The manufacturer of electric systems, Plank Electrotechnic LLC, in the Bila Tserkva industrial park (the project of UFuture Group of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky) has noted growth in production and sales by 20-30% a month amid problems with supplies of similar products from China and Turkey due to lockdown, Khmelnytsky has said on its Facebook page.
He recalled that the Plank Electrotechnic launched in the spring of 2019 with reaching the planned self-sufficiency by the end of this year was initially created as a small manufacturer (for 50 people) of products not previously produced in Ukraine (sockets, switches, buttons) for sale in the Epicenter K and Nova Linia networks at prices below the prices set for the Chinese and Turkish similar products.
“But what happened? Now we see the logistic collapse in China, Turkey has closed. The time and cost of sea deliveries have increased significantly, as well as their minimum volume. Now, national operators who need these products must make an advance payment and freeze a significant part of the cash turnover for the products, which will arrive in Ukraine in only three months. Thus, our products have become very popular. And, probably, we will even get ahead of our plan for this year. The concept worked, and in a closed world – even more effectively,” the entrepreneur wrote.
He said that today, the partners of the company understand that this is not the last crisis related to their commercial risks, and decide to focus on the national manufacturer.
“Distributors record the share of 20-30% in the product portfolio for local manufacturers,” Khmelnytsky said.
In addition, he said that, according to the existing demand, it is clear that construction is ongoing, home improvements are being actively done, including in improvements hospitals and schools. “And for us it is an opportunity to gain a certain market share, taking advantage of the global crisis, shifting imports. And the same can be done in other sectors. You ask how to find a niche, where to invest? Here is an idea for you: what we usually supply from China and Turkey should be produced here in Ukraine,” Khmelnytsky said.
“For Ukraine, there is only one prospect: to produce products for ourselves in order to replace imports, and even better, to enter the global market,” he said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 04/05/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of May 04
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
State-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt has produced and supplied 3.3 million liters of raw materials for antiseptics to Ukrainian companies within three weeks from the start of production.
“Over three weeks, Ukrspyrt delivered 3.3 million liters of disinfectant to manufacturers. If we mathematically transfer this to products, then approximately 85 million pocket sanitizers of 50 ml or 17 million of 250 ml can be made from raw materials sold by Ukrspyrt,” the state enterprise said.
Today, raw materials are shipped from 12 Ukrspyrt plants.
“For efficiency, over the past few weeks we have additionally launched two plants in Lviv and Cherkasy regions,” acting director of Ukrspyrt Serhiy Bleskun said.
According to him, now 36 Ukrainian producers of antiseptics are buying raw materials at Ukrspyrt.
As reported, on March 30, the Verkhovna Rada voted for bill No. 3275, which, among other things, allows the manufacture of disinfectants (raw materials for antiseptics) at Ukrspyrt factories, and the president signed the law on April 2.
PJSC Odeskabel, the large Ukrainian cable plant, made a loss of UAH 53.57 million in January-March 2019, while for the same period in 2019 net profit amounted to UAH 580,000.
According to the plant’s interim statements released in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission on Tuesday, April 28, its net income decreased 2.8%, to UAH 390.56 million.
The plant received a gross profit of UAH 57.11 million in the first quarter compared to UAH 59.71 million in 2019, and operating profit amounted to UAH 160,000 against UAH 13.79 million.
Cables for structured cabling systems had the largest share in the structure of products sold (39%), the share of power wirings and cables was 24.5%, and that for fiber optic cables was 15.3%.
The plant said in the report that the interim statements were influenced by lockdown introduced on March 12 in Ukraine due the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread, a change in stock market prices for copper (the main material for the cabling and wiring products) from $6,180 in January 2010 to $5,270 in March, and aluminum from $1,800 to $1,660, which affected the cost and pricing of Odeskabel products.
Among the main risks and uncertainties in the company are the dependence on the following facts: prices for 90% of the materials depend on the world market, and the sales market is largely Ukraine and neighboring countries; a change in the currency rate from UAH 23.68/$1 in January to UAH 28.06/$1 in March; falling solvency of customers, difficulties with the supply of materials for production.
Odeskabel is one of the leading manufacturers of fiber optic cable in Ukraine. In addition, it manufactures cable products for LAN networks, telephony, etc.
Gross take-up of warehouses in the Kyiv market in January-March 2020 grew by 15% year-over-year, to 28,800 square meters, according to a survey of Cushman & Wakefield Ukraine. “According to our experts, in the first quarter of 2020, the net take-up in the segment was negative and amounted to approximately minus 40,800 square meters, which is mainly due to a change in the rental strategy of the owners of several facilities in the period before the spread of COVID-19,” Head of Research and Development Consultancy at Cushman & Wakefield Ukraine Marta Kostiuk.
According to the company, preliminary leases amounted to 85% of the total volume of transactions in the first quarter.
Since the beginning of the year, there was no new offer on the warehouse real estate market of Kyiv. However, by the end of 2020, two facilities with a total area of 60,000 square meters will go live.
According to the survey, the primary vacancy of warehouses in March 2020 increased 2.1 percentage points compared to the end of 2019 and amounted to 2.9%. Moreover, the occupancy rate of the facilities planned for launch this year is already 40-100%, the company said.
Base rental rates for high-quality class A warehouses in Kyiv and its suburbs remained at $4-5.8 per sq. m. a month, and class B $3.2-3.8 per sq. m. a month.
“Given the growing risks associated with the economic slowdown amid the spread of COVID-19, from the second half of March 2020, a number of tenants in the warehouse and logistics real estate market in Kyiv and its suburbs initiated negotiations with lessors in order to minimize their rental costs,” Kostiuk said, clarifying that the provision of preferential conditions for tenants is individual in nature and is not a trend.
