National Energy Company Ukrenergo has announced the launch of test transaction on the sale and purchase of electricity on the balancing market and the auxiliary service market from December 11, 2018 in line with the terms outlined in the law on the electricity market.
“Please look: exactly on the day stipulated by law, we launched a platform to simulate trading on the balancing market in real time, a period of 15 minutes. Everything is real, only without payments among market players,” Ukrenergo CEO Vsevolod Kovalchuk said, commenting on this event on his page in the Facebook social network.
Ukrenergo said that the first training module was attended by more than 40 representatives of power generation companies, including the largest Ukrainian electricity producers: National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom, DTEK Energo, Centrenergo, Ukrhydroenergo and Donbasenergo.
The company said in a press release that market players familiarized themselves with the principles of the test platform, the algorithms of operations in the balancing market and the market of auxiliary services in real time, the mechanisms of communication and interaction between market players and the system operator and other things.
“All potential players of the balancing market and the market of auxiliary services will receive logins and passwords (keys) for access to the test platform and will be able to independently test it. After that, we will meet with market players to discuss issues related to the operation of the test platform,” Ukrenergo Deputy Director for Market Development and IT Andriy Nemyrovsky said.
Kovalchuk called information manipulation the objections in his posting that the presented platform is a “dummy,” and not a real system in which the bidding will be carried out.
Nemyrovsky responded to criticism by publishing part of the results of test operations, according to which the price of the balancing market in the period from 18:00 on December 11 to 14:00 on December 12 fell to UAH 900 per 1 MWh and rose to UAH 2,140 per 1 MWh. However, it was mainly UAH 1,400–1,500 per 1 MWh with the wholesale market price approved by the National Commission for the State Regulation of Energy, Housing and Utilities Services (NCER) for the second – fourth quarter being UAH 1,586.69 per MWh.
AB InBev Efes, a large brewing company, has brought a first batch of U.S. craft beer of Goose Island Brewery to Ukraine.
“The company brought to the Ukrainian market world-famous American brands from the manufacturer of craft beer Goose Island Brewery: Goose IPA and URBAN WHEAT ALE. The first batch is 60 hectoliters,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
Two brands of Goose Island Brewery are already on shelves in the Ukrainian MegaMarket, Novus and Silpo retail networks.
As reported, the world’s largest brewing concern Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) and Anadolu Efes, the largest brewing company in Turkey, completed the merger of businesses in Russia and Ukraine in equal shares late March 2018.
AB InBev Efes is one of the leaders of the Ukrainian brewing market, occupying 30.5% of it.
AB InBev Efes in Ukraine owns three breweries in Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft agreement on the European Union’s providing technical assistance to Ukraine in the amount EUR 54 million to finance the EE4U-II energy efficiency support program, and also approved draft agreements on two other programs. According to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Cabinet of Ministers also approved a draft agreement on financing the “Program of Expanding Contacts between People: the House of Europe” between Ukraine and the European Commission with a budget of EUR18 million for eight years.
The aim of the program is to attract technical assistance from the EU to establish contacts, professional relations, cultural exchange between citizens of the EU and Ukraine.
In particular, the matter concerns organizing short-term professional internships in EU countries, supporting the House of Europe information center, expanding opportunities for Ukraine to participate in the Erasmus+ program.
In addition, the program assumes reimbursement of half the amount of Ukraine’s contributions to the Creative Europe program for 2018-2020.
In addition, the government approved a draft agreement on financing the technical cooperation program for 2018 with the budget of EUR 37 million to support the implementation of the Association Agreement on the deep and comprehensive free trade area, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reports.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine today announced that Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Capital, has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors. The newly elected Vice-Chairs are Alexander McWhorter, Managing Director, Citibank, and Matteo Patrone, Managing Director, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, EBRD. Iryna Kozlova, General Manager, PepsiCo Ukraine, was elected Treasurer and Serhiy Chorny, Managing Partner, Baker McKenzie, will serve as Secretary & Legal Advisor. This is the first time in AmCham Ukraine’s 26-year history that a female CEO has been elected Chair.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine represents over 600 members and affiliated parties. Since 1992, the Chamber has been serving investors, multinationals and companies operating in Ukraine. It continues standing up for business, driving actionable dialogue between business and government, continuously creating opportunities for business to business partnerships, and promoting Ukraine internationally as an attractive investment destination.
The AmCham Board of Directors plays a key role in identifying the strategy and the vision of the Chamber based on Members’ priorities and needs. The Directors are actively involved in policy activities, bringing professional expertise and advocating for ease of doing business in Ukraine.
Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber in Ukraine, runs the executive operations of the Chamber with his team, who report to the Board of Directors.
“I wish to congratulate Lenna and the Executive Committee on this election. This is indeed good news for our members, 74% of whom plan to expand their business in Ukraine in 2019. I look forward to working together with Lenna, the newly-elected Executive Committee and the entire Board throughout an exciting year, serving the members”, commented Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.
