This year, Energoatom plans to continue the practice of reducing the timeframe for the repair campaign at Ukrainian NPPs, which was achieved in 2023-24, the company’s CEO Petro Kotin said.
“We manage to do this at an accelerated pace and, which is very good, without reducing the quality of repairs (…) We reduced the repair time last year. This year, we also plan to reduce the timeframe wherever possible,” he said on the Energo LIVE program.
As explained by the CEO, the main measure during scheduled outages at nuclear power units is nuclear fuel reloading.
“Nuclear fuel reloading is what a nuclear power unit needs to ensure that it operates continuously for one year afterwards,” he said.
Along with the transshipment, the company is carrying out repair work to restore the equipment and bring it to the highest standards.
As reported, in 2024, Energoatom continued the practice of reducing the total duration of scheduled repairs of power units, reducing them by another 59 days. The repair campaign was planned so that all nine power units located in the territory controlled by Ukraine could operate during the cold season.
Currently, Energoatom operates nine power units at South Ukrainian, Rivne and Khmelnytsky NPPs with a total capacity of 7880 MW. All of them are located in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia NPP with six VVER-1000 power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW has not been generating electricity since September 11 of the same year after its occupation on March 3-4, 2022.
PJSC Dneprospetsstal Electrometallurgical Plant (Zaporizhzhia) reported a net loss in 2024 and is to consider a decision to liquidate.
According to the company’s announcement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) about holding a remote general meeting of shareholders on April 29, according to the draft decisions, a copy of which is available toInterfax-Ukraine, it is planned not to distribute money, not to accrue dividends and not to make contributions to the reserve fund due to the lack of net profit. The losses will be covered by the profit of future periods.
“To make a decision to liquidate the company in accordance with and in fulfillment of the requirements of Part 2 of Article 16 of the Law on Joint Stock Companies,” the draft decisions state.
It is also planned to confirm a number of transactions.
At the same time, according to the company’s clarification sent to Interfax-Ukraine, it is stated that on March 24, 2025, the company posted a notice in accordance with the procedure provided for by the current legislation on holding an annual general meeting. In connection with the decrease in the company’s net assets, the agenda includes, among other things, issues in accordance with the requirements of Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Joint Stock Companies”, in particular, consideration and approval of measures to be taken to improve the financial condition of the company, in accordance with and pursuant to the requirements of Part 2 of Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Joint Stock Companies”. Also, on the liquidation of the company, in accordance with and pursuant to the requirements of Part 2 of Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Joint Stock Companies”.
In addition, it is noted that the company is obliged to include in the agenda the issue of measures to improve the financial condition and liquidation at the same time, as provided for in Article 16 of the law. At the same time, the company’s management and shareholders do not intend to make a decision on the company’s liquidation, but rather to approve measures to be taken to improve the company’s financial condition.
“It should be noted that the adoption by the general meeting of the decision on issue No. 6 “On measures to be taken to improve the financial condition of the company” automatically excludes voting on issue No. 7 “On liquidation of the company” (the condition of interconnectedness of issues is defined in the decision of the Supervisory Board on holding the general meeting of shareholders),” the statement concludes.
According to the third quarter of 2024, its shares are owned by Wenox Holdings Ltd. 47.1128%, Boundryco Ltd. 11.0131%, Gazaro Ltd. 16.5197%, Crascoda Holdings 6.6826% and Middleprime Limited 9.7901% (all Cyprus).
Earlier it was reported that in May 2008 the international investment and consulting group EastOne sold its stake of about 30% in Dneprospetsstal, which was previously under the group’s mandate. The new shareholders of the plant are linked to VS Energy International, whose beneficiaries are several Russian businessmen.
The authorized capital of the company is UAH 49.720 million.
Revenues from the sale of alcoholic beverages in Ukraine in February 2025 amounted to UAH 11 billion, which is UAH 1 billion (8%) less than in January 2025 and UAH 5.5 billion (33%) less than in December 2024,
Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, said on his Telegram channel.
He noted that the number of licenses issued in the first two months of this year increased by 18,435 units compared to December 2024.
At the same time, the average amount of revenue per license in February 2025 is UAH 106.8 thousand, which is UAH 8 thousand (7%) less than in January 2025 and UAH 88.3 thousand (45%) less than in December 2024.
