Astarta agro-industrial holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, increased sugar sales by 13% in April-June 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, to 91,740 tonnes, the company said on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
According to a press release, sales of corn fell by 5%, to 97,990 tonnes, wheat from 80,710 tonnes to 1,510 tonnes, barley from 4,310 tonnes to 70 tonnes, whereas sunflower rose by 3.3 times, to 25,920 tonnes.
Sales of soybean oil decreased by 14%, to 9,240 tonnes, soybean meal by 11%, to 35,880 tonnes, milk by 1%, to 26,410 tonnes.
The company says that at the same time average sugar prices for this period decreased by 23%, those for wheat by 16%, for soybean oil by 2%, for corn increased by 14%, for sunflower and milk by 11%, for soybean meal by 15%.
Taking into account the given data, the total sales of these products by Astarta in the second quarter of this year amounted to UAH 2.5 billion, which is 10.9% less than in the second quarter of last year.
Shareholders of PRJSC Avers Insurance Company (Kyiv) at a meeting on July 20 decided to buy out 15,000 shares of the company (75%) for their further cancellation, according to the insurer’s official statement. An independent valuation of the shares determined their price at UAH 2.6 each with a nominal value of UAH 1,000.
The buyout of the shares will take place from September 23 to December 28, 2018.
According to the company, at the time of this decision, its shareholders were BASK Ltd. (22.85%), members of the supervisory board, Daniil Volynets (65%) and Serhiy Bilohortsev (5.15%).
PrJSC Avers was registered in 2007. It provides risk insurance services.
Its charter capital is UAH 20 million.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on effective management of copyright in the sphere of copyright and related rights (passed by parliament under No. 7466), which establishes rules for the operation of collective copyright management organizations, according to the website of the Verkhovna Rada. Some 246 people’s deputies on May 15 supported this document after in late April the United States had canceled duty-free import of a number of goods from Ukraine because of copyright infringement.
The law notes that a collective copyright management organization is a registered public association with the status of a legal entity that does not have the purpose of making profit, founded solely by copyrights holders, whose activities are aimed at collective management of property rights to objects of copyright and (or) related rights.
The document establishes the procedure and requirements for accreditation and registration of such organizations, specifies the content of the register of such unions, and regulates the issues of collection, distribution and payment of remuneration to copyright holders.
Ukraine in January-May 2018 imported 3.269 billion cubic meters of natural gas for a total of $906.701 million, in particular in May 1.114 billion cubic meters worth $293.571 million, according to the State Statistics Service. Thus, the average price of gas imported by the country in May 2018 was $263.5 per 1,000 cubic meters against $310.8 in April, $278.7 in March, $261.1 in February and $279.4 in January.
The main counterparties for the five months were companies from Switzerland with 1.377 billion cubic meters of gas for $380.827 million, Germany with 937.534 million cubic meters for $261.087 million, Poland with 285.745 million cubic meters for $84.545 million and the UK with 245.215 million cubic meters for $65.281 million.
Gas was not imported from the Russian Federation in January-May-2018.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has vetoed the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on limiting domestic consumption of raw timber to 25 million cubic meters per year and on a temporary ban on timber exports. As reported on the website of the Ukrainian parliament, the relevant bill (No. 5495) on July 23, 2018 was returned with president’s proposals, which are not currently available on the parliament’s website.
As was earlier reported, on July 3, 234 deputies passed the bill (No. 5495) on making amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the preservation of Ukrainian forests and preventing the illegal export of unprocessed timber in the second reading and as a whole.
According to amendments taken into account in the second reading of the document, administrative and criminal liability for illegal logging and its timber exports outside customs control (smuggling) has been significantly strengthened.
The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, in particular, introduces a clause according to which illegal cutting and transportation, storage of illegally cut trees entail the imposition on citizens of a fine of 15 to 30 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (1 non-taxable minimum – UAH 17), and on officials – from 75 to 150 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (in current legislation – from five to ten and from seven to 12 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens, respectively).
In case of a repeated offense within a year, the amount of the fine is from 30 to 60 non-taxable minimums for citizens from 300 to 600 for officials. In addition, according to changes in Ukraine’s Criminal Code, movement across the customs border of Ukraine outside the customs control or concealment from the uncontrolled control of unprocessed timber or sawn valuable or rare species is punishable by imprisonment for three to five years.
The same actions that have been committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons or an official using his official position are punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years, with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions and with confiscation of property. If these actions are committed by an organized group of individuals or on a particularly large scale, a penalty of imprisonment of ten to 12 years is provided, with deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities for three years and with confiscation of property.
Owner of one of Ukraine’s largest confectionery companies PJSC Production Association Konti (Donetsk region) Borys Kolesnikov plans to build a chocolate factory in the center of Ukraine. “We are thinking about expanding the range of both APK-Invest and Konti, and we want to build a large chocolate factory for Konti in the center of Ukraine, and several other APK-Invest production facilities, some of which will be unique for our country. I will not disclose details yet. As the construction is over, you’re invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony,” the owner of the companies said in an interview with Radio NV.
As reported, PrJSC APK-Invest (Donetsk region), one of the largest pork producers in Ukraine, plans to increase pig population by 75%, to one million pigs. The company also intends to introduce several new technologies in agriculture, which are widely used in Western Europe and the United States, but are new not only for Ukraine, but also for many countries of Eastern Europe. APK-Invest (TM Myasna Vesna) is a vertically integrated agro-industrial company with a complete closed cycle for the production of chilled pork: from growing grain and making compound feeds to producing and selling meat products.
In 2017, APK-Invest increased its net profit by 3.5 times to UAH 889.1 million, net income by 37.9%, to UAH 2.664 billion.
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission’s information disclosure system, the direct owner of 98% of the PrJSC’s shares at the end of 2017 was Ukrinvest LLC, the beneficiaries of APK-Invest, according to the state register, are Borys Kolesnikov and his wife Svitlana. The Konti Group was founded in 1997. The main production assets are Donetsk, Kostiantynivka, Horlivka confectionery factories (Ukraine) and two factories in Kursk (Russia). The main brands are Bonjour desserts, SuperKontik and Belissimo cookies, BisKonti soft biscuits, Amour and Jack sweets.
