KYIV. Jan 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Odesa maritime merchandise port plans to realize some investment projects in 2016, the press service of the Sea Port Authority has reported, referring to head of the port’s administration Mykhailo Sokolov.
He said that reconstruction of berth 7 with construction of a handling terminal is underway, construction of a grain handling terminal on the basis of berth 35 (1-z) continues and construction of a container terminal is going on at the Quarantine Mole.
This year the port plans to start reconstructing an overpass, the cargo customs clearance zone, a concert and exhibition hall and a passenger ship terminal.
The administration and partners of the port take into account and fulfill ecological requirements when they agree and realize investment projects. In 2015, grain terminals of the harbor commissioned several modern aspiration systems that allowed cutting dust formation of cargos.
Odesa port is located on an area of 109.5 hectares. The port is capable of processing over 14 million tonnes of dry cargo and 24 million tonnes of liquid cargo per year. The port accepts vessels with lengths of up to 270 meters and maximum draughts of 13 meters. The total length of the port’s berths exceeds eight kilometers.
KYIV. Jan 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine could resume exports of electricity to Belarus and Moldova from April 2016, Deputy Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Svetelik told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Now we’re holding talks. From the second quarter we will be able to foresee as largest exports as possible [to these countries] in the balance of power,” he said.
He added that when temperatures rise and the emergency measures in the energy sector are revoked, the burden on reactors of Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs) could considerably fall.
As reported, at present Ukrainian exports electricity only from the Burshtyn Energy Island.
KYIV. Jan 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian metal companies producing hot rolled coil steel could continue supplying the products to Turkey without paying any antidumping duties after the investigation conducted by Turkey.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine reported on Tuesday that the council for preventing unfair competition in imports of Turkey on January 28, 2015 initiated an antidumping investigation into imports of hot rolled coil steel from China, France, Japan, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ministry supported and continues supporting the position of Ukrainian producers, and the ministry took active part in the investigation procedure. Producers delivered response on the question list of the Turkish agency that conducted the investigation and the dumping margin for each producer was calculated: 1.12% for Zaporizhstal and minus 3.94% for Mariupol Illich Steel Works. The negative margin for Mariupol Illich Steel W means that there is no dumping at all.
The margin for Zaporizhstal is small – dumping measures do not apply with this margin.
Thus, in late August 2015, Turkey applied temporary antidumping measures on imports of hot rolled coil steel from China, Japan, Russia and Slovakia. Preliminary measures were not applied to Ukrainian products.
On January 22, 2016, the final results of the investigation were published. Supplies form Romania, France and Ukraine were not dumping, while dumping for supplies from China was from 15.47% to 18.01%, Russia – from 9.42% to 13.66%, Slovakia 7.02% and Japan from 6.95% to 7.92%.
KYIV. Jan 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian parliament passed at second reading bill No. 2168a that increase the threshold for receiving permits from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for economic concentration by companies.
A total of 248 lawmakers backed the document on Tuesday.
One of the authors of the bill Viktoria Ptashnyk (Samopomich faction) said in the parliament that the bill relieves small companies from the necessity of receiving permits for concentration at the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in the cases when their operation does not affect competition on the market.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine said in its explanation posted on the official website that according to the bill the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine would not show its interest to the acquisition and sale of companies, asset value of which does not exceed EUR 8 million, and the threshold of control over concentrations is increased: before acquisition large concentrations between companies will be checked with annual turnover of over EUR 150 million.
Chair of the parliamentary economic policy committee Andriy Ivanchuk said in the parliament that the bill introduces more flexible procedure for receiving preliminary permits for concentration and increased the fee for submission of applications for receiving these permits by five times.
An attempt to adopt another bill regarding the operation of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine – on amendments to Ukrainian laws on protecting economic competition related to defining fines for violation of legislation on protection of economic competition by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (No. 2431) – failed. The disputable issue was the requirement to ban the revision of sanctions imposed by the committee in courts.
MP Svitlana Zalischuk said that the proposal is not in line with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement that obliges allowing courts to consider sanctions imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
The bill was sent for repeated second reading with 241 supporting votes.
KYIV. Jan 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Lutsk cardboard-paper mill, part of the United Cardboard Company belonging to businessman Mykola Lobov, produced goods worth UAH 404.55 million in 2015, which is 67.1% up year-over-year, according to the Ukrpapir association.
The association said that during this period the mill made 54,030 tonnes of various types of cardboard – 17.3% up year-over-year, including a rise of 18.6% in packaging cardboard output, to 47,910 tonnes.
Production of box cardboard declined by 10.6%, to 1,500 tonnes, cover board output rose by 18%, to 3,900 tonnes, and roofing cardboard output rose by 7.4%, to 6,700 tonnes.
In addition, the mill made over 1,000 tonnes of pulp (34.5% up year-over-year).
Lutsk cardboard-paper mill LLC was founded on the basis of assets of Lutsk cardboard-ruberoid mill in summer 2012.
The mill produces raw materials for corrugated board production (fluting and test liner), roofing, box and cover cardboard.
In 2014, the mill produced goods worth UAH 242.2 million and cardboard output totaled 46,000 tonnes.
KYIV. Jan 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius has proposed that all companies that will be privatized are divided into three groups, and the first group consists of around 25 largest companies which privatization could be interesting for transnational companies and other large foreign investors.
“We proposed that everything is divided into three parts: large companies with a potential of the interest of large foreign investors – around 25 companies and focus on them: port infrastructure, energy sector, chemicals and other sectors,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Ukrainian Breakfast in Davos organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation on January 22.
He said that the second group would consist of the rest of large Ukrainian enterprises where there are no foreign investors.
“The rest of the companies – mass privatization (around 1,700 facilities) – to sell transparently using the online portal created by the State Property Fund to Ukrainian small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” he said.
The minister said that he believes that the large privatization should be started with the sale of Odesa Port-Side Plant.
He said that the resumption of large privatization is a priority task in 2016.
Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko added that the privatization remains one of the benchmarks of the IMF-supported Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
