Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in April 2018 increased steel production by 6% compared to the same period in 2017, to 1.721 million tonnes, rising from the 14th to 13th place in the ranking of 64 countries, the world’s main manufacturers of this product, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
In April growth in steelmaking compared to April 2017 was recorded in most of the top ten countries, except for Japan, Germany, and Turkey.
The top ten steel producers in April are as follows: China (76.698 million tonnes, a 4.8% growth), Japan (8.723 million tonnes, a 0.4% decline), India (8.692 million tonnes, a growth of 5.6%), the United States (6.930 million tonnes, an increase of 3.6%), Russia (6.030 million tonnes, an increase of 2.4%), South Korea (5.893 million tonnes, an increase of 7.1%), Germany (3.775 million tonnes, a 1.7% decline), Turkey (2.953 million tonnes, a 3.1% decline), Brazil (2.949 million tonnes, an increase of 1.9%), and Italy (2.061 million tonnes, an increase of 3.7%).
They are followed by Iran (1.950 million tonnes, an increase of 12.4%), Mexico (1.790 million tonnes, an increase of 13.7%), and Ukraine (1.721 million tonnes, an increase of 6%).
Some 64 countries in April 2018 produced 148.322 million tonnes of steel, which is 4.1% more than in April 2017.
The privatization plan for this year includes the sale of 25 large state-owned enterprises (SOE), First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said.
“In 2018, we would offer 25 large enterprises for sale,” he said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.
“Our goal is to attract strategic investors who would be able to modernize production at large industrial enterprises and include them to the global chain of added value,” Kubiv said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti, the presidential press service has reported.
“We have a great history of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. Today, the Beskydsky tunnel was opened – the largest infrastructure project in Ukraine, implemented with the help of international partners, including the EBRD. I am sure that every year we can jointly implement a number of major projects in different spheres,” the president of Ukraine emphasized.
The two discussed the state and prospects of Ukraine-EBRD partnership development. The Ukrainian president called on the president of the EBRD to double the funding of the projects and expand the scope of their implementation in Ukraine.
The presidents paid special attention to the implementation of reforms in the banking, energy and energy efficiency spheres.
They noted that the meeting of the National Investment Council to be held on May 25 should be an important event for presenting the results of the reforms to foreign investors and attracting investments for Ukraine’s economic development.
The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed willingness to continue supporting Ukraine on the way of implementation of structural reforms in the economy.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with the management of General Electric, Sumitomo and Marubeni prior the meeting of the National Investment Council on Friday.
They discussed the implementation of the contract concluded at the beginning of the year between PJSC Ukrzaliznytsya, PJSC Ukreximbank and General Electric U.S. regarding procurement, modernization and leasing of locomotives, the presidential press service reported.
The president informed of the opening of the Beskydsky railway tunnel, which will expand Ukraine’s transport and export opportunities.
General Electric Vice President Jamie Miller praised the course of reforms in Ukraine that contribute to the country’s development.
The parties discussed the participation of General Electric in the implementation of other projects, in particular, rural medicine project.
He also met with leaders of the Japanese companies Sumitomo and Marubeni.
The president noted the effective cooperation between Ukraine and Japan.
Poroshenko thanked the Japanese side for its large-scale projects, including the construction of the Boryspil Airport and the reconstruction of the Bortnychi aeration station.
The president separately noted the assistance of the Japanese side in implementing a number of humanitarian projects in Donbas.
The parties also discussed the issues of cooperation in the field of nuclear safety, energy saving technologies and infrastructure projects.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the action plan to support software industry of Ukraine for 2018.
According to government resolution No. 344 dated May 23, the plan includes designing of software for e-health and support of the implementation of the dual education projects on the basis of universities to practice software engineering under the bachelor’s programs.
The plan envisages the promotion of the increase in cybersecurity, popularization of the introduction of protected operation systems designed in Ukraine, harmonization of international standards in the sphere of information protection and information security.
In addition, Ukraine will invite representatives of leading analytical agencies to analyze information technologies for establishing connections and analyzing the potential of development of newest information technologies.
Public joint-stock company State Food-Grain Corporation in January-April 2018 increased exports of grain and oilseeds by almost 30% year-over-year, to 794,000 tonnes.
According to a report on the corporation’s website, State Food-Grain Corporation stepped up trade with its strategic partner – China Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) and shipped almost 484,000 tonnes of corn under the bilateral grain project. Exports grew almost 3.2-fold year-over-year.
The corporation entered new markets of Indonesia, Yemen and Mozambique.
The government in August 2010 decided to create the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine. The corporation has a chain of branches, comprised of grain storage facilities, flourmills, fodder factories and a cereals factory. The 53 subdivisions of the corporation can store a total of 3.75 million tonnes of grain, which includes the grain handling capacities of Odesa and Mykolaiv ports of some 2.5 million tonnes of grain cargo per year.
