As of the beginning of October, the OKKO network has installed solar panels at more than 100 filling stations, and construction work is underway at several more.
OKKO’s press service reminded that the panels are placed on the roofs of the operator’s filling stations and allow them to compensate for part of the electricity costs for their own needs.
In 2023, in particular, 14 new solar power plants were installed at stations in Lviv region, and another six in Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
In total, solar power plants with a capacity of 15 to 50 kW generate electricity at OKKO filling stations in 15 regions of Ukraine.
The total amount of investments that the company has allocated for the construction of rooftop solar power plants in 2023 will be about UAH 40 million.
In 2022, 65 rooftop SPPs in the OKKO network generated a total of 1.7 million kWh of electricity, saving the company more than UAH 7 million on energy purchases from external sources.
OKKO filling stations network is a part of OKKO Group. It is one of the largest filling stations networks in Ukraine, with about 400 filling stations.
The majority shareholder of the company is Vitaliy Antonov. Minority shareholders include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Mining company Ferrexpo plc with assets in Ukraine produced 3.218 million tons of pellets in January-September this year, down 42.9% year-on-year (5.637 million tons).
According to the company’s announcement on Thursday, pellet production in the third quarter of 2023 increased by 17% to 1.251 million tons compared to the previous quarter.
In 2023, only pellets with an iron content of 65% were produced.
At the same time, the total production of marketable products (pellets and iron ore concentrate) for 9 months of this year amounted to 3.475 million tons. Including the production of commercial concentrate in January-September 2023 amounted to 257 thousand tons.
As reported, in 2022, Ferrexpo produced 6.053 million tons of pellets, which is 46% less than in 2021. At the same time, pellet production in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased by 86% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, and by 50% to 417 thousand tons by September-December 2022.
In 2022, production of premium pellets with 65% iron content amounted to 5.7 million tonnes (down 47%), including 417 thousand tonnes in the fourth quarter (down 28% quarter-on-quarter and 86% year-on-year). Last year’s production of direct reduced iron pellets (DRI, 67% iron) amounted to 353 thousand tons (down 18% by 2021), which were not produced in the fourth quarter of 2022.
No pellets with 62% iron content were produced in 2022.
At the same time, the total production of commercial products (pellets and iron ore concentrate) in 2022 decreased by 46% to 6.177 million tons, in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter – by 49%, and by Q4 2021 – by 85%, to 457 thousand tons. In particular, the production of salable concentrate last year decreased by 47% to 124 thousand tons, including 40 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2022 (down 38% quarter-on-quarter and up 3% year-on-year).
Total annual sales in 2022 amounted to 6.2 million tons, down 46% compared to 2021.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of Yeristovo Mining, 99.9% of Bilanivsky GOK and 100% of Poltava Mining.
The United States and European partners are studying the legal basis for using frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, including $300 billion, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
“In my opinion, if you hack something, you have to pay for it. And if the Russians have hacked, they should pay for it. And one of the ways to do that is through these assets. We have to make sure that there is a legal basis for this. As I said, since most of these assets are in Europe, the Europeans also have to make sure that there is a legal basis for this,” he said during a discussion at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, October 4.
According to Blinken, we are talking about $300 billion.
The secretary of state believes that allowing Russia to do what it is doing to Ukraine without punishment will send a signal around the world to countries that are going to start aggression that they can get away with it: “This is opening a Pandora’s box of conflicts. No one will be happy in this world, a world of conflict and aggression,” he said.
In his opinion, in this world, the United States would invariably be involved in a conflict, and it would cost much more than supporting Ukraine.
Bleicken also noted that 50 countries are actively supporting Ukraine.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) supports the decision of the National Bank of Ukraine to switch from a fixed exchange rate regime to a managed flexibility regime starting October 3, and believes that this will further support the stability of the economy and the foreign exchange market, said Natan Epstein, Deputy Head of the IMF Mission to Ukraine.
