KYIV. July 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A doctrine of accelerated economic growth of Ukraine being drawn up by the Ukrainian Business Initiative with attraction of leading associations of businessmen could be a framework for large-scale investment assistance from the European Union (EU).
MP Serhiy Taruta gave the information to reporters. He took part in the consultations of German, Ukrainian members of parliament and experts who discussed guarantees for European investment in Ukraine at the Berlin office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Taruta said that consultation with Germany aimed at determining top priority steps to improve investment climate in Ukraine.
“Our German colleagues first speak about the necessity of serious institutional reforms. These are reforms that would provide for independent judicial system, independent National Bank and the State Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, new antimonopoly and tax legislation. We, in return, told them about a project to change tax system drawn up by the Finance Ministry with the help of business associations,” he said.
Taruta said that attraction of large investment in Ukraine would be possible only when the military conflict in Donbas is settled.
Member of the German Bundestag Karl-Georg Wellmann said that the condition for serious injections into the Ukrainian economy is the implementation of reforms and guarantees that the money is not stolen.
KYIV. July 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and Canada on Monday signed a free trade area agreement.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the agreement was signed in the presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who is staying with a two-day visit in Kyiv.
“This extremely important document would raise trade and economic relations between our countries to the new level,” Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page before the signing of the agreement.
As reported, Ukraine and Canada signed an agreement on the completion of negotiations on the free trade area between the countries in July 2015. Then the document was translated into three official languages.
According to Ukraine’s State Statistics Service, Ukrainian goods exports to Canada last year plunged by 58.3%, to $30.16 million, while imports grew by 7.7%, to $206.24 million.
Exports of services from Ukraine to Canada decreased by 23.2% last year, to $67.85 million, while imports – by 27.4%, to $57.32 million.
KYIV. July 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on September 7 will decide on the provision of a $37 million senior secured loan to M.V. Cargo LLC to finance construction of a grain terminal at Yuzhny seaport (Odesa region).
The total cost of the project is $130 million.
The report to finance the project was published by the bank in October 2015.
U.S. Cargill, the Sea Port Authority of Ukraine and M.V. Cargo in August 2015 signed a trilateral memorandum of intent to implement an investment project at the Yuzhny seaport.
The parties formalized their intents with signing of an agreement on acquisition of 51% of shares in M.V. Cargo by Cargill.
M.V. Cargo acts as a developer and undertakes liabilities to build a marine grain handling terminal and berth 25 at the Yuzhny port. A capacity of the first phase of the terminal will be up to 5 million tonnes. The capacity will be increased by two or four million tonnes during the second project phase.
KYIV. July 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-run enterprise Ukrspyrt exported 151,830 decaliters of products in H1 2016, while 15,200 decaliters were shipped to foreign markets in H1 2015.
The company said in a press release that in 2015 it exported around 140,000 decaliters.
“In the past years the key sales market for Ukrspyrt was Ukraine. However, according to independent experts, the decline is seen on the Ukrainian vodka market and demand on spirit is falling too. Exports markets are an alternative for us,” Ukrspyrt Deputy Director Serhiy Bleskun said.
He said that the company needs support at the official level. Clear rules for price formation should be approved. The clients’ base should be determined: the companies with which Ukrspyrt can work without a threat of being accused in inappropriate steps.
On July 6, 2016 a meeting with representatives of Hungary’s Gyor Distillery was held. An agreement to supply Ukrainian spirit to Hungary was reached.
“This is not the first experience with the Ukrainian manufacturer. We received the first batch of products this spring. At the today’s meeting we agreed that Ukrspyrt will deliver rectified ethyl spirit to Gyor Distillery. I am sure that cooperation would be mutually beneficial,” Gyor Distillery CEO Gabor Karodi said.
KYIV. July 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Shuvar agricultural products market LLC (Lviv) early July sent first batches of Ukrainian currant to Poland.
“We were preparing for this event conscientiously: we looked for reliable suppliers of high quality products in Ukraine and potential buyers in Poland. The first batch of currant we exported this week was only several hundreds of kilograms, but this experiment was a success,” Shuvar Director Ihor Plotitsa said.
He said that demand on high-quality Ukrainian currant in Poland and the Baltic states is stable now, and at the end of this week the market intends to delivery several tonnes of currant to the EU market.
Shuvar asks Ukrainian producers who can provide for stable supplies of high-quality products to join the project. The market is holding talks on cooperation with new European buyers, among whom are not only wholesale sellers, but also processors.
In the previous years Ukraine almost did not export fresh berries to the EU, as there was no demand on it due to a lack of high-quality berries at competitive prices.
This year supply of currant, raspberry, hurtleberry and blueberry in Ukraine would grow thanks to an increase in domestic production. The prices of berries could be slightly lower than last year prices.
“In the previous season sweet cherry held the first position in volumes of exports in Ukraine and strawberry was second. We almost did not export other berries. However, the volumes of sweet cherry and strawberry were small and almost all berries were sent to Russia,” the expert of the fruit and vegetable market of Eastern Europe Tetiana Hetman said.
She said that this year due to Russia’s embargo and the absence of re-exports through Crimea, the EU market is the most promising alternative for exports supplies.
KYIV. July 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrprominvest-Agro, a vertically integrated agro-industrial company, plans to launch its first grain storage facility in the town of Haisyn in Vinnytsia region in September 2016 with the investment in the first phase of the project being UAH 120 million, the company said on its website.
The storage capacity of the first facility is 40,000 tonnes, the total storage capacity is projected at 68,000 tonnes.
The facility will be able to dry 50 tonnes of grain per hour, it said.
“The construction of a new silo will optimize costs on grain logistics, primarily corn logistics; will improve its quality and decrease storage losses,” it added.
Ukrprominvest-Agro’s core business includes growing crops, sugar, flour, meat, and dairy farming. The company’s land bank is 122,000 hectares, the total number of cattle is 5,200 head, that of pigs is 21,000. In 2015, Ukrprominvest-Agro produced 195,000 tonnes of sugar, allowing it to rank second in terms of sugar production in the country.
Ukrprominvest-Agro incorporates Agroprodinvest Group LLC, PrJSC Podillya, Zorya Podillya LLC, Bread Combine No. 2 LLC. The holding is owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
