Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

STATE FOOD-GRAIN CORPORATION COULD INVEST OVER UAH 10 MLN IN KROLEVETS GRAIN CENTER

KYIV. Feb 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company State Food-Grain Corporation plans to send over UAH 10 million of capital investment in the Krolevets grain production center (Sumy region) in 2016.

“Many plans and much work are ahead. This year large capital investment of over UAH 10 million is planned. Now we’re working on the project to modernize power supply to the enterprise with the switch to the first class power consumption. This would allow saving on purchase of power and cut cash cost of finished products,” the corporation said, citing Director of Krolevets grain production center Hennadiy Hordiyenko.

He said that the branch would resume production of pasta in 2016.

“At the beginning of the year we plan to restore production of pasta. We have all the required equipment and materials for this: Italian equipment, high-quality flour and a desire to supply high-quality products to the market,” Hordiyenko said.

Krolevets grain production center makes wheat flour, mill offals and mixed fodder. The center accepts, dries, stores and ships grain and leguminous crops and oilseeds.

In August 2010, the government 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 around 2.5 million tonnes of grain cargo per year.

UZBEKISTAN CANCELS EXTRA IMPORT DUTY ON UKRAINIAN GOODS AHEAD OF TIME

KYIV. Feb 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Uzbekistan has prematurely canceled additional import duties on Ukrainian goods, which was introduced from July 1, 2015 for one year, the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan reported on its official website.

The ministry pointed out that Uzbekistan introduced additional import duties on Ukrainian goods in response to the introduction by Ukraine on February 26, 2015 of additional import duties of 5-10% for one year.

Uzbekistan prematurely canceled additional import fees because Ukraine had annulled additional import duties from January 1, 2016.

UKRAINE USES 62% OF DUTY-FREE SUGAR EXPORTS QUOTA TO EU IN ONE AND HALF MONTHS

KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in one month and a half of 2015 used the duty-free sugar exports quota to the European Union (EU) by 62%.

According to a posting on the Ukrtsukor association, as of February 16, 12,400 tonnes of sugar was exported from Ukraine to the EU with the annual quota of 20,070 tonnes.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine increased bottom prices of beet sugar by 40.7% for the 2016/17 agricultural year, to UAH 9,078.87 per tonne (VAT not included).

U.S. READY TO INVEST IN UKRAINIAN DEFENSE INDUSTRY ONLY AFTER REFORMS CONTINUE, CORRUPTION TACKLED – AMBASSADOR

KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. business will be able to invest and share solutions with the Ukrainian defense industry only if Ukraine continues to press ahead on critical reforms and tackles corruption, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has said.

At the Ukrainian Defense & Security Forum 2016 in Kyiv on Thursday he said that representative of U.S. defense companies are taking part in the forum.

“These companies will be good partners. They have the ability to bring to you best-in-the-world technology and their demonstrated expertise at integrating with other international partners. But they have requirements. They will want to see that the government sticks to the path of reform, that you uphold your IMF commitments, that the government continues to make progress on the critical topic of rule-of-law reform. And they want to ensure, most of all, that they are working in an environment where the risks that they are taking are business risks, and not risks of unpredictable legal and judicial environment,” he said.

“Private sector support and investment from the United States will only come as Ukraine continues to take meaningful steps to reform its trade and investment climate,” Pyatt said.

“The war against corruption Ukraine is fighting is a critical element of winning the war the Kremlin has brought to your country. I know that all of you in this room understand that, and I want you to understand also how committed the United States is to standing by the Ukrainian people in this difficult time, he said.

UKROBORONPROM ESTIMATES INVESTMENT TO TRANSFER PRODUCTION TO NATO STANDARDS BY 2018 AT UAH 20 BLN

KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The need for investment to transfer production of weapons and military equipment at the facilities of Ukroboronprom State Concern to NATO standards until 2018, according to preliminary estimates, stands at more than UAH 20 billion.

Head of the state concern Roman Romanov announced this at Ukrainian Defense and Security Forum 16 under the patronage of the Defense Ministry and Ukroboronprom in Kyiv.

“According to the most conservative estimate, UAH 21 billion is required for this purpose,” he said.

Romanov said that among the key criteria for implementing the task of transition to NATO standards are a further development of technological cooperation with foreign partners, the promotion of the started reforms in the defense sector, primarily in the field of fight against corruption.

The Ukroboronprom head also noted the agreements achieved with NATO in early 2015 on Ukraine’s accession to the alliance’s current procurement system.

MOTOR SICH SEES 2.37 TIMES RISE IN NET PROFIT IN 2015 –TENTATIVE DATA

KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Motor Sich (Zaporizhia) saw a rise of 2.37 times in net profit in 2015 under international financial reporting standards (IFRS), to UAH 3.67 billion, according to tentative data presented in a company report on holding a general meeting of the company’s shareholders scheduled for March 24.

Total assets rose by 29.4%, to UAH 20.748 billion.

In the assets inventories grew by 50.3%, to UAH 10.246 billion, total bills receivable was up by 8.6%, to UAH 2.714 billion, cash and equivalents expanded by 51.5%, to UAH 1.24 billion, while long-term financial investment narrowed by 17.7%, to UAH 170.799 million.

In liabilities undistributed profit rose by 36.4%, to UAH 13.563 billion, equity capital – by 34.4%, to UAH 14.71 billion, current liabilities – by 46.4%, to UAH 4.822 billion, while long-term liabilities fell by 32.3%, to UAH 1.216 billion.

Motor Sich is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aircraft engines, as well as industrial gas turbines. It supplies products to 106 countries.