KYIV. June 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian vehicle manufacturers produced 591 vehicles in May 2016, which was 33.7% up on May 2015, which is almost twice the indicator registered in April 2016, the Ukrautoprom Association.
The growth was due to the manufacture of 473 passenger cars at PrJSC Eurocar, which was 2.5 times up on April 2016 (only Eurocar produced cars) and 63.7% up on May 2015 (all 289 cars were produced by PJSC ZAZ, Eurocar did not manufacture them), the association said on in its website.
Eighty-one commercial vehicles were manufactured in May 2016, which was 23% down on May 2015 and 26.4% down on April 2016. Eighty vehicles were manufactured by PJSC AutoKrAZ, and one by Cherkasy Bus Plant.
Last month, 37 buses were produced – all by Cherkasy Bus Plant, which manufactured only one bus in April. Bus output in May 2016 was 23% down on May 2015, when 20 buses were produced by Chasiv Yar Buses, nine buses by ZAZ and 19 by Cherkasy Bus Plant.
Vehicle production in January-May 2016 slowed by 13.5% year-over-year (in the first four months the decline was 27.5%), to 1,667 vehicles.
In particular, the output of passenger cars grew by 2.2% from January-May 2015, to 1,288 cars due to an 86.4% increase in PrJSC Eurocar’s production, to 1,284 vehicles, while PJSC ZAZ manufactured only four passenger cars against 571 cars a year before.
Commercial vehicles output was 331 units (34.5% down), including 330 vehicles produced by AutoKrAZ (27% down) and one vehicle by Cherkasy Bus, which produced 44 vehicles in the first five months of 2015.
Buses in January-May 2015 were manufactured only by Cherkasy Bus (38 buses) and Bogdan Corporation (10 buses), bus output in the five months of 2015 was 70.4% down year-over-year.
Thus, since the beginning of the year, only PJSC AutoKrAZ and PrJSC Eurocar have been working with insignificant load, while Bogdan Corporation and Etalon, PJSC ZAZ and Chasiv Yar Buses have been standing idle. Cherkasy Bus Plant has almost halved output.
As was reported, vehicle production in Ukraine in 2015 fell by 71.5% from 2014, to 8,244 vehicles.
KYIV. June 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The government office for European Integration has drawn up a report on the implementation of the Association agenda and the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement for January through May 2016.
The report posted on the government’s website on Monday consists of several sections concerning reforms in various spheres. It is based on information provided by government agencies involved in the implementation of relevant tasks.
The report aims at informing Ukrainian citizens, representatives of nongovernmental organizations and international society, including EU institutions, about Ukraine’s progress in implementing goals of political association and economic integration with the EU.
The report contains information about bills returned to meet the provisions of Part 3 of Article 105 of the Verkhovna Rada regulations.
It contains information about international technical assistance projects to accomplish missions in the area of EU integration and the Association Agreement and gives examples of using this assistance.
The document summarized expert assessments for the bills being discussed by parliament that touch on top priorities of implementing the Association agreement, starting with the creation of the free trade area and sector cooperation, if they comply with the Agreement and EU legislation.
KYIV. June 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry will toughen control over the issue and use of permits for international transportation by road.
“Tomorrow Yuriy Lavreniuk, Yehor Stefanovych and Mykhailo Noniak will start digitizing these documents for online exchange of data with the Ukrainian customs office and partner countries. The data documents trucks crossing Ukraine’s borders. The haulers or unfair persons who create the artificial shortage [of permits] would be severely punished,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan wrote on his Facebook page.
He added that the matter with Ukrainian haulers that recently faced inconveniences with crossing the Turkish border has been settled.
“Next week we will hold additional consultations with Turkey to avoid such cases,” he said.
The minister said that this problem is systemic.
“We have many permits for international transportation that are passed from one hands to another and become a source of corruption instead of working. There are frequent cases when Ukrainian haulers complain about the absence of the possibility to ship cargos to other states, while neighboring countries say Ukrainian haulers have a lot of unused permits,” the minister said.
KYIV. June 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-May 2016 increased cast iron exports in kind by 22.4%, compared to the same period in 2015, to 842,529 tonnes.
According to customs statistics, made public by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, exports of cast iron in monetary terms fell by 19.8% during this period, to $152.847 million.
Exports were mainly made to Turkey (32.84% of supply in terms of money), the United States (24.06%), and Italy (23.9%).
In January-May 2016 Ukraine imported 736 tonnes of cast iron worth $247,000, whereas in January-May 2015 it imported 2,683 tonnes of similar products for $903,000. Imports were mainly made from Russia (60.08% of deliveries in monetary terms), Germany (25.81%) and Italy (11.29%).
Ukraine in 2015 decreased cast iron exports in kind by 1.7%, to 2.172 million tonnes and by 36.4% in money terms, to $510.644 million.
Cast iron was mainly exported to Italy (30.63%), Turkey (25.11%) and the United States (19.9%).
Ukraine last year imported 3,431 tonnes of cast iron (53.6% down year-over-year). In money terms imports decreased by 60.6%, to $1.177 million.
Cast iron was mainly imported from Russia (88.03%) and Germany (9.59%).
KYIV. June 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Azerbaijan is interested in expanding cooperation with Ukraine in aircraft building. The country is working on the organization of assembly of new Ukrainian transport aircraft An-178 with a carrying capacity of up to 18 tonnes designed by Kyiv-based Antonov State Enterprise at own production facilities.
President of CJSC Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Jahangir Askerov told reporters on Monday in Hostomel (Kyiv region) that his government is mulling the issue of organizing cooperation assembly of promising transport aircraft An-178 in Azerbaijan.
“On behalf of the government I am authorized to say that Azerbaijan is interested in assembling An-178 on the territory of Azerbaijan,” he said.
Askerov said that in May 2015 Antonov and Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines signed a contract to assembly 10 transport aircraft An-178 in Ukraine and ship them to the airlines. The first two planes are to be delivered by late 2018 under the contract and the rest of eight planes will be shipped upon a mutual agreement of the parties.
“We hope that by the middle of 2018 when we receive the first plane, production facilities [for assembling An-178 in Azerbaijan] would be ready,” he added.
Antonov President Mykhailo Hvozdev said that the plans to expand cooperation under the An-178 program worked out with Azerbaijan do not foresee the sale of An-178 technologies to the foreign partner. This is cooperation production. The plane will be finally assembled in Azerbaijan, he said.
The An-178 is suggested as a replacement of medium four-engine turboprop transport aircraft An-12. The An-178 could also replace the C-160 European two-engine turboprop transport in some regions.
Around 200 companies from 15 countries are involved in production cooperation under the An-178 program.
An-178 aircraft was first exhibited at Le Bourget 2015 (Paris, France) and then at Dubai Air Show 2015 (the UAE). The plane participated in the flight program of ILA Berlin Air Show 2016 (Germany).
KYIV. June 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Electricity exports from Ukraine to Belarus will be handled by state-run Ukrainian enterprise Ukrinterenergo, the press service of the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has said.
“One of the most important issues discussed at the meeting [between Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk and Belarus’ First Deputy Energy Minister Shenets in Mink on June 6] is the resumption of power exports from Ukraine to Belarus, which were suspended in November 2014. The sides have determined that state-run Ukrinterenergo will handle the electricity exports,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, a draft Cabinet resolution on boosting electricity exports is now undergoing agreement with the executive agencies, and after it is approved, they will determine timeframe and volumes of power exports to Belarus.
