Since the beginning of 2024, the state-owned Ukrgasbank (UGB, Kyiv) has financed almost 90 energy projects totaling UAH 1.8 billion, said Tetiana Kornienko, Director of the Small and Medium Business Department of Ukrgasbank, at Get festival business on December 12 in Kyiv.
“The main part of UAH 1.3-1.4 billion is made up of two components: solar stations and cogeneration units,” she said.
Cogeneration accounts for the largest share of the total amount of loans granted due to the high cost of projects in this segment.
Also, about 20% of the total amount of loans disbursed is for the purchase of generators, which belongs to small projects.
“We lend to almost the entire line of equipment used in the generation sector. These include generators, solar panels, cogeneration, and wind farms. We are ready to take on any project,” the department director emphasized.
According to her, the bank has its own technical office that provides assistance in analyzing projects and finding optimal solutions. Ukrgasbank also has a fairly wide range of financing programs.
According to Kornienko, one of Ukrgasbank’s key requirements for borrowers is that they have sufficient cash flow to cover loan repayment, including the flow generated by the project itself.
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval and representatives of the USAID Harvest program handed over the first 10 grain dryers to farmers working in the frontline areas, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
“The first 10 grain dryers will benefit more than 100 farmers. This will allow them to increase production, ensure proper drying of grain and sell products with 15-20% added value in the frontline regions,” the minister said.
According to him, the USAID Harvest program will also provide farmers with 7,000 grain sleeves, which will help preserve 1.4 million tons of grain. The initiative is aimed at overcoming the critical shortage of grain storage capacity in Chernihiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions and will help about 300 farms with an area of 1,000 to 10,000 hectares.
Koval reminded that during the war, when granaries for long-term storage of grain were destroyed throughout the frontline territory, such sleeves became a real salvation for Ukrainian farmers.
The Minister thanked the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which, with the financial support of the governments of Canada, Japan and the United States, were able to implement this program.
In 2024, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” invested almost UAH 400 million in the purchase of new firefighting equipment, carried out the largest forest planting in recent years, and in 2025 will spend more than UAH 600 million on forestry machinery and equipment for mechanized harvesting. According to Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the state enterprise, on Facebook, in 2024, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” allocated more than UAH 1 billion to support the Armed Forces and UAH 800 million for social support.
He noted that despite the lack of precipitation, abnormal heat, mining and constant air attacks, in 2024 the area of fires was several times less than the average for 2015-2020.
“Thanks to our profitable work, almost UAH 400 million has been invested in mobile modern equipment for rapid response to fires,” Bolokhovets said at the final annual conference.
The company’s CEO said that in 2024, a record number of new tree seedlings were planted. “Forests of Ukraine has opened seven modern seed centers to increase the production of seedlings with a closed root system that can be planted almost all year round.
In addition, the state-owned enterprise refused to process wood due to unprofitability, but the company’s revenue did not decrease. The biggest challenge for the next few years is to abandon clear-cutting and switch exclusively to selective felling in the Carpathians.
Within the framework of the existing environmental requirements, the state enterprise is considering increasing harvesting to 20 million cubic meters of wood per year, and also intends to increase the purchase of machinery for mechanized harvesting.
Viktor Busko, Director of the Investment Department of the state enterprise, noted that the annual investment volume of the SE “Forests of Ukraine” is approximately UAH 2 billion. In 2024, most of the investments were made in breeding and seed centers.
Director of the IT Department Andriy Voronoi added that the priority in 2025 will be the implementation of an ERP system that will automate and standardize the management of business processes, and obtain reliable and timely information.
As reported, Ukraine launched a forestry reform in 2016. As part of it, the sale of unprocessed timber at electronic auctions has already been introduced. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency’s online map.
On June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber. In addition, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has launched a pilot project to procure timber harvesting services through the electronic platform Prozorro.
In January-November this year, Ukraine reduced exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 4.7 times compared to the same period last year, to 72,446 thousand tons from 341,674 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Monday, exports of ferroalloys in monetary terms decreased by 3.5 times to $83.970 million from $295.068 million.
At the same time, the main exports were made to Poland (26.97% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (22.72%) and Italy (18.37%).
In addition, in January-November, Ukraine imported 79.299 thousand tons of these products compared to 7.819 thousand tons in January-November 2023 (an increase of 10.1 times). In monetary terms, imports increased 4.5 times to $134.888 million from $29.693 million.
Imports were mainly from Poland (34.11%), Norway (18.84%) and Kazakhstan (14.06%).
As reported, Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK, formerly Ordzhonikidze Mining and Processing Plant) and Marganetsky Mining and Processing Plant (MGPK, both in Dnipropetrovska oblast), both part of Privat Group, stopped mining and processing crude manganese ore in late October and early November 2023, while NFP and ZFP stopped smelting ferroalloys. In the summer of 2024, ferroalloy plants resumed production at a minimum level.
In 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 1.5% compared to 2022, to 344.173 thousand tons, while in monetary terms, exports of ferroalloys decreased by 47.2% to $297.595 million. The main exports were to Poland (52.79% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (14.13%) and the Netherlands (8.46%).
