Centravis Production Ukraine (Nikopol, Dnipropetrovska oblast, Ukraine), a part of Centravis Ltd. holding, increased production of seamless stainless pipes by 12.6% in 2024 compared to 2023, to 13.7 thousand tons.
This is almost the same growth rate as in 2023, when the company increased production by 12%, Centravis CEO Yuriy Atanasov said during an online press conference on Tuesday. Centravis exported almost all of its products, with exports totaling 13.7 thousand tons.
“Nikopol district is a unique city. It has difficult working and living conditions. And 2024 was another year of escalating hostilities. A huge number of drones are killing our city, targeting the infrastructure to cut off water and electricity. Our constant priority is to resume work after each attack,” said Atanasov.
At the same time, the CEO drew attention to the inadequate response to the situation at the enterprise: “There are a lot of promises, but no concrete actions. There are no decisions on lending to the company, no one is going to provide a commodity loan.”
“The second issue is booking. No one comes to Nikopol. We have constant demands for mobilization, but 50% booking is not enough. And the last problem is litigation with the authorities, with the tax office, regarding VAT refunds. There are court decisions that the government does not enforce, the state ignores the decisions. There are only promises,” the CEO stated.
He clarified that the company cannot refund more than EUR 6 million of VAT to finance its operations. “At the same time, we increase our production by about 10% annually. And we not only survive in such difficult conditions, but also advance our strategic projects.
The company plans to increase production to 15 thousand tons in 2025.
Centravis CFO Alexander Joseph said that the company invested EUR 3 million in production in 2023, EUR 2 million in 2022, and plans to invest EUR 4 million in 2025.
According to the information note, the top 5 countries consuming Ukrainian seamless pipes made by Centravis are Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria, and Spain. In total, Centravis exported its products to 39 countries, including Oman, South Korea, Australia, Uruguay, etc.
“It takes a lot of work to achieve a positive result, and even more to maintain the growth rate for the second year in a row, especially in such a difficult time as now and not far from the front line. But our team gives 100% and even more. That is why we have such results and continue to grow,” said Centravis CEO.
According to him, in addition to quantitative indicators, the company managed to make many qualitative changes and implement interesting and notable projects last year. In particular, Centravis produced 28 tons of pipes by special order for SpaceX. The company also received an order for seamless pipes for a new hydrogen production plant in Ulsan, South Korea. The company continued cooperation with Ferrari, a sports car manufacturer, and completed several large orders for the US market.
Traditionally, Centravis represented the Ukrainian industry with its own exposition at the international exhibition Adipec in Abu Dhabi.
“We are not resting on our laurels. Our medium-term priorities include increasing the share of innovative products in our portfolio, i.e. those that would be protected by intellectual property rights and effectively solve our customers’ problems. We will continue to work and do our best to help the country survive and preserve opportunities for post-war development,” Atanasov said.
Last year, Centravis paid UAH 564.7 million in taxes and duties, or UAH 16 million more than in the previous year.
As reported, in 2023, Centravis increased its production by 12% to 12.2 thousand tons. More than 98% of its products are exported.
Currently, Centravis is one of the world’s ten largest producers of seamless stainless steel pipes.
“Founded in 2000, Centravis is one of the world’s ten largest producers of seamless stainless steel pipes. Its main production facilities are located in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovska oblast). In 2023, the company opened a branch in Uzhhorod.
Centravis Holding Ltd. was established on the basis of Nikopol Stainless Pipe Plant CJSC, service and trading companies of Production and Commercial Enterprise YUVIS LLC. Its shareholders are members of the Atanasov family. Centravis Ltd. owns 100% of the shares in Centravis Production Ukraine.
The Ukrainian labor market remained uneven in 2024, but exactly one third of vacancies (33.33%) were job offers in the capital and Kyiv region, according to a study on the results of the labor market in Ukraine on the job portal Work.ua.
According to the published data, 8% of all job offers included work in Lviv and Dnipropetrovs’k regions, as well as remote work.
Among the companies, the largest number of vacancies in 2024 was posted by Fora retail chain – more than 3.96 thousand job offers. The second place is occupied by Aurora multimarket chain (3.5 thousand), and the third place is occupied by ATB retail chain (almost 3.49 thousand vacancies).
The top 5 in terms of the number of vacancies is closed by the Silpo supermarket chain (3.2 thousand job offers) and the Nova Poshta company (3.15 thousand vacancies).
Next in terms of the number of vacancies are Eva chain of stores, PrivatBank, ANC Pharmacy, Novus retail chain, MHP, Ukrposhta, Prostor chain of stores, Imperia HR, RetailGroup, Dnipro-M chain of construction tools and equipment stores, OKKO chain of gas stations, Podorozhnyk pharmacy, WOG chain of gas stations, DTEK, and 911 Pharmacy.
The record for the number of responses per day was the Front-End Developer vacancy, for which the employer received 555 responses.
