The coke-making division of the Kametstal plant of Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group (formerly Dneprovsky Coke Chemical Plant, DKHZ, Kamenskoye, Dnipropetrovsk Region) has resumed operations after being forced to stop due to power supply restrictions as a result of massive enemy shelling.
According to the company’s press release, coke oven batteries No.1 and No.5 resumed their work at the beginning of 2023 and started producing blast furnace coke.
It is noted that during the forced downtime the subdivision specialists systematically prepared the equipment for resumption of work. One of the important stages – preparation for putting into operation the equipment evacuated to “Kametstal” from Avdiivka Coke Plant (ACP), which is in cold storage because of combat operations.
At Metallurgical Plant the project was realized, directed to the delivery and preparation for work in coke-chemical division of the quenching car, earlier exploited at PJSC “AVDIIVKA COKE”. The equipment is intended for transportation of hot coke after its dispensing from coking chambers to the quenching section and then to the sorting section, where coke is distributed by fractions.
According to the report specialists of “Metinvest-Promservice”, who carried out dismantling and the following cleaning of quenching car, took part in project realization together with workers of Kametstal and Avdiivka coke-chemical plant. Acquired equipment makes it possible to create a reserve for the working car and provides for its repair to improve reliability and safety of operation.
“Resumption of coke production is a solid foundation for blast furnace production and efficient operation of the metallurgical plant as a whole. Kametstal’s coke specialists are working selflessly and professionally to bring the equipment up to the required technological parameters in January. We also successfully prepared for operation a coke quenching car from AKHZ,” said Deputy Director of Production for Coke and Chemical Division Roman Puris, who is quoted by the press service.
At the moment, among other things, production of ammonium sulfate is resumed in the subdivision, desulfurization shop, and in the near future the benzene department is going to start working. Thus, the whole technological chain of coke-chemical production at Kametstal will be up and running, the statement explains.
“Kametstal” was created on the basis of PJSC “Dneprovsky Coke Chemical Plant” (DCCP) and the CEC of PJSC “Dneprovsky Metallurgical Plant” (DMK).
According to the report of the parent company of Metinvest Group for 2020, Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owned 100% of DKHZ shares.
On Friday 11 vessels with 313.5 thousand tons of agricultural products left the ports of “Big Odessa” after three days of bad weather, when there was no traffic of vessels, said the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.
“At once three bulk carriers are heading to African countries: the Lady Litel with 31 thousand tons of wheat for Libya, the East Wind 1 with 25 thousand tons for Tunisia, and the Lady Hatice with 11 thousand tons of food for Morocco,” the ministry noted on Facebook.
It also reported that the bulk carrier Antheia, chartered by the UN World Food Programme to deliver Ukrainian wheat to Afghanistan, moored in the port of Chornomorsk.
The agency said that in the ports involved in the “grain initiative”, there are 17 ships under processing, they are loaded with more than 519 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products, and another five ships are moving in the “grain corridor” for the loading.
The Ministry of Infrastructure noted that 104 vessels are waiting for the inspection of the Joint Coordinating Centre in the Bosphorus, while there were 98 on January 10 and 95 on December 26.
The agency stressed that for continuous movement in the grain corridor should be held at least 12 inspections per day.
In total, according to the department, since August 1, 644 ships that exported 17.3 million tons of food have left the ports of Greater Odessa.
in January-September 2022, the international vertically integrated steel and pipe company Interpipe cut its capital investments by three times as against the similar period of the last year – to $15 mn from $45 mn.
According to a presentation of the company’s operations for the nine months of last year, capital investments in the period under review amounted to $7mn ($6mn in 9M2021), $8mn in steelmaking and $31mn in pipe production, while there were no investments in railroad operations ($8mn).
We would like to note that the figures for 9M-2022 are unaudited.
As we informed, in January-September 2022, Interpipe earned $185.952 mln, while during the same period last year it amounted to $32.338 mln (5.75 times more). The company made $199.975 mln of profit after tax, compared to $56.505 mln for the first nine months of 2021 (a 3.5 times increase). At the same time, revenues decreased by 9.3% to $686.634 mln. The company increased its free cash flow to $126.476 mln as of September 30, 2022, from $103.007 mln at the end of September 2021.
EBITDA at the end of September 2022 was $123.023 million ($51.508 million for the pipe segment, “minus” $3.287 million for the rail segment, $74.222 million for the steel segment, $580 thousand for other operations), compared to $150.876 million (“minus” $36.040 million, “plus” $15.351 million, $169.483 million and $2.082 million respectively at the end of 2021).
“Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company producing seamless pipes and railroad wheels. The company supplies its products to over 80 countries all over the world via a network of commercial offices located in the key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America, and Europe. In 2021, the company sold 602 thnd mt of tubes and 174 thnd mt of railroad products. The company sells its railroad products under the KLW brand.
There are about 10 thsd. employees in Interpipe.