“On behalf of the AmCham Ukraine Board of Directors, I would like to thank Grzegorz Chmielarski, Managing Director of McDonald’s Ukraine, for his leadership as Chair of our Board beginning in 2017. Serving on the Board these past three years, alongside such esteemed members of our community, has been very rewarding. I am humbled and delighted to be elected as Chair and look forward to working together with our Board and President to amplify the country’s success and that of its members, as well as focusing on issues that matter to our members during this crucial year ahead”, said Lenna Koszarny, Chair of the Board of Directors.
Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Capital, manages four funds focused on Ukraine and the near region, with over $800 million under management. Born in Canada, Lenna has lived and worked in Ukraine for 25 years. She is a CPA and received her HBA at the Ivey Business School.
SMD-Invest has started dredging works at the Kherson maritime merchandise port as a winner of the tender of the Kherson branch of state-owned enterprise (SOE) Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. “The last time the operational dredging in the port of Kherson was carried out seven years ago – in 2005-2011: then the total volume was less than 100,000 cubic meters. Now the contractor will perform four times more dredging on request of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. Thanks to this, the state and private stevedores will be able to use the technical capabilities of the port to its fullest capacity,” Sea Ports Authority Head Raivis Veckagans said, being quoted in a posting on the website of the authority.
According to the Sea Ports Authority, the dredging fleet of the contractor has already arrived at the port of Kherson. First, it is planned to dredge six anchorages, then – the remaining facilities of the contract.
On February 26, 2018, SMD-Invest became the winner in the tender for dredging at the port of Kherson with a price offer of UAH 120.2 million with an estimated value of UAH 126.9 million. The volume of dredging works will be 401,300 cubic meters, the works are to be finished in up to six months.
BSH Household Appliances LLC, the official distributor of Bosch, Siemens and Gaggenau household appliances in Ukraine, expects that the Ukrainian household appliances market (major and small domestic appliances, MDA, SDA) would grow by 10-15% in 2019, BSH Household Appliances Director General Serhiy Maksymov has said.
“The current year is the second year in a row, when the market shows a significant increase. If last year in real terms the increase exceeded 20%, then by the end of January-October 2018 the increase was about 18%, and we hope that this trend will continue until the end of this year,” he told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Among the factors that determined the growth of the market in the current year, is deferred demand (as in the past), but he said that the increase in credit sales contributed to it.
“The tendency of growth in demand has survived, but many buyers buying on credit were added, and the steady growth of the market was accompanied by a large number of consumer loans that drove the market. Of course, they take more expensive equipment, such as built-in modular one, and the share of credit sales can go up to 50%,” Maksymov said.
According to him, the share of the company’s brands in the current year on the MDA market was about 10%. In the SDA segment, the company lost an aggregate of about 2% due to the withdrawal of the Zelmer brand from the market last year. At the same time, the Bosch brand has significantly increased sales and, in general, the share of the company’s brands in the SDA market is 11-12%.
“For example, Zelmer meat grinders were very famous, but we expanded the range of Bosch meat grinders and they took a good share,” he said.
Maksymov recalled that in the crisis year of 2015, sales of household appliances in Ukraine halved compared with the previous year, and the pre-crisis level of sales has not yet been reached.
“Even if we take into account that by the end of this year the current growth pace of the market will continue, then we will not reach another UAH 200 million to the pre-crisis level,” he said.
The company, citing data from the State Statistics Committee, said that in 2014, the volume of sales of SDA in Ukraine amounted to UAH 4.57 billion, MDA – UAH 9.38 billion.
At the same time, in the opinion of the head of the company, in 2019, with the expected growth pace, the market may exceed this level.
“Now there are fears in the world about the next global crisis, but there is no single trend of its influence on different countries, so we have hope that we are confidently getting out the crisis, which can be called global and which we passed in 2014. And we hope with partners – large networks, that the next year will show a positive trend,” Maksymov said.
Referring to the results of sales on Black Friday, Maksymov said that the growth in the home appliances market was 50% compared with the previous week, and the discount in price for buyers ranged from 20% to 40-50%. According to him, the discounts on equipment were real, the manufacturer and retailers abandoned the margin.
“Sales of refrigerators showed an increase of up to 200%, vacuum cleaners – 179%. Vacuum cleaners are the largest category in the SDA segment (25% share), the second position is the slow cooker, but with 12% share,” he said.
He said that one of the trends in the market is the growing interest of Ukrainians in a healthy lifestyle, which, in particular, determined the growth in sales of stationary blenders (using which one can make smoothies, soups and mashed potatoes), juicers, and refrigerators with VitaFresh technology.
He recalled that the largest segments on the MDA market remain refrigerators and washing machines (one third of the market each), with the highest growth rates showed by new categories – drying machines and dishwashers.
“This is a positive trend, because the saturation of the market of refrigerators in households today is 98-99%, and dishwashers – only 4-5% (for example, in Germany it is 80%). And if they show growth, then the incomes of the population increase. In this segment, the share of our brands is 48% “, Maksymov said.
