Ukraine and Moldova will renew the Free Trade Agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“Despite the war we are implementing agreements of 2021. The draft law on the application of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin was submitted to Parliament,” Shmyhal said in Twitter on Friday.
In turn, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said the draft law approved on Friday “On the ratification of the Protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova on Free Trade Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova dated November 13 2003” will allow in bilateral trade between Ukraine and Moldova, when determining the origin of goods, to be guided by the provisions of the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin or alternative rules of origin of the said Regional Convention.
“Metinvest”, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, in January-March of this year, reduced steel production by 8% compared to the same period last year, and by 25% compared to the previous quarter – to 1.962 million tons, n pig iron – by 15% and 31%, to 1.828 million tons, the total production of coke – by 33% and 28%, respectively, to 783 thousand tons.
According to a press release from parent company Metinvest B.V. on operating results for the first quarter of 2022, in January-March of this year, the group reduced the total production of iron ore concentrate (IOR) by 3% compared to the same period last year and by 10% quarter-on-quarter to 2.786 million tons, pellets by 35% and increased by 34%, respectively – up to 1.281 million tons, the total production of coking coal concentrate – increased by 29% and reduced by 14%, respectively, to 1.276 million tons.
As reported, according to the results of 2021, Metinvest increased steel production by 15% compared to 2020 – up to 9.533 million tons, pig iron – also by 15%, up to 9.709 million tons, but reduced the total production of coke by 5% – to 4.551 million tons. In 2021, Metinvest increased the total production of iron ore concentrate (IRO) by 3% compared to the previous year – up to 31.341 million tons, pellets by 18% – up to 5.811 million tons and the total production of coking coal concentrate – by 92%, up to 5.542 million tons.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies that manages assets in every link of the production chain from iron ore and coal mining and coke production to the production of semi-finished products and finished products from steel, pipes and coils, as well as the production of other high value-added products. The group consists of mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the USA, has a sales network covering all key global markets.
Metinvest’s main shareholders are the SCM group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest group.
JSC Kyiv Electric Car Repair Plant, part of the structure of Ukrzaliznytsia, in January-March 2022 received a net loss of UAH 10.96 million against a net profit of UAH 2.61 million for the same period in 2021.
According to the interim financial report of the enterprise, published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, its net income in the first quarter decreased by 40.7% – to UAH 77.37 million.
The plant received a gross loss of UAH 3.37 million (against a profit of UAH 6.74 million a year earlier), almost UAH 10 million of loss was received from operating activities.
According to the plant, in the first quarter of this year, it sold five repaired electrical sections for UAH 75.63 million (in January-March 2021 – nine sections for UAH 118.5 million), two wheel sets and three electric machines (a year earlier – one pair and 108 electric machines).
Kyiv Electric Car Repair Plant was founded in 1868 as a workshop for the repair of steam locomotives and wagons. It specializes in the overhaul of electric trains for the railways of Ukraine, the repair of components and assemblies, electric machines, electric motors and wheelsets, the manufacture of spare parts.
UNIQA and UNIQA Life insurance companies (Kyiv), which are part of the non-banking financial group UNIQA Ukraine, paid out UAH 77.5 million in insurance claims to customers in April this year, according to the website of UNIQA.
At the same time, it is noted that under auto insurance contracts the total amount of insurance payments was UAH 22.2 million, of which payments for KASKO – UAH 16.1 million, for OSAGO – UAH 6.1 million.
The amount of payments under voluntary medical insurance contracts totaled UAH 31.9 million. The amount of life insurance payments is UAH 4.7 million.
The largest payment was UAH 12.2 million under the insurance contract for construction and installation risks.
UNIQA medical assistance for the reporting period processed more than 37,608 appeals, technical assistance – more than 9,532, the report says.
UNIQA Group (Austria) entered the Ukrainian market in 2006. Its companies in Ukraine – UNIQA and UNIQA Life with headquarters in Kyiv, offer most types of risk and life insurance through a nationwide network.
