Asia-Pacific stock markets rose on Friday, following the rise of Wall Street, due to growing expectations that the cycle of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed) is nearing its end.
Stats showing a slowdown in U.S. producer price growth and a larger-than-expected increase in jobless claims confirmed that the U.S. central bank’s rate hike is weakening inflation in the United States and restraining economic growth.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index was up 1.2 percent in trading, following an increase in retailer stocks.
Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo brand, gained 8.5 percent on strong results at the close of trading on Thursday. Fast Retailing increased its net profit and revenue in the first fiscal half of the year and improved its outlook for the full year.
Shares of other Japanese retailers are also up, with Seven & I Holdings up 1.8 percent, Treasure Factory up 9.6 percent and Lawson up 6 percent.
China’s Shanghai Composite stock index added 0.4% in trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1%.
China’s economic growth rate will reach the government’s target of 5 percent in 2023, People’s Bank of China (PBOC) governor Yi Gang said during a meeting of G20 central bank chiefs in Washington.
“China’s economy is stabilizing and recovering, inflation remains low, and the real estate market is showing positive changes,” said Yi Gang, quoted on the NBK website.
Leading the rise in mainland China are stocks of technology companies and battery makers, as well as raw materials for them. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. gained 2.1%, Tianqi Lithium 6.3%, Ganfeng Lithium 6.2% and China National Software 2.9%.
In Hong Kong, shares of Geely Automobile Holdings (+3.5%), BYD Co. (+1%) and Anta Sports Products (+1.8%) rose. Meanwhile, Meituan (SPB: 3,690) (-1.8%), Tencent (SPB: 700) Holdings (-0.3%) and Sunny Optical Technology Group (-1.1%) are getting cheaper.
South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.53% in trading and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.48%.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares gained 1%, National Australia Bank – 1.1%, Fortescue Metals – 0.9%. At the same time, BHP Group securities fell by 0.1%.
Dniprovskyi Steel (DMZ, formerly Evraz-DMZ), which belongs to Oleksandr Iaroslavskyi’s DCH Steel group, produced 29.4 thousand tons of finished steel in January-March this year, while in the first quarter of last year DMZ did not produce steel products due to the lack of coal raw materials and military operations.
According to the company press-release, coke output in January-March 2023 decreased by 20.4% YoY, to 45.8 thnd. tons.
In March, DMZ produced 10.6 thousand tons of steel and 16 thousand tons of coke (+16.1% versus March 2022).
At the same time, it is specified that DMZ blast furnace and converter shops have been idle since January 2022. The plant resumed rolled steel production in April last year, both rolling shops are working on tolling billets.
In 2022 and in the first quarter of 2023 DMZ rolling shops produced a wide range of channels, mine rails SVP-22, SVP-27 and SVP-33, mine rails R34 and R43, crane rails of different sizes.
In 2022 the coke-chemical division of the company switched exclusively to domestic coal feedstock and produces goods mainly for Ukrainian ferroalloy plants. In addition, in March 2023 the coke-chemical division resumed metallurgical coke production.
In 2022, DMZ cut its output of rolled steel by 168.4% to 58.4 thnd mt, and coke by 56.3% to 211.3 thnd mt, compared to 2021.
As previously reported, DMZ blast furnace operations are currently idle due to a shortage of raw materials and blocked ports. Moreover, the rolling mills are operating on give-and-take raw materials.
DMZ specializes in the production of steel, pig iron, rolled products and their products. On March 1, 2018, DCH Group signed an agreement to buy Dneprovskyy Metallurgical Plant from Evraz.
Terra (Kharkiv), one of Ukraine’s largest cereals and flakes producers, will build a $20 million plant in the west of the country, ZAXID.NET writes.
“Now we are determining the site for the construction. We are considering Lviv, Ternopil and Rivne regions. We have big requirements for the territory: we need a railroad, a transportation hub, infrastructure and people. Logistika is important for us, both for consumers in Ukraine and for export”, – informed the commercial director of the company Alexandr Yasinsky.
Capacities of the new plant will allow to process 300 thousand tons of raw materials a year and produce 150 thousand tons of products a year. Besides groats, flour, flakes, kasha and instant soups, “Terra” is going to launch buckwheat and corn processing lines. It is planned to build a bio boiler house at the plant to meet production needs.
According to the commercial director, production lines, packaging and transportation will be automated as much as possible.
Terra is currently negotiating with a foreign bank to open a $20 million credit line, is looking for a partner to invest in the new plant, and is considering cooperation with large agricultural producers.
According to Jasinski, if the company manages to find ready-made premises, it will be possible to launch a new factory in a year, while the construction of production from scratch will take about two years.
In parallel, Terra will be developing its own retail network of stores across Ukraine. The first market has already been opened in the Kharkiv region.
Terra was registered in Kharkiv region in 1999. The company makes about 200 types of products, including groats, cereals, flour, instant porridges and soups, mixed fodder, and exports them to 67 countries: the USA, Europe, UAE, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, etc. “TERRA” is one of the largest producers of cereals in Ukraine and in the top-5 organic producers.
