Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

CHORNOBYL NPP STARTS COLD TESTS OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE FACILITY TWO

KYIV. Aug 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-owned enterprise Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on August 1, 2017 started the first phase of extensive tests of spent nuclear fuel storage facility two, the press service of the State Agency for Managing the Exclusion Zone has reported.
The start of hot tests of the facility with spent nuclear fuel is scheduled for December 2017.
As reported, facility two is intended to accept, prepare and store spent nuclear fuel assemblies and additional absorbers, accumulated at the Chornobyl NPP, during next 100 years.

VEGA LV POWERED BY UKRAINIAN ENGINE SUCCESSFULLY PUTS TWO SATELLITES INTO ORBIT

KYIV. Aug 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Vega launch vehicle (LV) with the Ukrainian engine has successfully put an Italian reconnaissance satellite OPTSAT-3000, as well as the French-Israeli satellite Venμs of the European Remote Sensing Satellite Copernicus to the sun-synchronous orbit.
According to a report on the website of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, the Vega rocket was launched at 04:58:33 Kyiv time from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, in what is the tenth launch under the Vega program and the second in 2017.
Both remote sensing satellites were manufactured by the Israeli defense concern Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The OPTSAT-3000 (368 kg) spacecraft was ordered by the Italian Defense Ministry, Venμs spacecraft weighing 264 kg was commissioned by the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) and the National Center for Space Studies of France (CNES).
The Vega was designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for carrying satellites with a weight up to 1,200 kilos to a 1,200-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit and satellites with a weight of 1,500 kilograms to a 700-kilometer polar orbit.
The RD-868P cruise engine for the fourth stage of the rocket was developed by the Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau and built by the Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) Plant (both situated in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine).
The Ukrainian government and the ESA signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space in 2008. The ESA unites 17 European countries.

EC INITIATES ANTI-DUMPING INVESTIGATION INTO SUPPLY OF FERROSILICON FROM UKRAINE AND EGYPT

KYIV. Aug 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Commission (EC) has launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of ferrosilicon from Ukraine and Egypt using codes 7202 21 00, 7202 29 10 and 7202 29 90.
According to the announcement of the investigation published in the official publication of the Official Journal, a complaint about dumping was filed on June 19, 2017 by Euroalliages on behalf of the producers of the relevant products in the EU, namely Ferropem, Ferroatlantica S.L., OFZ and Huta Laziska S.A., which produce more than 90% of ferrosilicon in the European Union.
The investigation period is from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017. At the same time, the analysis of the trend of supplies for damage to the European industry will be carried out from January 1, 2014 until the end of the investigation period.
The document specifies that temporary anti-dumping measures could be introduced within nine months from the date of announcement of the anti-dumping investigation, but as a whole it must be completed within 15 months.

DTEK LAUNCHES FIRST SOLAR POWER PLANT

KYIV. Aug 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – DTEK energy holding has launched Tryfonivka solar power plant with a capacity of 10 MW in Kherson region, the press service of DTEK has reported.
“Construction works at Tryfonivka solar power plant started in March and finished in the second half of July 2017. A total of 37,000 solar panels made by JA Solar and ABB’s inverters were installed at the plant. From August 1, 2017, the plant generates electricity and transmits it to the Ukrainian power grid,” the company said.
According to DTEK’s calculations, annually the solar power plant will generate 11-12 million kWh of electricity, which is enough to supply 15 neighbor settlements with electricity. Thanks to the operations of the Tryfonivka solar power plant saving of CO2 emission will be around 12,000 tonnes a year.
As reported, the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) on July 27 approved feed-in tariffs for Tryfanivka Energy LLC (Kherson region) and Dymerka Solar Power Plant 1 (Kyiv region).

UKRZALIZNYTSIA SEES UAH 122.5 MLN OF NET PROFIT IN H1 2017 UNDER IFRS – COMPANY HEAD

KYIV. Aug 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Net consolidated profit of public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia in H1 2017 under international financial reporting standards (IFRS) was UAH 122.5 million, while a year ago net loss of around UAH 3.78 billion was seen, Ukrzaliznytsia Board Chairman Wojciech Balczun has said.
Revenue grew by UAH 5.6 billion or 17.6%, reaching UAH 35.3 billion, while expenses rose by 4.7% or UAH 1.7 billion, he wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
Balczun said that capital investment soared by 180%, to UAH 3.4 billion. He said that UAH 1 billion was sent to modernize key assets, UAH 1 billion to major construction works, UAH 750 million to buy key assets and UAH 400 million to overhauls.
He said that freight flow in H1 2017 increased by 6.1%, to 94.9 billion tonne-kilometers, including a rise of 7.5% in transit transportation, to 732 million tonne-kilometers. He said that passenger traffic expanded by 6.9%, to 13.8 billion.
According to the report, the operating wagon fleet grew by 13,600 on average a day or 11.6%, while the total locomotive fleet grew by 68 units in June 2017 or 3.8%. This allowed boosting average daily loading by 1,358 wagons or 13.3%.

FOZZY-FOOD SEES UAH 245.6 MLN NET PROFIT IN SIX MONTHS OF 2017

KYIV. Aug 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Fozzy-Food LLC (Vyshneve, Kyiv region), part of Fozzy Group (Kyiv) and developing, in particular, the network of Silpo supermarkets in Ukraine, in January-June 2017 received UAH 245.634 million of net profit against UAH 618.871 million of net loss for the same period in 2016.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, its net income decreased by 37 times, to UAH 491.328 million.
The gross profit of the company for the six months of this year decreased by 433 times, to UAH 8.452 million, the loss from operating activities by 3 times, to UAH 65 million.
In addition, the company’s uncovered loss for the six months decreased by 7.2%, to UAH 2.432 billion, current liabilities by 6.6 times, to UAH 1.554 billion, long-term liabilities by 64 times, to UAH 35.557 million.
Fozzy-Food LLC is a structural unit of Fozzy Group and was registered in December 2002. It is engaged in the development of the Silpo supermarket chain in Ukraine. It started active operations in August 2003.