During the period of martial law, the Verkhovna Rada has simplified the export, import and transit of agricultural products to Ukraine, which will expand the access of farmers to fertilizers and genetic material of farm animals, as well as support the Ukrainian organic industry.
Relevant bill No. 7264 on uninterrupted production and supply of agricultural products during martial law was adopted as a whole at a meeting on May 12 by the votes of 313 MPs, with the required 226 votes, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction) said on his Telegram channel on Thursday.
“The task of the state is to simplify farming under martial law as much as possible and reduce the bureaucratic burden on business and government bodies. This applies, in particular, to the state registration of pesticides and agrochemicals, which is extremely important during the spring sowing campaign in 2022. Also it is important to support niche agriculture and organic production,” according to an explanatory note to the bill.
The bill abolishes state registration of agrochemicals imported into Ukraine, including some types of nitrogen fertilizers, ammonium nitrates, ammonia in aqueous solution, thiosulfates, potassium, calcium and aluminum phosphates, borates, zinc chelate and a number of others mineral fertilizers until the end of martial law and for 90 days after its cancellation.
In addition to the simplified import of such types of fertilizers, the bill cancels the state registration procedure for their production, sale, use and advertising.
Bill No. 7264 also proposes, until July 1, 2024, to allow organic producers to use the label “organic,” “biodynamic,” “biological,” “ecological,” “organic,” even if they are not operators of organic products in accordance with law No. 2496-VIII on the turnover of organic products.
According to the explanatory note to the document, this initiative allows Ukrainian producers of organic products that produced according to EU standards, but did not meet the status of an operator of organic products according to Ukrainian standards, to switch to Ukrainian production standards without an additional transition period. It also allows them to qualify for government support.
The bill expands the list of entities that can take samples and conduct phytosanitary examination, in particular, introduces a simplified procedure for involving private laboratory employees in examination until the end of martial law and 90 years after it is canceled, and also authorizes agronomists-inspectors to conduct such inspections to conduct an audit on certification.
In addition, the bill allows the import of cargoes of live animals in transit through countries where there are cases of disease from the list of the World Organisation for Animal Health to Ukraine. According to the authors of the bill, this will allow the Ukrainian livestock industry to gain access to modern breeding genetic material from the EU countries and expand the diversity of breeding material of agricultural animals in Ukraine.
During the discussion of the document at the second reading, the MPs supported the amendment of MP Oleh Kulinich (the deputy group Dovira), specifying that state registration of pesticides is not required in cases where the active ingredient of the pesticide is marked in the EU Pesticides Database as permitted for use.
ANIMALS, FERTILIZERS, IMPORT, PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATES, RADA
State-controlled PrivatBank (Kyiv) on May 9 began accepting applications for financing the purchase of fixed assets for a total amount of UAH 500 million, which include agricultural machinery, commercial vehicles and special equipment.
The launch of the corresponding program was announced in a press release from the financial institution.
The bank also announced the completion on May 13 of the Agroseason lending program for agricultural producers, carried out to finance the 2022 sowing campaign under the state program 5-7-9% with interest compensation.
It is specified that over 2,400 Ukrainian agricultural enterprises and farmers have already received loans for UAH 6 billion.
PrivatBank clarified that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by resolution No. 28 set the deadline for issuing loans for the sowing campaign until May 31, 2022. Since the bank is currently processing more than 2,000 loan applications, it will limit the acceptance of applications on May 13 in order to have time to process those already received before the deadline set by the government.
The financial institution recalled that under the terms of the state program, lending was available to Ukrainian agricultural producers for a period of six months with compensation from the state up to 0% per annum in the amount of up to UAH 60 million.
As reported, Ukrainian banking institutions for the period from mid-March to May 5 provided loans to farmers under the state program to support the sowing campaign in 2022 for a total of UAH 19.82 billion, including loans and portfolio guarantees for the week of April 28-May 5 for UAH 4.87 billion.
AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT FOR UAH 500 MLN, LEND, PRIVATBANK