The beneficiaries and founders of the company are Alexander and Igor Yasinskiy, and the co-founders are Sergiy Prikhodko and Oleg Gozhenko.
The risks of investing in Ukraine are already lower than at the beginning of the war and the opportunities are higher, the first foreign investors such as Kingspan, Nestle and Bayer are already investing in the country and American businesses should follow their lead and benefit while they will have government support, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said.
“By investing in Ukraine, you can join companies like Kingspan, Nestle, and Bayer who are pioneering, you can invest in the future of Ukraine, and in doing so, you will be investing in the future of democracy. Know that USAID and our partners around the world plan to provide full support,” she said at the Ukraine-U.S. Partnership Forum hosted by the American Chambers of Commerce of the two countries in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Power said Ireland’s Kingspan group recently announced a $200 million investment to build a technology campus in Lviv that will employ 600-800 people, Nestle is investing nearly $43 million in a new food processing facility that will add 1,500 new jobs and Bayer is investing over $65 million to expand its corn seed plant, new warehouses and bomb shelters to protect employees.
She added that even during the war Ukraine has expanded its leadership in advanced industries such as artificial intelligence, fintech and blockchain, and in 2022 the IT industry brought more than $7 billion to the Ukrainian economy – 20% more than the year before.
The head of USAID stressed that the U.S. government is willing to work with businesses to reduce risks and try to remove barriers to investing in Ukraine as much as possible. “We are investing heavily in partnerships with the Ukrainian government, other democracies, and multilateral institutions to reduce the cost of doing business in Ukraine,” she said, citing assistance with restoring energy supplies and supplying seeds and fertilizer to Ukrainian farmers.
Speaking about removing barriers that still hinder investment, Power said a survey of 122 U.S.-Ukraine-related Chamber of Commerce companies, U.S. investors, international organizations and economic experts was conducted and eight areas of reform were identified.
“And now we’re taking this crowdsourced program of reforms and working with the Ukrainian government to help ensure they’re implemented,” the USAID chief added, citing among them increased transparency, increased judicial independence, and risk insurance.
“Now I know that you are all well aware of the potential benefits of being an early investor in an economy ready for substantial growth, ready for much deeper integration with European neighbors in the years ahead,” Power summed up.
And she also noted that a contribution to Ukraine’s economy now is a contribution to winning the war, a bet on values that are cherished in America.
Humanitarian demining of Ukrainian lands will take place with the help of the latest technology – sappers will start using special anti-mine drones, which will soon be delivered to Ukraine.
According to the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine on Thursday, this was agreed during a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko and American investor Howard Buffett.
“We understand that the process of clearing Ukrainian land will stretch for years. Therefore the Government is trying to speed it up as much as possible. We have agreed on the participation of Howard Buffett’s team in the long-term project of humanitarian demining of our lands. Innovative designs for this task are already in the works. The Buffett Foundation has experience in this, because for many years it has conducted similar projects in Colombia. He also promised that he will systematically help Ukrainian agribusiness to get rid of the consequences of Russian aggression”, – said Sviridenko.
According to Buffett, his foundation is ready to work together with the Ukrainian government and support government projects to significantly speed up humanitarian demining. As part of the cooperation, he has promised to procure demining machines, as well as to use such innovative solutions as special drones for demining in this process.
He also said that he is ready to help hold the Russian Federation accountable for crimes that have damaged Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Several relevant lawsuits have already been sent to the international court.
In turn, Sviridenko said that the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has launched a special project to work out the methodology and scale the latest drone technology to accelerate demining.
“Howard Buffett will actively participate in the issue of acceleration of demining of Ukraine, and will use its contacts and capabilities to find like-minded people in the world who joined the issue of humanitarian demining,” – said Deputy Prime Minister.
Prometey Group bought 54 hopper cars from Ukrainian wagon manufacturer Experimental Mechanical Plant (OMZ) Karpaty, the agricultural holding said on its website.
“Control over the logistics chain allows for high margins, therefore, our own railcar fleet will increase the turnover of elevators and strengthen the efficiency of the entire group of companies. We have an extensive network of granaries in different regions of Ukraine, so there will always be work for the wagons,” said Rafael Goroyan, the owner and chairman of the supervisory board of Prometey.
To implement this project Prometey signed a $3 million leasing agreement with the First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB, Kiev).
In January 2023 Prometey has purchased seven new haulers with DAF trailers and Wielton semi-trailers and announced its intention to increase the number of grain carriers up to 200 units in the nearest future. As of January 2023 the holding owned 52 grain carriers.
Prometey Group provides services in storing, processing and logistics of crops. Before the Russian aggression, the holding owned 34 elevators with the total capacity of 2 mln tons in the Nikolayev, Kirovograd, Kiev, Khmelnitsky, Zaporizhzhya, Sumy, Odessa, Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
In addition, the group has its own land bank of 20 thousand hectares, which it intends to increase this year to 50 thousand hectares and in the future to 100 thousand hectares.
By the end of 2021, the group planned to receive $45 mln EBITDA, while in 2020 this figure reached $32.6 mln and in 2019 – $30.5 mln.
