KYIV. May 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food expects that Ukraine by the end of the current marketing year (MY, July-June) could export 33 million tonnes of grain.
“Over the marketing year we could reach a figure of 33 million tonnes,” Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko told reporters in Kyiv.
Previously, the ministry estimated exports would total 32 million tonnes.
KYIV. May 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some countries in the Middle East, in particular Jordan and Iran, are interested in Ukrainian construction companies and construction materials producers and have invited them to cooperate, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine Hennadiy Chyzhykov has said.
“The Middle East is also in the serious situation and requires recovery. Yesterday we talked to several business representatives and ambassadors of Jordan and Iran. These countries actively invite our constructors to cooperation with these new markets,” he said at an open meeting of members of the Ukrainian Union of Construction Materials Producers in Kyiv on Thursday.
Chyzhykov said that the construction markets of the Middle East are promising for Ukrainian companies.
KYIV. May 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Pivdenne Design Bureau (Dnipropetrovsk) is working on plans to modernize the Zenit launch vehicle, and the modernization will be conducted on the basis of technical solutions of Ukrainian medium launch vehicle of the Mayak family.
Director General and Chief Designer of Pivdenne Design Bureau Oleksandr Dehtiariov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the modernization of the Zenit launch vehicle is aimed at considerably cheapening the launch vehicle previously made in cooperation with Russia and increasing its market potential.
“The difficulties that we have with the exploitation of Zenit today are first linked to the fact that due to various negative factors, Zenit became expensive in production. It became more expensive than Proton [Russia’s heavy launch vehicle],” he said.
Dehtiariov said there are plans to modernize the Zenit launch vehicle on the basis of technical solutions of the new Ukrainian medium launch vehicle of the Mayak family: forming and expensive waffle structures will be removed from production.
“The upgraded Zenit will have Ukrainian engines, not Russian ones: first stage – RD-815 and second stage – RD-801. We also plan to replace the engine of the third stage, Pivdenne Design Bureau has large potential in this direction,” he said.
He said that until recently Zenit was used first in international projects to launch commercial satellites from the Sea Launch and Baikonur space centers and as part of the Federal Space Program of Russia.
He said the current portfolio of orders of the bureau includes orders for launches from Baikonur: one launch for autumn 2015 and one for 2016. This year it is planned to launch a Ukrainian satellite from Baikonur.
Commenting on Sea Launch, Dehtiariov said that unfortunately, Energia rocket and space corporation which became almost a 100% owners of Sea Launch after the restructuring of the consortium, failed to cope with this. Competitiveness was lost (on the global launch service market).
KYIV. May 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agrarian groups, saw $7.2 million in net profit in Q3 of FY2015 (July 2014- June 2015), while its net loss year-over-year stood at $25.1 million, the company said in a report.
The company said that its revenue fell by 10% year-over-year, to $607 million as the result of a decline in international agriculture commodity prices.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 54%, to $115.2 million, and EBITDA margin from 11.1% to 19%.
In Q3 2015 Kernel’s revenue from sales of sunflower oil sold in bulk totaled $275.1 million, which was 11% down year-over-year, that for bottled oil – $26.8 million (18% down). Grain trading brought $299.2 million to the company (3% down), export terminals – $16.7 million (26% up), silo services – $4.8 million (63% up) and farming – $46.7 million (34% up).
In 9M of FY2015 Kernel’s net profit stood at $85.5 million compared to net loss of $67.6 million year-over-year. Revenue grew by 1%, to $1.838 billion, and EBITDA soared by 2.5 times, to $338 million.
Kernel is a vertically integrated company that has been operating in the Ukrainian agribusiness sector since 1994. The group produces sugar and sunflower oil, distributes bottled oil under the brand names Schedry Dar, Stozhar and Chumak Zolota, exports oil and grain, and provides elevator storage services for grain and oilseeds.
KYIV. May 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Agrarian Fund, jointly with the Finance Ministry, is studying the possibility of raising UAH 2.2 billion for forward grain purchases in 2015.
“The Agrarian Fund has prepared a program and wants to find a chance of raising almost UAH 2.2 billion jointly with the Finance Ministry. They have an idea of issuing bonds to attract foreign funds,” Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Pavlenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
Pavlenko also said the Agrarian Fund has restricted working capital, but despite this the fund managed to finance UAH 780 million in advance payments under forward contracts.
Pavlenko added that the national budget does not foresee an increase of expenses in Agrarian Fund programs.
He went on to say that last year around UAH 2.2 billion was left in accounts Brokbusinessbank.
KYIV. May 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has provided UAH 547.5 million to build the Lviv-Ivano-Frankivsk via Bobrka (Lviv region) road.
This is stipulated in cabinet resolution No. 323 of May 25, 2015 on the approval of a procedure to use the national budget’s funds to develop roads in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathian Mountains (Mukacheve-Lviv, Tatariv-Kamianets-Podilsky and Stryi-Mamalyha roads).
“In 2015, the following spending for current repair of Ukrainian roads in the Ukrainian part of Carpathian Mountains is set using budget funds: UAH 547.5 million for N-09 Mukacheve-Rakhiv-Bohorodchany-Ivano-Frankivsk-Rohatyn-Bobrka-Lviv road, including UAH 37.5 million in Zakarpattia region, UAH 310 million in Ivano-Frankivsk region and UAH 200 million in Lviv region,” reads the resolution.
In addition, UAH 77.5 million has been provided for the N-10 Stryi-Ivano-Frankivsk-Chernivtsi-Mamalyha (to Chisinau) road, including UAH 40 million in Ivano-Frankivsk region, UAH 37.5 million in Chernivtsi region; and UAH 75 million has been provided for the R-24 Tatariv-Kosiv-Kolomyia-Borschiv-Kamianets-Podilsky road in Ivano-Frankivsk region.