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine imported 14.203 thousand tons of these products, which is 30.9% less than in 2022. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 41% to $42.927 million. Imports were carried out mainly from Poland (23.94%), India (16.08%) and Armenia (14.35%).
Prior to the nationalization of the financial institution, PrivatBank organized the business of ZZF, NZF, Stakhanovsky ZF (located on the NKT), Pokrovske and Marganetske GOKs. Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant is controlled by EastOne Group, created in the fall of 2007 as a result of the restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group.
The FinTech company KYT Group, whose flagship activity is currency exchange, announced the launch of the investment division KYT Invest, the company’s press release said on Thursday.
“The creation of KYT Invest was a logical continuation of the group’s activities in providing clients with consultations on the development of customized individual investment strategies. The development of the investment direction reflects the large-scale transformation and scaling of the group’s business, including the expansion of the range of financial services, the launch of new digital products and services,” it said.
As noted by the company, the key mission of KYT Invest is to make investing transparent, profitable and accessible.
“The investment direction of KYT Invest will expand the range of financial services for the group’s clients and create unique opportunities to invest in reliable instruments for preserving savings, managing private capital and receiving investment income with a trusted partner,” the publication notes.
The company indicates that the investment division will offer clients modern, profitable solutions for managing capital and increasing savings, in combination with FinTech solutions. It is specified that the KYT Invest product portfolio, in addition to classic instruments, will include innovative solutions, including smart contracts based on blockchain technologies and tokenized investment assets.
“A wide national network of more than 90 representative offices of KYT Group in 29 major cities of Ukraine will allow a wide range of investors of various profiles to gain access to modern instruments for managing capital and increasing it,” the release emphasizes.
It is noted that the investment services and products of KYT Invest will be further integrated into the mobile application KYTApp, the release of which is planned for the near future. The company informs that the first official presentation of KYT Invest took place in London in early December.
https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/1035216.html
Nestlé in Ukraine increased its production by 10% in 2024 and intends to repeat this growth next year, said Alessandro Zanelli, CEO of the company in Ukraine and Southeast Europe.
“Ukraine’s FMCG grew by just under 10% this year and demonstrated a strong focus on volume growth. This is a very clear sign of the resilience of the Ukrainian macroeconomy, which is hardly at war. Overall, the country’s GDP is quite resilient. We do not see the local currency, the hryvnia, collapsing. It is a steady controlled devaluation. At the same time, inflation is also relatively stable and under control,” he said at the NV conference ‘Ukraine and the World Ahead 2025’.
Zanelli noted that Nestle’s growth in Ukraine was at a similar level – just under 10% with an emphasis on volume growth, which can be estimated at 7-8%. The company’s CEO explained such indicators during the war as the result of the implemented strategy aimed at maintaining sustainability. The company’s team joined forces to protect its people, which allowed Nestle’s factories in Ukraine to continue operating even in Kharkiv. Being under constant shelling, this company also found an opportunity to increase productivity, the CEO explained. He noted that Nestle’s strategy in Ukraine also focuses on adaptability at all levels: from responding to changing consumer trends and adjusting the product portfolio and their locations to changing the timing of promotional activities and transforming communications to bring more hope and make products relevant to consumers.
Zanelli assessed the results of Nestle’s work in Ukraine as satisfactory and expressed confidence that in 2025, even taking into account possible difficulties, production growth will be similar – at least 10% per year.
The company’s CEO predicts that in the second quarter of 2025, Ukrainians and the FMGG segment will face rising inflation, which will lead to a significant rise in food prices. In addition, the shortage of skilled labor will increase. He also sees the cost of electricity as a challenge for the coming year. Zanelli said that the probability of the war ending, which the whole society is waiting for, is a possible “white swan”.
“In general, we remain optimistic, as I said, and expect about 10% growth,” Zanelli stated.
He also explained the postponement of the launch of the new plant in Volyn region from December 2024 to January 2025 by various elements of disruption, including the increase in air raids and the availability of people. At the same time, the top manager assured that the launch will take place, for which the company, along with recruiting specialists living in the region of the plant’s construction, is relocating staff from Kharkiv.
Zanelli emphasized that the location of the new plant next to another plant (Torchyn, Volyn region – IF-U) is the intention to create a food production center near the border with the European Union. The products produced by the new plant will be exported by 80%. In the domestic market, the company will increase its presence and market share through supplies from other companies.
“Usually, to make a business attractive, we first improve its efficiency and then immediately reinvest back into efficiency to grow and increase market share. It is extremely important for us to have an additional plant in Ukraine (…) We as Nestle understand that the war will end. It is too easy to come and invest on the first day after the war ends. For us, the moment of investment has come now, so we are planning for the future,” summarized the CEO of Nestlé in Ukraine.
Nestlé started its operations in Ukraine in 1994 with the opening of a representative office, acquired a controlling stake in Lviv Confectionery Factory Svitoch in 1998, and has owned 100% of the company’s shares since 2018. Nestlé’s business in Ukraine is represented by the following areas: coffee and beverages, confectionery, cooking (cold sauces, condiments, soups, fast food), baby and specialty food, breakfast cereals, and pet food.
