“Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest mining and metals holding, increased its total production of iron ore concentrate (IOC) by 87% year-on-year to 8.892 million tonnes in January-June this year, and pellets by 25% to 3.193 million tonnes, but reduced its total output of coking coal concentrate by 31% to 2.085 million tonnes.
According to the operating report of the parent company Metinvest B.V. on Monday, the production of commercial iron ore products more than doubled to 8.021 million tons, and the production of commercial iron ore concentrate increased 3.4 times to 5.023 million tons, which was facilitated by the unblocking of Ukrainian Black Sea ports from August 2023 and an increase in the order book for coking coal pellets.
It is noted that due to limited electricity production in Ukraine due to Russian shelling since mid-March 2024 and high demand for imported electricity, its cost affects the workload and configuration of the group’s mining and processing plants.
At the same time, Metinvest distributes the workload of its mining and processing plants based on the availability of electricity, its cost, market prices for iron ore products and other factors to ensure efficient production.
As a result, in Q2 2024, total iron ore production decreased by 17% quarter-on-quarter to 4.033 million tonnes, while the output of commercial iron ore products decreased by 13% to 3.814 million tonnes, including the production of commercial iron ore pellets, which decreased by 22% to 2.205 million tonnes. At the same time, the production of commercial pellets remained almost at the level of the previous quarter at 1.609 million tons.
According to the report, the group’s coal concentrate production in 2Q2024 decreased by 8% quarter-on-quarter to 999 thousand tons.
It is noted that the main factor behind this was a 12% decline in production at Pokrovske Coal Group (Ukraine) to 562 thousand tons, among other things due to the planned redistribution of mining operations in view of the capacity of production sites.
United Coal Company’s (USA) production of coal concentrate remained almost at the level of the previous quarter – 437 thousand tons. It is noted that in 1H2024, the group’s coal concentrate production decreased by 31% mainly due to a 39% decrease in production at United Coal Company due to the suspension of production at Carter Roag mines and a decrease in production at some Wellmore mines. In addition, Pokrovske Coal Group’s coal concentrate production decreased by 25% mainly due to optimization of mining operations due to changes in mining and geological conditions.
“Metinvest comprises steel and mining companies located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
State-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has signed the first loan agreement for UAH 28.7 million at 9% per annum under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program for the installation of a 2.5 MW gas reciprocating power plant, the financial institution’s website reports.
“The client, which supplies raw materials to many Ukrainian producers of essential goods, will receive a loan of UAH 28.7 million for a period of 5 years. The capacity of the plant is 2.5 MW; this will secure production in case of a prolonged power outage,” the press release says.
The bank did not disclose the name of the company.
As reported, in the second decade of July, the government launched lending to entrepreneurs and businesses under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9 program for the purchase and installation of gas turbine, gas piston or biogas generating units. The maximum loan amount is up to UAH 150 million and the loan term is up to 10 years.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of June 1, 2024, Oschadbank ranked 2nd (UAH 415.82 billion) in terms of total assets among 63 banks in the country. Last year, the financial institution’s net profit amounted to UAH 5.98 billion.
Optima School has received permission to conduct educational activities in Poland and will start teaching high school students (grades 10-11) at the beginning of the school year in September, Optima School director Olga Bilodid said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
“The Polish school will be enrolling high school students. It will start at the beginning of the school year. We have already realized what we dreamed of last year, and we intend to move to other EU countries,” Bilodid said.
Optima School founder Roberts Weishla noted that Optima will share its experience with other countries, positioning itself not only as an international school with universal content, but also creating local content that meets local curricula.
According to him, Optima has the capacity to serve up to 500 thousand students at a time.
Optima School was established and licensed in 2015. The school currently has 20 thousand students.
The State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine has renewed three special permits for subsoil use in Dnipropetrovska and Zhytomyrska oblasts. NADRA.INFO reports with reference to the order of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of 09.08.2024 No. 368 (download the appendix).
The following permits have been renewed:
As of August 12, Ukraine exported 4.962 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (MY, July-June), up 58.9% compared to the same period a year earlier, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine reported, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, in August, 1.26 million tons were exported, which is 48.6% more than last year. In terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 2.273 mln tonnes of wheat (1.25 mln tonnes in 2023/24 MY), 739 thsd tonnes of barley (385 thsd tonnes), 0.3 thsd tonnes of rye (0.6 thsd tonnes), and 1.932 mln tonnes of corn (1.481 mln tonnes).
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of August 12 is estimated at 6.3 thsd tonnes (in 2023/24 MY – 14.9 thsd tonnes), including 5.7 thsd tonnes of wheat (14.3 thsd tonnes).
The Ukrainian restaurant chain Lviv Croissants has entered the US market, where it has invested $220 thousand together with a partner to open a bakery and produce frozen croissants in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
“Lviv Croissants is now in America! The first Lviv Croissants bakery in the United States is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, and is already welcoming its first guests. Locals love quality healthy food, and we know how to cook it, so it’s a total match. We also know how to surprise with a variety of flavors, create a friendly atmosphere and a sense of a place where you can be yourself,” the company’s website says.
Lviv Croissants founder Andriy Galytsky told the Forbes Entrepreneurs Forum that the company had been preparing for two years to enter the US market, while it took about five months to prepare for European markets. This is the third expansion of the Ukrainian chain abroad after Poland and Slovakia.
The co-owner and CEO of the American restaurant is a local entrepreneur, Brett Larrabee, whom Galitsky met at a franchise exhibition in New York in 2018. Larrabee has 37 years of experience in restaurant franchising, including the development of the American brands Five Guys, Famous Daves BBQ, Little Caesars, Subway, and Pancheros, Forbes reports.
Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international franchise restaurant chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants and has 177 locations in Ukraine, 11 in Poland and 1 in Slovakia. It is part of the Fast Food Franchising Group.
Fast Food Franchising Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Lviv.
The company’s net loss in 2023 amounted to UAH 598.3 thousand compared to UAH 483 thousand of net profit a year earlier. Last year’s revenue increased by 55.1% to UAH 6.939 million, debt increased 9.7 times to UAH 188.9 thousand, while assets decreased by 19% to UAH 1.89 million.
The beneficiaries of the company are PE Firm Infobud, which owns 50% of the shares, Yevhen and Andriy Galitsky (20% each), and Yuriy Zagrodsky (10%).