As for the categories in which job seekers were most interested, more than half (53%) of the responses were received from seven categories: sales, purchasing; IT, computers, Internet; administration, middle management; marketing, advertising, PR; secretarial, clerical, and general administration; service sector; and retail.
The highest paid vacancy was for a realtor specializing in luxury real estate abroad: the employer offered from UAH 450 thousand to UAH 650 thousand per month, the candidate was expected to have a university degree in real estate, business or marketing, five years of experience in the luxury real estate segment, excellent knowledge of the international market and fluency in English.
Up to UAH 600 thousand was offered to a specialist for the position of Senior Smart Contract Engineer. The employer was looking for a candidate with four years of experience in software development, at least two years of experience with blockchain projects, as well as critical thinking and an inquisitive mind.
Among the top jobs in terms of salary, there were two offers for media buyers. Here, the requirements are more loyal: from six months to one year of experience with Facebook Ads. Also, more than UAH 500 thousand was offered for Blockchain Developer, Full-stack developer, and Head of Security.
On Tuesday, in an extraordinary address to the nation, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his decision to resign and called on everyone to calm down their passions and return to dialogue.
“Taking into account recent events, I have decided to resign. I have already informed President Aleksandar Vucic about this, and he agreed with my decision and took into account my arguments,” he said on the Serbian RTS TV and radio channel.
Vucevic attributed the decision to the student protests, which were joined by citizens. On Tuesday morning, a protest in Belgrade ended, during which students blocked one of the most important traffic intersections in the southern part of Belgrade for a day.
The reason for the protests was the tragic event in Novi Sad, where 15 people died in early November as a result of the collapse of a part of the roof at the railway station. This generated a stream of criticism against both the local authorities and the central government in Belgrade. They are not only related to the incident, but also to social issues – in particular, there were calls for a general strike and a blockade of government institutions.
The mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Djurić, will also resign, Vučević announced. He said that politicians must take responsibility and show that they are ready to calm the tension in society.
Amid the protests, Serbian President Vucic asked the opposition to demand a so-called consultative referendum to determine what support he has among citizens.
China increased its gold reserves by 44.17 tons in 2024 to a record 2279.57 tons, according to the China Gold Association (CGA). The PRC ranks sixth in the world in terms of reserves of this precious metal, Xinhua reports.
Gold consumption in the country last year decreased by 9.6% to 985.31 tons. Total gold production from domestic and imported raw materials increased by 2.85% to 534.106 tons.
In 2024, China’s largest companies mined 71.937 tons of gold at foreign mines, up 19.1% year-on-year.
In 2024, Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines increased passenger traffic by 61.6% compared to 2023, carrying 2.5 million passengers last year, its press service said on Monday.
The number of flights operated by SkyUp Airlines in 2024 also increased by 60.7% to 16,927. The number of routes increased from 664 in 2023 to 851 in 2024, the company said in a Facebook post.
It is noted that in 2024, SkyUp Airlines received a SAFA rating of 0.16, one of the best in European aviation. This rating is a safety indicator and is associated with the SAFA (Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft) program, which is conducted by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and national aviation authorities in Europe.
In addition, the airline has passed the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) audit, an international audit program developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to assess the operational safety of airlines.
Among other things, it was noted that the air carrier has implemented AMOS (Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Operating System), a leading integrated management system for aircraft maintenance and repair. With its help, the company was able to improve resource management and stability of operations. In the future, the company expects to reduce spare parts costs and minimize aircraft downtime.
Earlier it was reported that from April 2025, SkyUp Airlines will start operating regular flights from Chisinau (Moldova) to the most popular destinations in Ukraine: France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus.
In 2023, SkyUp increased passenger traffic by 24% to 1.546 million.
Sales of new passenger cars in Ukraine in 2024 are estimated at more than UAH 125 billion, up 18% year-on-year, according to Ukravtoprom’s telegram channel.
According to Ukravtoprom, the initial registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine last year increased by 14% to 69.6 thousand units, and according to Auto-Consulting, their sales increased by 9.8% to 71.3 thousand units.
“Ukravtoprom informs that about half of the amount spent on the purchase of new cars was spent on five car brands, with the leader being Japanese Toyota – UAH 18.3 billion.
BMW came in second with UAH 16 billion, Mercedes-Benz took third place with UAH 9.7 billion, Volkswagen was fourth with UAH 9.2 billion, and Renault rounded out the top five with UAH 6.4 billion.
Audi, Skoda, Lexus, Land Rover, and Porsche are also among the top ten brands of new cars that Ukrainians have spared no expense.
As reported, according to Ukravtoprom, the top five registrations in quantitative terms were Toyota (10.73 thousand), Renault (7.27 thousand), Skoda (5.03 thousand), Volkswagen (4.9 thousand), and BMW (4.83 thousand). At the same time, Mercedes-Benz did not make it into the top ten, and in December 2024 it ranked 12th in terms of the number of cars sold.
