Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest Group, has completed the acquisition of a stake in PrJSC Dniprovsky Coke and Chemical Plant (formerly Evraz-Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant, Dnipropetrovsk region) and currently owns about 73% of the shares of the enterprise.
“In 2014, Metinvest Group sent an application to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke and Chemical Plant. About a year ago, the AMC approved this deal subject to a number of restrictions. Currently, Metinvest has become the owner of approximately 73% of the shares in the plant,” the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
As reported, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allowed Metinvest B.V. to establish control over the plant in connection with plans to commission new coke and chemical facilities at other plants and additional obligations of the group.
Prior to this, Metinvest received a number of permits from the antitrust authorities of other countries to acquire this enterprise, however, the transaction was not officially announced, the transfer of the plant to the group was not confirmed.
According to the National Depository of Ukraine, in the fourth quarter of 2019 Misandaiko Holdings Ltd. and Mastinto Trading Ltd. (both Cyprus) owned 23.6384% of the charter capital each, Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands) held some 47.28%.
The charter capital of the plant is UAH 170.584 million.
Ukrainian automobile manufacturers in January-February 2020 produced 1,077 vehicles, which is 10.8% less than a year ago, the Ukrautoprom association has reported.
According to preliminary data from the association, passenger car production was 12.5% less than a year ago, reaching 933 cars. (all made at Eurocar), 2% more buses were made- 134 units, and commercial vehicles (excluding AvtoKrAZ, which statistics are not provided) at the level of the previous year – 10 units (all were manufactured at Cherkasy Bus Plant).
Most of the buses are still produced by Cherkasy Bus Plant – 60 units were produced in January-February (10 units less than in two months of 2019), Chernihiv Automobile Plant of Etalon Corporation made 30 units compared with 35 a year ago.
Chasiv Yar Buses plant (Donetsk region) significantly accelerated the pace of production of Ruta buses: to 25 units compared to six in January-February-2019; Bogdan Corporation produced two buses less – 10 units, and Ukravto Corporation made 9 buses (one less).
The acceleration in the decline in vehicle production in the first two months was due to the February result – only 225 vehicles were manufactured in the past month, which is 28% less than in February last year and 73.7% less than in January 2020.
Only one plant is still reporting on the production of passenger cars – Eurocar, where 146 cars were assembled last month (39% less than in February 2019 and 81.5% less than in January 2020).
Only two commercial vehicles were produced in February at the Cherkasy Bus Plant compared with five units a year earlier.
The February manufacturing of buses increased by 6 units, to 77 buses, including 30 units made by Cherkasy Bus, 20 units produced at the Chernihiv Automobile Plant, 12 buses made at Chasiv Yar Buses. Bogdan Corporation reported on 10 buses made, and five were produced at ZAZ.
In January and February of 2020, Ukrainian enterprises reduced the import of copper and copper products in value terms by 2.1% compared to the same period in 2019, to $15.338 million.
According to customs statistics, released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, export of copper and copper products decreased by 15.9%, to $9.814 million in the first two months of 2020.
In February, copper and copper products were imported to the tune of $8.450 million, exported to the tune of $5.895 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January and February of 2020 reduced the import of nickel and nickel products by 11.3% compared to the same month of 2019, to $14.008 million (in February amounted to $6.034 million), but increased the import of aluminum and aluminum products by 13.7%, to $57.714 million ($30.315 million). At the same time, the import of lead and lead products decreased by 60.6%, to $896,000 ($364,000), while tin and tin products grew by 24.5%, to $447,000 ($295,000), zinc and zinc products rose by 4.3%, to $7.562 million ($3.331 million).
In January and February of 2020, exports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 11.9%, compared to the same period of 2019, to $16.839 million (in February amounted to $9.679 million), lead and lead products increased by 73.7%, to $5.179 million ($2.672 million), nickel and nickel products increased by 18.2%, to $480,000 ($320,000). Zinc exports in January and February of 2020 amounted to $11,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $86,000 (in February amounted to $8,000). The export of tin and tin products in January and February of 2020 amounted to $16,000, while in the same period of 2019 amounted to $15,000 (there was no export in February).
Main trade partners of Ukraine in % from total volume (import from other countries to Ukraine) in 2019
Astarta agricultural holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has launched the first phase of a five-year investment program to update agricultural machinery and introduce IT instruments for agricultural management of AgriChain company, which is part of the agricultural holding structure.
According to the statement on Astarta’s website, the investments in 2020 were aimed at purchasing 31 tractors (John Deere), 21 grain, row crops and beet seeders (John Deere, Horsch Maestro, Pöttinger Terrasem, Kinze, Monopil, Amity Technology).
In addition, as part of the investment program, two self-propelled sprayers (John Deere), four cultivators (Amity Technology), three seed harrows of Ukrainian production and ten sets of vacuum systems for the conversion of row seeders were purchased.
New John Deere tractors with a capacity of 345 hp equipped with accurate navigation and telemetry systems that will integrate with AgriChain Farm and AgriChain Scout modules.
“The data obtained in real time will provide an opportunity to receive information, form informed decisions and create accurate daily tasks to increase technological field operations,” Astarta reported.
The agricultural holding said that in a few weeks Astarta will begin the spring sowing campaign, preparations for which are ongoing. In particular, winter wheat fertilizing is being completed and soil is being prepared for sowing spring crops.
The company’s crop rotation in 2020 will not change, since traditionally the main spring crops are sugar beets (35,000 hectares), corn (65,000 hectares), soybean (28,000 hectares) and sunflower (41,000 hectares).
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 243,000 hectares and dairy farms with 25,000 animals, seven elevators, a biogas complex and a soybean processing plant in Poltava region (Globino Processing Plant LLC).
After three years of profitable work in 2018, Astarta received a net loss of EUR 21.11 million. Its revenue decreased by 18.8%, to EUR 372.22 million, and EBITDA fell by 52.4%, to EUR 56.87 million in 2018.
The AgriChain Farm module is designed to operate and communicate across all production services. It combines all the stages and processes of the production chain: from planning to execution and reflection. The AgriChain Scout information system is currently at the final stages of testing. It combined monitoring of the state of crops, agrochemical field certificates, meteorological data, plant vegetation status (NDVI), systematic monitoring of crops and assessment of its condition, etc.
Other modules are under development and are simultaneously being tested as pilot projects at Astarta’s subsidiary agricultural companies.
The airports of Ukraine in January-February 2020, according to recent data, served 3.237 million passengers, which is 15% more than in the same period in 2019.
According to the website of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, passenger flow of Ukrainian airports on international routes during the indicated period rose by 16.6%, to 1.913 million people.
According to statistics from the agency, in January-February 2020 Ukrainian airlines served 1.547 million people, which is 3.1% more than in the same period in 2019. Of these, 1.385 million passengers were transported in international traffic (an increase of 3% compared to January-February 2019).
At the same time, for the two months of 2020, Ukrainian airlines operated 12,700 commercial flights (a decrease of 2.9%), including 10,500 international flights (a decrease of 2.6%).
As reported, in 2019 Ukrainian airports served 24.337 million passengers, which is 18.5% more than in 2018.
