Ukraine as of Friday, April 6, had sowed 138,000 hectares with grain and leguminous crops, or 6% of the forecast, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has said.
According to information on its website, spring grains are sown in 13 regions.
In particular, spring wheat was planted on 2,000 hectares, or 1% of the plan, spring barley on 82,000 ha (5%), oats on 3,000 ha (1%), and peas on 51,000 ha (12%).
Fertilization of winter crops for grain is continuing: nutrients have been used on an area of 4.5 million hectares (62% of the forecast).
A survey of winter grains for the 2018 harvest shows that out from the seeded 7.3 million ha, seedlings were obtained on 99.7% of the areas, of which 6.4 million hectares (89%) are in a good and satisfactory state, while those on 816,500 hectares (11%) are weak and thick.
Winter crops for grain for the harvest of 2018 have been sown on an area of 7.3 million hectares, or 101% of the area under the 2017 harvest. In particular, wheat was sown on 6.3 million hectares, or 103% of the target, barley on 800,000 hectares, or 94%, rye on 149,400 hectares, or 88%. In addition, winter rapeseeds for grain have been sown on an area of one million hectares or 112%
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has permitted Dragon Capital investment company via NUF Equity Investments Limited to acquire 50% in UPG Food Holdings Limited (both based in Nicosia, Cyprus), which owns a large turkey meat producer.
The committee also permitted NUF Equity Investments Limited and Dytchi-Invest Limited to fulfill the conditions of a draft agreement on the sale and purchase of shares, which will be signed between the two companies to restrain competition for the period of five years.
Dragon Capital has not yet commented on the deal.
UPG Food Holdings Limited, which beneficiaries are Yulia and Volodymyr Dutchak, owns the group of companies UPG-Invest founded in 2002. It is engaged in growing turkey and producing meat under the Siayvir trademark. It includes several production complexes with a total area of about 60,000 square meters, a slaughterhouse and equipment for cooling and instant freezing of meat. The production capacity is 12,000 tonnes of meat per year.
The UPG-Invest Group has owned the Abo-Mix fodder plant since 2014. Its capacity is 12,000 of granulated fodder a year for all types of household animals and birds. The products are made under Agro Gold Mix trademark and sold in Ukraine and the EU.
Public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia saw a 2.6-fold rise in net profit in 2017, to UAH 30.473 billion (around $1.16 billion).
According to a report of the company audited by Deloitte and posted on its website, net revenue in 2017 grew by 36.4%, to UAH 75.092 billion, and gross profit soared 2.2-fold, to UAH 42.062 billion.
Ukrgazvydobuvannia saw a 37.4% rise in revenue from natural gas and oil sales in the amount of UAH 67.351 billion, and a 44.1% rise in fuel sales, to UAH 5.151 billion, a 36.8% rise in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sales, to UAH 1.823 billion, a 53.7% fall in provision of fossil fuel production and preparation services, to UAH 321.959 million and a 7.95 rise in sales of other goods and provision of other services, to UAH 446.187 million.
Ukrgazvydobuvannia, which is wholly owned by NSJC Naftogaz Ukrainy, is a large gas processing company, which accounts for about 75% of total gas output in the country.
It operates Shebelynka gas refinery, Yablunivske department to process gas, Bazylivschyna condensate stabilization unit, and 19 filling stations in Kharkiv region. The latter sells fuel and liquefied gas of its own production. Shebelynka gas refinery started production of petrol and diesel fuel of Euro 5 emission standard in 2018.
DTEK and China Machinery Engineering Corporation have signed a contract for the construction of a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 200 MW in Nikopol (Dnipropetrovsk region). DTEK Head Maksym Tymchenko told reporters the project cost is estimated at EUR230 million.
The construction of the facility is to be completed by the end of this year. It is planned from March 2019 to start electricity supply to the energy system of Ukraine.
“The 200 MW project is the beginning of the road. We have ambitious plans to build up to 1,000 MW of solar and wind power generation facilities by the end of 2019. The volume of investments for such projects will exceed EUR1 billion,” the DTEK head said.
Tymchenko did not disclose all the details of securing the financing of the project for the construction of a solar power plant, but noted that the company will invest tens of millions of euros in the project, while Chinese company’s investments will be secured by the Export Credit Agency of China.
The head of DTEK also said the company is also interested in CMEC technologies for reconstruction of coal-fired power units at thermal plants and their bringing to compliance with the EU emission standards.
Corum Group, which unites the machine building assets of System Capital Management (SCM) financial and industrial group, more than tripled EBITDA in 2017 compared to 2016, to UAH 352 million, the company’s press service has said.
As reported, in 2016 EBITDA came out of the negative level and amounted to UAH 105.4 million.
Consolidated revenue of the company increased by 44%, to UAH 1.995 billion, the volume of signed contracts by 110%, to UAH 2.872 billion.
The share of exports in the sales structure was 41% against 28% a year earlier.
The company said that one of the key events that predetermined the economic development of Ukraine in 2017 was the transport blockade of Donbas.
“After the shutdown of a number of mines in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in February 2017, the orders of which amounted to 27% of the business plan, Corum Group focused on fulfilling orders from the key customers from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Estonia. This ensured the overfulfillment of the plan for 2017 and exceeding the results of 2016 on the main indicators,” a press release reads.
According to the company, in 2017 investments in production amounted to UAH 90 million, which is 1.8 times more than in 2016.
The Irish low cost air carrier Ryanair will launch flights from Kyiv to Berlin from September 2018, the air carrier has reported.
The airline intends to begin flights from September 3 with a frequency of four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
The minimum price of a one way ticket starts from EUR26.99. They are already available on the air carrier’s website.
At the same time, the air carrier said the promotional price will remain relevant for booking until Sunday, April 8.
“This will be the first Ryanair route to/from Ukraine. Flights will begin two months earlier than originally planned,” Head of the Ryanair Communications Department Robin Kiely said.
Berlin became the 11th direction from Kyiv, to which Ryanair opened ticket sales.
