Total export of soft fruit with wild berries from Ukraine could reach 57,000 tonnes by 2020, Economist of the Investment Center of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Andriy Yarmak has said. According to his report at the Global Berry Congress held in Rotterdam posted on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA), soft fruit export could reach 40,000 tonnes by 2020, and with wild – 57,000 tonnes.
“The share of fresh berries in export volumes of cultivated berries could reach 40-44% and in value could exceed 60%,” the expert said. Export of cultivated blueberries by the end of 2020 could reach 8,000 tonnes. Yarmak said that export of wild blueberries could decline to 15,000 tonnes.
According to the expert, the country saw a 19-fold rise in export of cultivated soft fruit in four years and a 17-fold rise in export of fresh soft fruit.
“First, the loss of the Russian market made farmers look for niches with more value. Secondly, the decline of incomes made people look for ways of making money and pay attention to soft fruit. Thirdly, Ukrainian fruit pickers worked in Poland received large experience and most of them started their own small business after returning to Ukraine,” Yarmak said, explaining the reasons of growth. According to the report, the share of raspberry grew from 7% in 2014 to 29% in 2017. The share of raspberry of total cultivated soft fruit reached almost 60% (without wild).
Norway’s Scatec Solar seeks to build a solar power plant with the installed capacity of 25 MW in Kamianka (Cherkasy region), the press service of the Cherkasy Regional Administration has reported. Scatec Solar has built solar power plants with a total capacity of 322 MW in different countries. The company is in the process of building plants with the capacity of 434 MW. Scatec Solar operates in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ruanda, Honduras and Jordan.
BUILD, CHERKASY REGION, SCATEC SOLAR, SOLAR POWER PLANT, UKRAINE
Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes and AB InBev have received all required regulatory approvals to combine their businesses in Russia and Ukraine, have signed binding transactions agreements and expect to complete the deal in March, Efes said. Anadolu Efes also disclosed the structure of the deal. Its subsidiary Efes Breweries International N.V. will transfer is 99.999% owned subsidiary Moscow Efes Brewery (MEB) to its wholly owned new subsidiary AB InBev Efes B.V. Then AB InBev Western European Holding will contribute its Russian and Ukrainian assets to this company in exchange for new shares in AB InBev Efes.
After the issue of new shares, Efes Breweries International and AB InBev Western European Holding will each own 50% of AB InBev Efes.
AB InBev’s Russian and Ukrainian assets have been valued at $1.002 billion-$1.233 billion for the deal, based on the discounted cash flow method, while the assets of Efes were valued at $962 million-$1.145 billion. The combined business is expected to result in annual cost synergies of about $80 million-$100 million. The merger of operations in Russia and Ukraine will strengthen the competitive position of both companies’ brands, with potential for future growth, Efes said. The combined business will aim to lead the Russian and Ukrainian beer markets, the company said.
The leading supplier of telecomm and IT solutions ZTE has opened a long-term credit line to public joint-stock company Ukrtelecom to finance projects, foreseeing the provision of $10 million at the first phase, the public joint-stock company has said in a press release. “In the current conditions, we see a great interest of global business in the national infrastructure ICT [Information and Communication Technology] operator. This is a line which will be used for projects with a payback period of no more than five years,” the press service said, citing Uktelecom’s Director Yuriy Kurmaz as saying.
According to the company, the funds raised will be used to expand the coverage of Internet access in settlements, upgrade the access network and other elements of the company’s infrastructure.
The funds will be available from June 2018. During this time, the company’s specialists will prepare a roadmap and project calculations that are planned to be implemented in this cooperation, the press service said.
“We are starting a new stage of long-term cooperation between ZTE and Ukrtelecom. From now on it will not only be in the sphere of supply of equipment for consumers, but also at the level of important infrastructural solutions necessary for the development of the Ukrtelecom network,” said Director of ZTE Ukraine LLC Mingxi Huang said.
Kyiv authorities formally renamed international airport Zhuliany “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport”. The airport is widely known as ‘Zhuliany’ after the surrounding neighborhood of the same name. Igor Sikorsky was born in Kyiv. During World War I, he designed and constructed bombers for Russia’s military. After the communists came to power and threatened him and his family, Sikorsky emigrated to the USA. There, he gained renown for designing and manufacturing fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
The Kyiv international airport (Zhuliany) serviced 130,800 passengers in February 2018, which is 51.6% more than in February 2017, the airport’s press service has reported.
The press service said that the number of passengers on international flights was 124,900 and on domestic flights – 5,900.
The number of flights in February 2018 was 1,648, which is 20.5% more than a year ago, including 1,356 international flights and 292 domestic flights.
The most popular international destinations in February-2018 remained similar to January: Dubai (the UAE), Minsk (Belarus), Ankara (Turkey), Budapest (Hungary), Warsaw (Poland), Memmingen (Germany), Rome (Italy); and domestic – Odesa, Zaporizhia and Lviv.
AUTHORITIES, IGOR SIKORSKY, INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, KYIV, ZHULIANY
The volume of construction work in Ukraine in February 2018 decreased by 2.2% compared to February 2017, while the decrease in January 2018 from January 2017 was 1%. According to the State Statistics Service, the data are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the authority, the volume of construction work in February 2018 grew by 2.8% compared with the previous month, while in January 2018 it plunged by 74% compared with December 2017.
According to the report, in February 2018 the growth in the volume of construction was observed nonresidential construction (2.4%), while the figure in construction of residential buildings fell by 0.3%. The decrease of 6.8% was recorded in construction of engineering facilities.
In February 2018, the volume of construction of residential buildings fell by 1.6% compared with January 2018, and it grew by 1.6% in construction of nonresidential buildings and by 7.3% in construction of engineering facilities.
In January-February 2018, construction work fell in 10 regions, in particular in Luhansk region by 83%, to UAH 33.3 million, Odesa region by 39%, to UAH 584.6 million and Sumy region by 19.5%, to UAH 85 million. The largest growth in the volume of construction works in January and February 2018 was seen in Zakarpattia region by 93.8%, to UAH 124.7 млн million and Chernivtsi region by 71.9%, to UAH 168 million.
