DNIPRORUDNE. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Slovakia’s Minerfin and Zaporizhstal will continue investing into development of private joint-stock company Zaporizhia Iron Ore Combine (Dniprorudne, Zaporizhia region).
One of the key shareholders in Jan Moder said at the opening of the crushing complex in Dniprorudne on Friday, investors believe in success of Zaporizhia Iron Ore Combine.
“Two years ago iron ore prices plunged, but we continued investing to finish construction of the crushing complex,” he said.
He said that it took 16 years to build the complex. The development of new layers would allow producing ore for at least 15-16 years with deposits of 68 million tonnes of iron ore.
“I hope that this is not the end of our enterprise and the development of this field,” he said. He said that the produced ore is stably supplied to European enterprises.
In turn, Director General of Zaporizhstal Rostyslav Shurma said that the construction of the crushing complex was finished as part of a mega project.
“Minerfin Group will continue investing hundreds of millions of hryvnias jointly with Zaporizhstal,” he said.
Head of the supervisory board of Zaporizhia Iron Ore Combine Peter Plany expressed satisfaction with the completion of construction of the complex. This will load the enterprise in the future periods.
KYIV. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The total installed capacity of solar panels at Ukrainian households in 2016 increased by almost 7 times, from 2.2 MW to 16.7 MW, according to the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, with reference to its head Serhiy Savchuk.
“The number of households which installed solar panels in 2016 almost quadrupled compared with 2015, namely from 244 to 1,109 households,” a press release reads.
The report states if in the first quarter of last year the capacity of private solar power panels was 3.4 MW, then in the six months it reached 5.06 MW, and after another three months 7.9 MW, and afterwards by the end of the year it doubled.
With regard to the number of households with solar panels, in the first quarter of last year their number increased by 54, in the second quarter by 132, in the third quarter by 195, and in the fourth quarter by 484.
The agency said households now install more powerful panels than before.
According to the document, there are 6.5 million individual residential buildings in Ukraine.
KYIV. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The deep targeted regulatory approaching with a focus on participation in European chains of creating added value, industrial outsourcing, the active involvement of Ukraine in the Horizon 2020 and COSME programs and exchange of newest technologies are the potential directions of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union discussed during the industrial dialog in Brussels.
The press service of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine reported on Thursday that meetings of six working groups were held as part of the dialog on March 1 and March 2, including removal of technical barriers in trade, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), cooperation in the aerospace area, public procurement and industry (automobile manufacturing).
“Ukraine’s integration into the European space means approaching in many spheres and sectors. Today industry is on the agenda… It is important for Ukraine to become a part of the large industrial family of the EU to continue transformation of the economy from the raw-material-intensive economy into the high-tech innovative industrial model,” the press service said, citing First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv.
Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska said that the creation of the common industrial space would help Ukrainian companies to become part of European and even pan-European industrial added value chains. She said that today the EU is the main trade partner of Ukraine. Trade with the EU is growing, she said.
“Growth in the sectors with high added value is important for us. This is our industry. Proposals of working groups would help to integrate Ukrainian companies into these chains thanks to the application of European standards in industrial production in Ukraine and receiving relevant certificates, as well as thanks to the mutually beneficial access of the parities to the public procurement markets, development of cooperation between Ukrainian and European SME and expansion of cooperation in the aerospace sector,” Mykolska said.
KYIV. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Odesa Port-Side Plant is resuming its operations after a two-month idle period, First Deputy Board Chairman Mykola Schurikov has said.
“Today we have started the launch of the plant! The tolling scheme is used now. We are working on all possible options,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
As reported, after two failures to privatize the plant at the end of December 2016 the plant decided to temporarily suspend operations due to high prices of natural gas and accumulated debts for its supplies.
The company said that it is looking for companies interested in leasing of its property complex for a long period of time.
In February 2017 the shareholders of the plant gave preliminary consent on the leasing of the plant’s property.
The shareholders also approved the debt restructuring to Naftogaz Ukrainy in equal parts during two years without interest accrued.
KYIV. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sunflower processing at the enterprises of Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings, in the 2017 fiscal year (FY, July-June) could grow by 10%, to 3 million tonnes.
“Talking about expectations for the remaining half of the season, we forecast our full year crushing volume will be approximately 3 million tonnes and the crushing margin will likely to be in the range of $70-80 per tonne of oil squeezed by increase in competition,” Kernel founder and chairman Andriy Verevsky said during a conference call with investors.
“Export terminals are anticipated to transship around 5.4 million tonnes with the stable margins which we have at the moment, and farming should deliver strong annual results compared to the last year records,” he said.
“We are actively working today with M&A deals in terms of the farming division. We have got several companies in the pipeline in the negotiation process. I think we have a good chance to complete at least one of them in the 2017 financial year,” he said.
Kernel is the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, the leading manufacturer and supplier of agricultural products from the Black Sea region to the world markets.
KYIV. March 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The AIS Group, a leading Ukrainian automobile holding, and the official distributor of Ravon cars (made by General Motors Uzbekistan) Ukr-UzAuto have signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
AIS said in a press release on Thursday that under the agreement AIS has the right to open 15 Ravon dealer centers in the largest cities of Ukraine – Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Lviv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Kryvy Rih and other cities.
AIS will sell Ravon cars in the retail dealer centers and service them.
The opening of first centers is scheduled for April 2017. The network will be launched in all cities where it is planned within one month.
The Ravon brand has replaced UZ-Daewoo. It was officially presented in Ukraine in August 2016.