The company consists of five industrial assets: “Interpipe Nizhnedneprovsky Tube Rolling Plant (NTZ)”, “Interpipe Novomoskovsk Tube Plant (NMTZ)”, “Interpipe Niko Tube”, “Interpipe Vtormet” and the electric steelmaking complex “Dneprosteel” under the brand name “Interpipe Steel”.
The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk and his family members.
On Friday, 12 bulk carriers with corn, wheat, soybeans and sunflower meal left Ukrainian ports, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reports.
“On January 13, twelve vessels left Ukrainian ports, they are transporting a total of 346,356 tonnes of grain and other food within the framework of the Black Sea grain initiative,” the report says.
Two bulk carriers Cuma (70,799 tonnes of corn) and Georgia T (61,252 tonnes of sunflower meal) are heading to China, two vessels Solar (37,205 tonnes of wheat) and Bosphorus King (25,000 tonnes of corn) are heading to Italy. Two more bulk carriers Rio (8,500 tonnes of wheat) and Umit G (4,300 tonnes of wheat) headed for Greece.
The vessel Papua will deliver 29,300 tonnes of soybeans to the Netherlands, the vessel Cape Scott – 28,000 tonnes of corn to Portugal, the vessel New Faith – 26,500 tonnes of corn to Spain.
In addition, two vessels Garnet (33,000 tonnes of corn) and Muzaffer Ana (11,500 tonnes of soybeans) went to Turkey. Lady Hatice will ship 11,000 tonnes of sunflower meal to Morocco.
Five vessels are also being sent to the ports of Ukraine, which passed through the humanitarian corridor on Friday.
The JCC reported that “79 applications for participation in the initiative were submitted.” Ten vessels are awaiting permission to enter the ports of Ukraine, 14 loaded vessels are awaiting departure to their destinations.
“As of January 13, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from three Ukrainian ports is 17.3 million tonnes. A total of 1,286 vessels have been allowed to move at the moment: 639 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 647 to exit them,” the JCC summed up.
The State Agency for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure, which is being created by the decision of the government on Friday on the basis of the State Agency for Infrastructure Projects and the State Road Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), will be responsible for the implementation of projects for the restoration of Ukraine, said Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“The most important thing is that we have a structure that is responsible for the efficiency, transparency and accountability of infrastructure restoration … The new agency will be able to implement ambitious plans into reality,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday evening.
Kubrakov, explaining the choice of the basis for the creation of a new agency, noted that the State Agency for Infrastructure Projects throughout its history has performed similar tasks for the state – large-scale projects involving both budget and external financing.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that Ukravtodor, which Kubrakov himself headed until May 2021, although he had previously focused mainly on road infrastructure, showed record results of successfully completed projects over the past three years.
Ukravtodor is the largest and most successful partner of international financial institutions. Reconstruction financing has already begun and, as expected, the main instrument is through the procedures of the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
According to him, on the basis of Ukravtodor, two key reforms are already being implemented as part of a major joint project with the EBRD and the EIB – anti-corruption and procurement reform, after which Ukravtodor will become the first public institution in Ukraine to receive ISO international certification for the prevention of corruption, and procurement specialists will receive international CIPS certification.
In addition, Ukravtodor has powerful representative offices in the regions with decent salaries and a flexible motivation system in accordance with successfully implemented projects, and in 2021 it issued infrastructure eurobonds, Kubrakov also pointed out.
“In order for the new Agency to be able to successfully cope with the tasks set, we are initiating negotiations with our partners to update the Reform Support Team on the basis of the Agency and launch an anti–corruption office in the center and in the regions,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
The program of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, which starts on Monday, includes several events concerning Ukraine. On Thursday, January 19, in particular, Andrey Yermak, head of the Presidential Office, will present the Ukrainian peace formula for 45 minutes.
Earlier on Tuesday, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, head of Naftogaz Ukrainy Oleksiy Chernyshov, EBRD president Odile Renault-Basso and Finnish Foreign Minister Ville Skinnari will discuss “Ukraine: what next?
In addition, on Tuesday, two more sessions will be devoted to the discussion of the second year of the war in Europe and the defense of the continent. They will be attended by Presidents Andrzej Duda of Poland, Gitanas Nausseda of Lithuania, Maya Sandu of Moldova, Sanna Marin of Finland, Eduard Heger of Slovakia, Stevo Pendarovski of Northern Macedonia, Svetlana Tihanovska, leader of democratic forces in Belarus, and in the evening Henry Kissinger will talk about historical views on the war.
On the same day, the forum will include special speeches by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Farid Zakaria will discuss with Sviridenko, Duda, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes the restoration of security and peace.
The Ukrainian House, co-sponsored by the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Horizon Capital, and the Ukraine is You Project of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre, will also work on the sidelines of the WEF in Davos from January 16-19.
Additionally, on January 19, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation will hold a discussion during the traditional Ukrainian Breakfast.