“The ability to manage the exchange rate in a way that minimizes fluctuations seemed to us to be an important step forward,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Epstein reminded that as part of the program, the NBU in late June approved a strategy supported by the Fund to normalize its monetary and exchange rate policies, which includes a relaxation of exchange controls, as well as a gradual increase in exchange rate flexibility and, ultimately, a return to the inflation targeting system.
According to the deputy head of the mission, the conditions necessary for abandoning the fixed exchange rate have been met, primarily a decline in inflation, a stronger position of international reserves, and stability in the foreign exchange market.
In general, Epstein noted the trust that the NBU managed to gain in managing monetary and foreign exchange policy during the war.
The IMF representatives also expressed satisfaction with the existing dialog between the NBU and the Ministry of Finance and its results, which do not call into question the independence of the central bank.
In September, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) increased the volume of cargo transportation in all types of traffic by 3% compared to the same period last year, to 12.035 million tons, according to preliminary data, the press service of UZ reported on the company’s website.
“The overall growth in transportation was due to a 35.5% increase in domestic freight traffic, up to 7.896 million tons,” the statement said.
At the same time, export transportation by rail in September decreased by 31.2% compared to the same period last year – to 3.578 million tons. In particular, exports of grain cargo decreased almost threefold to 1.072 million tons. At the same time, the volume of iron and manganese ore exports increased by 50.5% in September compared to September 2022, to 1.453 million tons, the report says.
In September, imports by rail decreased by 18% to 518.5 thousand tons, while transit traffic, on the contrary, increased by 2.3 times to 43.2 thousand tons.
In terms of the range of cargoes, mineral building materials are the leaders in terms of volumes: in total, their transportation increased by 77.3% in September 2023 compared to the same period last year – up to 3.310 million tons. In domestic traffic, the growth was 88% to 3.087 million tons.
“September cargo transportation showed a slight increase in total volume, however, for objective reasons, we have negative indicators of export transportation, in particular, strategically important grain cargo. “Ukrzaliznytsia once again emphasizes its readiness to transport all the necessary volumes and calls on partners from neighboring countries to jointly develop railway logistics between countries and strengthen business relations,” the statement quoted UZ Board member Vyacheslav Yeryomin as saying.
Earlier it was reported that in January-August, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) transported 10.5% less cargo than in the same period last year – 94.9 million tons. At the same time, in August the volume of transportation amounted to 12.3 million tons, which is 13.8% more than in August last year.
In the summer of 2023, the IT market in Ukraine decreased by 1.7% compared to the summer of last year due to global trends and the war, said Taras Kitsmei, co-founder and member of the board of directors of SoftServe, at the conference “The Future of Ukrainian Exports” organized by Ekonomichna Pravda in Kyiv.
“The first is global trends. In principle, the entire IT industry in the world today is slightly “stagnating” based on investors and many other reasons. And the second trend is the difficulty of bringing new orders to Ukraine, because customers have a certain sense of war,” explained Kitsmey.
The SoftServe CEO also noted that since the beginning of the war, some customers have withdrawn from the Ukrainian market due to internal policies that prohibit placing orders in countries where there is a war. However, the Ukrainian service and quality of services have made some of them reconsider their policies, he added.
According to Kitsmey, SoftServe, in particular, manages to keep the level of customer satisfaction above 80%.
“We saw a trend that a number of customers left us at the beginning of the war, and then, comparing the quality and beauty of our services with what they received, they decided to change their policies and easily came back,” he said.
The SoftServe co-founder added that there are fewer problems with orders from foreign startups, whose internal rules are not so strict.
“If we don’t break this stability now, people will get used to war. Israel also has a constant war, and no one talks about it, let alone places orders. Our Western partners will get used to the war, the main thing is that the situation does not deteriorate,” Kitsmei emphasized.
SoftServe is one of the largest IT service companies in Ukraine. According to the company’s website, it has about 13 thousand employees and 47 offices in 14 countries. The company’s headquarters are located in Lviv and Austin (Texas, USA). The company’s development centers are located in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Uzhhorod, Ternopil, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Khmelnytskyi, as well as in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Latin America.
