KHARKIV. Oct 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Kharkiv Tractor Plant plans to launch mass production of electric tractors by the end of this year, Director General Vladyslav Hubin has said.
“This tractor is a joint design with AutoEnterprise company. It does not have analogs in the world. The tractor has lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 40 kW and the electric engine of 40 hp. It takes from two to four hours to charge it. The tractor can operate for up to eight hours in the transportation mode and up to four hours in the traction mode. By the end of the year we want to start its mass production with our partners AutoEnterprise,” Hubin said at a press conference on Wednesday.
He also said that the plant is currently working on boosting the capacity of the tractor.
Hubin said that in the coming two years the plant wants to design a range of electric tractors with a capacity of 25 to 360 hp.
The presentation of the new electric tractor will be held at the AGROPORT 2015 international forum to take place in Kharkiv on October 15 through October 17.
Kharkiv Tractor Plant produces wheeled and tracked tractors, as well as road-building machinery based on tractors.
KYIV. Oct 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and Finance Ministry of Ukraine have drawn up a draft law on financial restructuring of the debt of companies under bank credits, and the document could apply to the debt of around UAH 200 billion.
“This concerns voluntarily restructuring of bad debts of corporate borrowers… It is proposed that the off-court settling of bad debts is legislated for the interim period of next three years,” Deputy Finance Minister Artem Shevalev said at a presentation of the draft law for journalists at the NBU in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said that the goal of the initiative is to accelerate the restoration of the financial and corporate sectors using the financial and operating restructuring of bad credits, retain economically viable enterprises and jobs in the real economic sector, accelerate the settling of the uncollectable debts in the banking sector, which would allow banks to resume crediting of new borrowers in the real economic sector, create a reliable and effective mechanisms for informal settling of bad debts issue between creditors and companies.
Shevalev added that potentially economically viable companies-debtors, including municipal and public enterprises, could take part in this restructuring. The possibility of returning the companies to the successful economic operations if the debt problem is settled would be assessed before the restructuring process.
“The mechanism for defining vitality will be transparent; independent experts and leading audit companies will be involved,” he said.
He said that the restructuring procedure could start if there are at least three financial institutions, which are parties of the market agreement, or one financial institution that has at least 25% of the debt. If temporary administration is introduced in the bank-creditor, the Individuals’ Deposit Guarantee Fund would present the creditor in the restructuring procedure. If the company-debtor and the bank are affiliated, they cannot take part in the restructuring process simultaneously.
Shevalev said that the coordinator of the process will be a group of experts, consisting of representatives of the NBU, Finance Ministry, Economic Development and Trade Ministry and Justice Ministry.
Deputy NBU Head Vladyslav Rashkovan said that as of September 1, 2015, the credit portfolio of banks totaled around UAH 930 billion, including UAH 761.5 billion of credits issued to corporate clients or 82%. The share of overdue debt of corporate clients of the banks’ credit portfolio was 17%, he said.
KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian seaports in January-September 2015 increased cargo transshipment by 3.7% compared to the same period in 2014, to 107.024 million tonnes.
According to live data from the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, state port operators managed by the Ministry of Infrastructure handled 37.351 million tonnes (35% of the total volume), other port operators (mostly privately owned) transshipped 69.672 million tonnes (65%).
Transshipment of exported cargo totaled 75.157 million tonnes, imported freight totaled 13.448 million tonnes, transit goods – 12.81 million tonnes, and cabotage cargo – 5.608 million tonnes.
In particular, Yuzhny port (Odesa region), the largest in terms of handling, in January-September 2015 increased cargo transshipment by 4.6%, to 35.48 million tonnes. Transshipment of exported cargo increased by 5.1%, to 27.595 million tonnes, imported cargo by 38.2%, to 3.774 million tonnes, transit freight decreased by 16.7%, to 4.09 million tonnes, and cabotage – by 31.4%, to 20,510 tonnes.
Liquid cargo amounted to 3.298 million tonnes (down by 11.7%), while dry and bulk goods totaled 31.689 million tonnes (7.3% up), and packaged items stood at 492,500 tonnes (a decrease of 25.5%).
Odesa maritime merchant port in January-September handled 19.006 million tonnes of cargo, which is 7.5% higher than a year earlier. Transshipment of exported cargo increased by 21.5%, to 13.755 million tonnes, imported goods decreased by 21%, to 1.941 million tonnes, transit freight fell by 15.2%, to 3.264 million tonnes, and cabotage fell by 17%, to 46,000 tonnes.
KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine plans to raise EUR 400 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop projects in the agricultural sector.
“I hope that on October 23 we will sign the [agreement on] financing of EUR 400 million with the EIB in Germany during the forum, which would come via banks. We need cheap and long-term money,” Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the ministry is currently participating in discussion of the draft budget for 2016.
“Now, jointly with the Finance Ministry, we’re seriously working on support of agriculture. There is no position of the parliament on VAT. Our position in the issue is the following: if you want to remove something, we should offer something more adequate,” he said.
Pavlenko said that there are subsidies per hectare in European countries, and if the VAT regime is revoked, other options to support should be considered, for example, support for small and medium sized businesses via compensation of credit rates, support for livestock breeding, vegetable storage facilities and greenhouses.
KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC AvtoKrAZ (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), the only Ukrainian producer of heavy vehicles, in January-September 2015 produced 984 trucks, which is 10.1% more than in the same period in 2014.
According to a press release issued by the company, 71% of total vehicle production was ordered by Ukrainian customers, the rest was manufactured for exports.
In addition to automotive production, in January-September this year the plant produced and shipped 15 trailers and five semi-trailers, which is 7.5 times more than in the same period in 2014.
In September, AvtoKrAZ made marketable products worth about UAH 166 million, which is 4% more than in August 2015.
The company also reported that its staff is currently working on taking measures to prepare the plant for winter and is dealing with the issue of quality and optimization of production to reduce costs, as well as producing new models of KrAZ vehicles.
AvtoKrAZ makes 33 basic vehicle models, and more than 260 modifications and trim levels for civilian and military vehicles.
KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Reforms in Ukraine are not fast enough, Member of German Bundestag of the Christian Democratic Unity (CDU) and head of the German-Ukrainian Parliamentary Group Karl-Georg Wellmann has said.
“Both in your parliament, and in our German Bundestag, and among the German public, there are concerns that the reforms here are not fast enough and not deep enough,” he said during a meeting of the German-Ukrainian Parliamentary Group and the parliamentary group of the Verkhovna Rada on inter-parliamentary relations with Germany in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Wellmann stressed the need to resolve the conflict in the east of Ukraine, noting that the hostilities had already claimed the lives of a large number of Ukrainian soldiers, of more than 6,000 civilians, while a lot of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes.
“No matter how important this topic [the resolution of the conflict in Donbas], it seems to me that Ukraine’s future is still decided in Kyiv,” the MP said.