“As you can see, the trade in alcoholic beverages shows a similar trend to the trade in another excisable good – tobacco products. We are tracking the reasons for such dynamics,” the head of the parliamentary committee summarized.
As reported, Hetmantsev drew the attention of law enforcement agencies to the reduction in February 2025 in revenue from the sale of tobacco products to UAH 9.6 billion, which is 8% (UAH 0.8 billion) less than the previous month. At the same time, the number of valid licenses for the retail sale of tobacco products increased by 12488 units in the first two months of the year and reached 75613.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased sales of foreign currency on the interbank market last week by $98.4 million, or 18%, to $643.6 million, according to the regulator’s statistics on its website.
According to the statistics, the central bank has not bought any foreign currency over the past two weeks.
Last week, the National Bank bought the most foreign currency since the beginning of March, but it is still less than in February this year and roughly equal to the amount of foreign currency purchased in the same week in March last year.
Data released by the regulator during this time show that the negative balance between the volume of foreign currency purchases by households and the volume of foreign currency sales narrowed last week from $26.89 million on Monday to $20.24 on Thursday.
The official hryvnia exchange rate weakened by 2 kopecks to 41.5277 UAH/$1 over the week.
The same was the case on the cash market, with a narrow spread of 41.46-41.56 UAH/$1.
‘Since the beginning of March, the Ukrainian foreign exchange market has undergone significant changes in the dynamics of the dollar. While in February the dollar was gradually strengthening, in early March it began to decline, followed by a gradual recovery after 10 March,’ analysts of the currency exchange market operator KYT Group commented on the market situation in their March review.
According to them, the Ukrainian cash FX market was affected by a decline in demand for the dollar following a large-scale import of cash currency in February: according to the NBU, $1.316 billion in cash dollars and the equivalent of $450 million in euros were imported into Ukraine.
The NBU’s interventions help to smooth out exchange rate volatility and maintain a controlled situation on the market, but the increase in budget spending in March traditionally creates additional demand for foreign currency, which may affect the correction of the hryvnia exchange rate, KYT Group experts added. They expect that in the short term, over the next 1-3 weeks, the dollar is likely to remain in the range of UAH 41.30-42.30/$1.
As reported, the NBU’s net interventions in February fell to $3bn from $3.75bn in January.
In February 2025, Ukrainians’ purchases of foreign currency exceeded sales by $0.95bn, which is also down from $1.48bn in January this year.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of 1 March 2025, according to preliminary data, amounted to $40.15 billion, which is 6.7%, or $2.86 billion, less than a month ago.
The Cabinet of Ministers has set the average annual rate of the official hryvnia/US dollar exchange rate in the 2025 state budget at 45 UAH/$1.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/economic/1058312.html
Rice prices fell after India lifted the last of its existing restrictions on rice exports.
The price per ton of benchmark white Thai rice, which was $669 in January 2024, had fallen to $405 by last week, the Financial Times said. The decision to lift the restrictions was prompted by India’s desire to boost agricultural and food exports to boost farmers’ incomes amid a general economic slowdown in the country.
According to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the plan is to increase shipments to $100 billion by 2030 from $48.15 billion in 2023-2024.
“Last year, about $50 billion worth of products were exported from India,” the minister had said earlier. – I hope to see a triple-digit figure, the $100 billion mark.”
Export restrictions were imposed in the country in 2022. As a result of the decision, the price of white Thai rice jumped to its highest since 2008. India began easing the restrictive measures in September last year. India’s rice exports, which stood at 14 million tons in 2023, could reach a record 21.5 million tons between September 2024 and October 2025, according to S&P Global estimates.
The return of Indian rice will negatively impact exporters from Pakistan, which has gained market shares in Indonesia and East Africa amid declining supplies from India. The US Department of Agriculture estimates rice exports from Pakistan for the 12 months to May 2025 at just 5.8 million tons, down 11.4% from the same period a year earlier.
India is a leading supplier of milled rice, which is in high demand in African countries. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, Indian supplies accounted for more than 60% of rice imports of 17 African countries and more than 80% of imports of nine, including Somalia, in 2022.
