KYIV. July 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian companies will be able to export duty-free goods worth about $200 million to the United States per year after the updating of the U.S. program, the Generalized System of Preferences, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius said at a press conference in Kyiv.
The minister said that Ukraine has not been involved in this program since 2013, but in the last year of Ukrainian participation, Ukrainian companies supplied goods worth $111 million under this program, and according to U.S.’ estimates Ukraine used a mere 65% of its potential.
“Based on this figure, we can calculate that duty-free goods supplies to the U.S. should amount to about $200 million,” he said.
As reported, the updated U.S. program of the Generalized System of Preferences, which allows duty-free exports of about 5,000 items of goods to the United States, will come into force from July 29.
KYIV. July 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Twenty-one out of the 28 member states of the European Union have already ratified the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and four countries have launched ratification procedures, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
“Although it was previously supposed that the whole process would take more than three years, today, a year later, 21 of 28 EU countries have already completed the process of ratification and four countries are currently implementing this process,” Poroshenko said before talks with President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz in Kyiv.
The president stressed the importance of the synchronous ratification of this document by the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament a year ago.
“This step has significantly accelerated the procedure of ratification of the Association Agreement with EU states,” Poroshenko said.
In turn, Schulz said that the initiative on the joint ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU was down to Poroshenko.
“It is the only occasion of such large-scale synchronous ratification in history,” he added.
KYIV. July 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Kyiv-based Raiffeisen Bank Aval have decided to allocate $60 million on a parity basis under a farmers lending project for the purchase of plant protection products from the Ukrainian subsidiary of German-based Bayer AG.
The IFC reported that its board of directors approved the project on June 29, 2015 and the IFC’s contribution under the project will amount to $30 million.
The proposed project is similar to a program organized by the IFC, Raiffeisen Bank Aval and Bayer in 2011.
The purpose of the project is to boost the productivity and efficiency of agribusinesses in Ukraine by improving access to finance for the purchase of seeds and crop protection products. The program is expected to engage about 20,000 small and medium-sized farms.
The previous program covered more than 11,300 farms.
KYIV. July 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Austrian financial institutions will be able to assist in the further implementation of Zaporizhia-based Zaporizhstal metallurgical mill’s investment projects, in particular in the construction of a converter shop at the mill.
An Austrian delegation including Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Austria to Ukraine Hermine Poppeller and Defense Attaché Colonel Erich Simbürger visited Zaporizhstal on July 3, 2015, the enterprise said in a press release.
The guests were informed about an environmental project, namely a hydrochloric acid etching line in cold rolling shop No. 1, which was implemented in partnership with Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG. During the visit, Poppeller and Zaporizhstal’s management discussed promising areas of potential cooperation, which include the construction of a converter shop.
Poppeller said praised Zaporizhstal’s modernization program and spoke about the possible support of investment projects by Austrian financial institutions in the future.
“Ukraine can become competitive on the European market thanks to such enterprises as Zaporizhstal. Of course, we will help implement the following investment projects, but it depends on the situation in Ukraine and in Europe,” the ambassador said.
Zaporizhstal General Director Rostislav Shurma said in turn that the mill has already gained successful experience in large-scale joint investment projects with Austrian and other European partners and suppliers.
“To date, the implementation of new projects is constrained by the extremely difficult political and economic situation in the country,” the press release quoted him as saying.
Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine and its products are well known and in demand by consumers in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
It produces high-quality hot-rolled steel coils, hot-rolled sheets, cold-rolled sheets, cold-rolled carbon and low-alloy steel coils, steel straps, roll-formed sections, and other products.
The plant’s principal clients are producers of welded pipes, automobiles, other transport vehicles, agricultural machinery, and household appliances.
KYIV. June 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian government has allocated UAH 80.5 million as part of compulsory financing, through Japanese credit funds, for the reconstruction of Bortnychi aeration station in Kyiv.
The Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Services said that the Cabinet of Ministers made the corresponding resolution at a meeting on June 4.
The funds will be allocated at the expense of the State Fund for Environmental Protection as of January 1, 2015.
According to the ministry, UAH 80.019 million will be spent on the construction of the first stage of the starting complex at the station, another UAH 480,800 will be used to pay for already executed works, updating documents, and the development of working documentation for the first stage of the fifth launch complex of the object.
As reported, on February 11, 2015 representatives of PJSC Kyivvodokanal (Kyiv) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said the signing of a loan agreement between the government of Ukraine and Japan as part of the reconstruction of Bortnychi aeration station is expected in early summer 2015.
KYIV. June 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest international vertically integrated mining and steel group, in January-March 2015 saw EBITDA worth $341 billion, which is 61% down compared to the same period in 2014 ($878 million).
According to the company’s unaudited consolidated financial statements in line with IFRS, which were posted on the Irish Stock Exchange, in the first quarter of 2015 its consolidated EBITDA dropped due to the decrease in the mining division’s EBITDA by $668 million, to $106 million, which was partially offset by the increase of $116 million in the steel division’s EBITDA, to $253 million.
