The Epicenter K Group, which was developing agricultural business in the past two years, plans to boost silo capacities to over 600,000 tonnes in 2018, Head of the Agricultural Division of the group Vitaliy Stavniychuk has said.
“At present, we have five silo complexes that can store 284,000 tonnes of grain. This year we are building and boosting the silo capacity. We will boost them to over 600,000 tonnes,” he said in an interview with the Business publication.
Stavniychuk said that the group plans to use silos in two stages – early crops (winter wheat and winter rapeseeds) and for the second stage is maize and sunflower.
Another strategic direction for the group is development of livestock breeding, Stavniychuk said.
“The top priority task is to increase numbers of high-quality milking cows. We plan to build farms with modern fodder and breeding system,” he said.
The group seeks to slightly increase its land bank in 2018, but the main goal is not the area, but the highest production efficiency.
The group plans to strengthen positions of agricultural business in the medium term outlook.
JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia has discovered a new field in Kharkiv region, getting commercial gas inflow of 249,000 cubic meters a day from a wildcat, the company’s press service has reported.
The press service said that at the stage of geological exploration the possible reserves were 0.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) and prospective resources are estimated at over 1.5 bcm.
The company said that after receiving the deposit use license, the field and the well were launched in short terms – in 17 calendar months.
The press service said that the period from the issue of a license to commercial use of fields is from two to four years. If new licenses are issues, next gas inflow could be seen no earlier than in two years.
Poltava Regional Council for two years refused to approve licenses over 60 times, and the country would not receive around 1 bcm of gas in 2018.
“The development of new fields is a laborious process that requires the consolidation of scientific, engineering and significant financial efforts. The receipt of licenses does not guarantee 100% of the start of economically expedient exploitation of a field, especially since this process is stretched in time, therefore the company constantly announces the current problem regarding delays in the issuance of new licenses that have not been solved for a long time,” Director of Geology of Ukrgazvydobuvannia Myron Kucher said.
The major pipe enterprises of Ukraine in January-April 2018 increased production of pipes by 10.4% compared to the same period last year, to 356,900 tonnes, including in April they manufactured 89,300 tonnes.
The Ukrtruboprom association told Interfax-Ukraine that enterprises, which are members of the association, boosted production by 22.2% year-over-year, to 263,800 tonnes, including 68,900 tonnes made in April.
Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant (Donetsk region), located in the government uncontrolled zone, remained idle in January-April 2018, while in January-April 2017 it made 3,400 tonnes of pipes.
Pipe production at Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant in the period rose by 27.8% compared to January-April 2017, to 98,400 tonnes (26,600 tonnes in April), Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant increased output by 26.6%, to 34,300 tonnes (10,100 tonnes in April), while Interpipe Niko Tube raised production by 26.8%, to 116,300 tonnes (27,700 tonnes in April).
Dnipropetrovsk Pipe decreased pipe production by 11.9%, to 7,400 tonnes, making 2,500 tonnes in April. Production at Centravis grew by 10.2%, being 6,500 tonnes of stainless pipes (1,800 tonnes in April).
Pipe production at Trubostal remained unchanged, being 900 tonnes (200 tonnes in April).
Mariupol Illich Steel Works, which is not a member of the association, decreased pipe production by 2.7%, to 43,500 tonnes (8,400 tonnes in April), while Kominmet decreased it by 21%, to 46,600 tonnes (12,000 tonnes).
Luhansk Pipe Rolling Plant, created on the basis of Luhansk Pipe Plant, remained idle according to unofficial information.
Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to create a Ukrainian-Chinese enterprise to assemble tractors.
“A small contract has been signed – for $4 million. We expect that next year there will be $20 million,” the businessman said in a video shot on his Facebook page.
Khmelnytsky said that China expressed their interest in cooperation with Ukraine.
He also said that the readiness of the Chinese business to partially localize production in Ukraine is a big advantage.
“If China wants to produce something in our country, then this is, of course, good… This is definitely a step to economic growth… They say: we will partially supply products to you, if we see that the market is big and there is demand, we are ready to partially produce these goods in Ukraine,” the businessman said.
Khmelnytsky said that at present it is a question of semi knocked down (SKD) assembly. “Subsequently, the share will grow and may well reach 100%. In Ukraine, there is an annual demand for 20,000 tractors. Producing 1,000 tractors a year is interesting for sure, and then the European market will be opened,” he said.
In his opinion, Ukraine needs to create its own “Chumatsky Shliakh” route.
“We must produce our own products and supply them to Europe, and maybe to China,” he said.
Real wages in Ukraine in April 2018 compared to April 2017 increased by 12.5%, compared to March 2018 by 0.4%, the State Statistics Service has said.
The average nominal wage of full-day workers in April 2018 compared to March 2018 increased by 1.2%, in annual terms rose by 27.3%, amounting to UAH 8,382, whereas in March it was UAH 8,382, February UAH 7,828, January some UAH 7,711.
According to the statistics, the largest increase in the average salary of full-day workers in April 2018 compared with April 2017 was observed in Zaporizhia (32.7%), Vinnytsia (31.9%), Dnipropetrovsk (31.7%), Kyiv (30.1%), Zakarpattia (29.3%), Poltava (29.1%), Zhytomyr (27.7%), Volyn and Lviv (27.3%), Cherkasy (27.1%), Chernivtsi (23.9%), Sumy (25.9%), Ternopil (26.1%), Kirovohrad and Rivne (25.1%) regions and Kyiv city (21.9%).
Wage growth in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (excluding part of the uncontrolled territories) was 36.1% and 33.7% respectively.
The highest level of wages in the past month was recorded in Kyiv at UAH 13,150, the lowest one in Ternopil region at UAH 6,394.
In April 2018 compared to the same month in 2017 wages grew in the sphere of state administration and defense, compulsory social insurance (by 44.1%), transport enterprises, warehousing, postal and courier activities (32.8%), agriculture, forestry and fishery (30.8%), industry (27.9%), information and telecommunications (27.9%), construction (27.3%), administrative and support services (27.2%), wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (24.7%), real estate operations (22.5%), education and in the sphere of art, sports, entertainment and recreation (21.4%), financial and insurance activities (18.8%), health care and social assistance (17.4%), professional, scientific and technical activities (19.2%), and temporary accommodation and catering (19%).
Public joint-stock company Slovianski Shpalery-KFTB (previously Koriukivka industrial paper factory in Chernihiv region), one of the CIS’ major wallpaper producers, in January-April 2018 produced 7.57 million conventional sheets of wallpaper, which was 2% up from a year ago, according to the UkrPapir association.
According to the association, wallpaper production in Ukraine in January-April 2018 grew by almost 4.4%, to 30.73 million conventional sheets of wallpaper. The factory’s share of total production was 24.6%.
In April 2018, wallpaper production in Ukraine totaled 7.94 million conventional sheets of wallpaper, which was 8.6% less than in April 2017 and 18.3% less than in March 2018.
Taking into account the production indicators, the volume of commodity products of the plant in January-April 2018 increased 28.4%, to UAH 373.32 million.
Slovianski Shpalery-KFTB produces several kinds of wallpaper, including washable, duplex, vinyl and acrylic wallpaper. It sells over 2,500 designs under the Slovianski Shpalery trademark.
Earlier around two-thirds of products made by the factory were supplied to Russia. The factory also shipped its products to the CIS and European countries.
In 2017 the factory reduced wallpaper output by 6.1% compared to 2016, to 26.79 million conventional units. In monetary terms, the volume of production remained almost at the level of 2016, amounting to UAH 1.066 billion.
