2 billion,” he told journalist Yanina Sokolova on the YouTube channel on Tuesday evening.
The head of Naftogaz said that the “take or pay” principle enshrined in the contract during the economic crisis is important for the country in terms of obtaining a guaranteed income from the provision of transit services.
Sugar production in Ukraine as of September 14, 2020 amounted to 7,950 tonnes.
According to the report of the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers, published on its website, as of this date, three sugar factories were operating in the country, which have processed 80,900 tonnes of sugar beets so far.
The sugar beet processing season in Ukraine started on September 5.
As reported, with reference to Ukrtsukor, sugar production in the country in 2020 is projected at the level of 1.2-1.3 million tonnes, which is 15% less than a year earlier.
It is expected that 33 sugar factories will operate this season, at the level of last year.
The analytical agency UkrAgroConsult predicts a wheat harvest of 25.9 million tonnes for 2020 with exports of 17.5 million tonnes and a corn harvest of 36 million tonnes with exports of 29 million tonnes.
“The assessment of export potential for wheat is quite consolidated – 17.5 million tonnes, this figure is fixed in a memorandum, an appendix to which has been recently signed. In any case, exports will be about 3 million tonnes lower than last year,” the UkrAgroConsult export for the grain market, Yelyzaveta Malyshko, said during the Black Sea Grain & Oil Trade 2020 international conference in Kyiv.
According to her, the start of the wheat export season was impressive, for example, from July 1 to August 28, some 4.16 million tonnes of wheat were exported, which is the highest figure for this period in the previous years.
“Now active export contributes to the fact that domestic prices for wheat in September are about $ 30 higher than last year and the demand remains. Expectations in this regard are quite optimistic. Forwards for December are now showing $ 225, but we cannot exclude autumn price deflection after the arrival of Canadian and then Australian wheat crop,” the expert said.
UkrAgroConsult’s estimate of the corn harvest for this year is 36 million tonnes.
The expert noted price expectations for corn are optimistic, however, a decrease in prices during the period of active harvesting cannot be ruled out.
Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, has offered the buyback of its eurobonds maturing in 2021 and 2023 for a total amount of up to $ 290 million, in particular through the issue of new eurobonds.
The purpose of the offer is to proactively manage and extend the maturity of the issuer’s debt, and leverage favorable market conditions to refinance bonds to provide a more stable and long-term capital structure with a lower refinancing risk, the company said on the website of the Irish Stock Exchange.
Metinvest reminds that its 2021 eurobonds with a par value of $ 115.31 million and 2023 eurobonds with a par value of $ 504.52 million are in circulation. According to the proposal, the volume of redemption of 2023 eurobonds is limited by the condition to keep this issue in circulation in the amount of at least $ 300 million. In particular, it is indicated that if all 2021 eurobonds are submitted for redemption, the volume of redemption of 2023 eurobonds will amount to $ 164.25 million.
Metinvest also said that it had already received information from the holder of 2021 eurobonds for $ 80.8 million about the intention to make such a buyout. If this intention is confirmed, then for the general agreement on the operation of these securities, the participation of the holders of these bonds for about $ 5.7 million will be required.
According to the promulgated terms, 2021 eurobonds are redeemed at a price of 103% of the face value, 2023 eurobonds at 104.25% of the face value.
Redemption applications are accepted until September 28 inclusive. The earliest expected settlement date is October 1, the final one is October 16.
The Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv) plans to enter the final stage in terms of testing, certifying and creating a new configuration of the An-178 medium cargo transport aircraft without Russian components, State Enterprise President Oleksandr Los has said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda edition.
“Beginning from January 1, 2023, we are to expand the production of An-178 to 12 aircraft per year alongside developing financial framework, expanding markets, and processing state orders from Ukrainian companies,” he said.
“This is what we obtain from the potential marketing analysis that is needed by Ukrainian state authorities and meets the demands of our potential customers,” he added.
Los explained that due to the historically existing dependence on Russian components, the An-178 is the only immediately prepared serial production to date.
“Passenger An-158 aircraft is in order, since both models are related in terms of equipment. We are also starting to work on the aircraft under the working name of An-188,” the Antonov president said.
According to him, three An-148 and ten An-158 aircraft are currently in the Antonov serial production workshops at different stages of completion.
The president of the state enterprise said that for the time being COVID-19 pandemic complicates the work of Antonov, but plans are implemented as scheduled.
“As soon as I tried to increase the number of employees, the number of COVID cases immediately increased,” Los said, adding that the chief engineer of the enterprise had recovered from coronavirus.
