In 2023, Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Mill-Ukraine (PCPM-Ukraine, Khmelnytsky region), a major Ukrainian corrugated cardboard producer, increased its corrugated packaging output by 25.4% compared to 2022, to 86.7 million square meters.
According to Ukrpapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, the mill continues to be among the top three producers of this product after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill and Trypillia Packaging Plant.
According to statistics, last year the plant also increased its production of containerboard by 16.3% to 79.2 thousand tons.
At the same time, in December, the production of corrugated boxes at PCBF-Ukraine increased by 16.8% to 7.8 million square meters by December 2022, and paper and cardboard by 36% to 7.7 thousand tons.
In monetary terms, in 2023, PCBF-Ukraine produced products worth almost UAH 2 billion 450 million, up 3.1% year-on-year.
As reported with reference to the data collected by the association from the main enterprises of the industry (since the State Statistics Service stopped providing such data in 2019), in 2023, the production of paper and cardboard in Ukraine increased by 12.3% to 578.3 thousand tons, and cardboard boxes by 19.5% to 539.26 million square meters.
Poninkivske Mill (formerly Poninkivske Cardboard and Paper Mill), once the largest producer of school notebooks, currently has one main production line – paper and cardboard, producing mainly corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging, as well as wrapping and waste paper.
The plant is part of the United Cardboard Company-Ukraine (UCC, Lutsk) owned by businessman Mykola Lobov, whose production assets include, among others, Lutsk KBF-Ukraine (Volyn region), which produced almost 66 thousand tons of various cardboard last year (according to Ukrpapir) (up 30.6%) and 17.4 million square meters of corrugated boxes.
As reported, in 2022, PCBF-Ukraine produced products worth UAH 2 billion 446 million, up 6.5% year-on-year.
JSC Slavic Wallpapers – KFTB (formerly Koryukivka Technical Paper Factory, Chernihiv region), a leading Ukrainian wallpaper producer, produced 16.2 million conventional pieces of wallpaper in 2023, up 19% from 2022.
According to statistics provided by UkrPapir Association to Interfax-Ukraine, in December, in particular, 1.12 million conventional pieces were produced, down 2% from December 2022 and 13% from November 2023.
At the same time, in monetary terms, the factory’s production volume increased by 38.2% to UAH 1 billion 249 million last year.
The EBA has no data on wallpaper production in Ukraine as a whole, as the State Statistics Service stopped providing it in 2019.
As reported, in 2022, the factory reduced wallpaper production by 2.4 times compared to pre-war 2021 to 13.59 million pieces, while production decreased by 45% to UAH 903.55 million.
The company noted that the Russian aggression had significantly reduced sales, especially through retail channels. The factory exported 56% of its products in 2022, mainly to Uzbekistan, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
JSC Slavic Wallpaper-KFTB is one of the largest European wallpaper factories producing more than 10 types of wallpaper from the economy segment (paper, duplex, acrylic) to premium wallpaper (vinyl, non-woven, hot stamped).
In addition, the factory produces its own latex, water-dispersion paint under the Latex brand.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has started manufacturing and supplying steel bunker headquarters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to protect them from enemy shelling as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative.
According to the company’s press release on Friday, Metinvest has launched the production of steel underground command posts that protect personnel from the effects of shelling and enable the Ukrainian Armed Forces to operate in safe and comfortable conditions on the front line. The first steel headquarters, designed for 30 soldiers, has already been delivered to the Ukrainian Army free of charge and installed in one of the hottest areas of the frontline.
It is explained that the command post helps to save lives of the military, as it can be deployed and retracted on the front line in a short time and, if properly installed, provides protection against artillery fire of any caliber. The steel headquarters consists of five or six (depending on the configuration) separate mobile bunkers, the production of which Metinvest mastered in October 2022. These are interconnected underground shelters that perform various functions, from living quarters and a sanitary area to the command’s working headquarters. This creates a whole underground complex of buildings.
The bunkers, made of corrugated steel, are equipped with all the necessary equipment for a good hotel: sleeping and working areas, showers and boilers, heating, lighting and communication systems, storage for weapons and personal belongings, and electronic equipment. This makes it possible to use the underground headquarters not only as a shelter and a place of rest, but also as a work area that ensures the quality of the command’s work on the front line.
Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko noted that the war is long and combat operations have become a constant companion of every Ukrainian, especially those who defend the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Therefore, the development of improved bunkers and entire underground complexes is a contribution of Metinvest and Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front to improving the lives of soldiers on the front line.
“People are the most important thing. And if we can not only create a safe space from shelling but also make it as comfortable as possible, we do it. I hope that there will be more and more such control points on the front line, and these “underground towns” will become a reliable support for the command of military units. Metinvest is also planning to develop new configurations of underground steel complexes for other needs of the Armed Forces. That is why we will not stop until Ukraine wins,” commented Mr. Mironenko on the handover of the first command post to the Armed Forces.
The new command posts are based on a traditional bunker model – a “kryivka” – which Metinvest has already delivered to various brigades of the Armed Forces since 2022. The design of the standard steel bunker was modified for use as part of a permanent headquarters, with dimensions increased to 6 meters long and 2.3 meters high. Each “hideout” is designed for six people and is equipped with places for rest, storage of personal belongings and an integrated heating system. It takes about 400 hours for Metinvest’s specialists to make one such structure.
“The advantage of our army over the enemy is that we fight with quality and brains. And at the same time, we are able to make informed decisions quickly, because the lives of our soldiers and the success of combat operations are at stake. That’s why we strive to ensure the safety and create comfortable conditions for the military’s work and rest even at ground zero, in the heat of war. Command posts based on modular shelters meet the army’s request and allow us to set up fortified headquarters on the front line, which will fulfill their main task – to control the battle and inflict a crushing defeat on the enemy in any situation,” said Brigadier General Volodymyr Horbatiuk.
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Metinvest has allocated UAH 4.8 billion to support Ukraine and Ukrainians. Of this amount, over UAH 2.5 billion was provided to the soldiers as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative. The company has donated 150,000 bulletproof vests, 25,000 helmets and helmets, 80,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, 31,500 turnstiles, 1,500 drones, 2,000 thermal imagers, 500 vehicles, dozens of mine trawlers for tanks, patrol boats and lance catchers.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Oil prices were stable on Friday, but ended the week in the black amid geopolitical tensions and declining US oil inventories.
The cost of March futures for Brent crude oil on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:20 a.m. is $78.98 per barrel, which is $0.12 (0.15%) lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Thursday, these contracts rose by $1.22 (1.6%) to $79.1 per barrel.
February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen in price by this time by $0.08 (0.11%) to $74.16 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $1.52 (2.1%) to $74.08 per barrel.
Since the beginning of this week, Brent has risen in price by 0.9%, WTI – by 2%.
Commercial oil inventories in the United States last week decreased by 2.492 million barrels, to the lowest level since October, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday. Stocks at the Cushing terminal, where oil traded on the Nymex is stored, decreased by 2.1 million barrels over the week, the most since September last year.
US oil production increased by 100 thousand barrels to 13.3 million barrels per day (bpd).
Gasoline reserves in the United States increased by 3.08 million barrels last week, and distillate reserves by 2.37 million barrels.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), which published its monthly oil market review the day before, expects oil demand growth in 2023 to decline to 1.2 million bpd from 2.3 million bpd in 2023.
The IEA’s forecast “is consistent with OPEC’s expectations of a steady increase in demand,” said Matthew Weller, an analyst at FOREX.com and City Index, as quoted by Market Watch.
However, “OPEC’s demand forecast for this year is significantly stronger,” the expert says.
In 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 5.8% compared to 2022, to 1 million 248.512 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), pig iron exports in monetary terms amounted to $471.467 million in the period under review (down 26.2%).
At the same time, exports were carried out mainly to Poland (51.91% of supplies in monetary terms), Spain (21.41%) and the United States (13.15%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 154 tons of pig iron worth $156 thousand from Germany (42.31%), Brazil (41.67%) and Poland (16.03%), compared to 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand in 2022.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine decreased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 59% compared to the previous year to 1 million 325.275 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 61.1% to $638.774 million.
In 2022, Ukraine imported 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand, while in 2021 it imported 185 tons of pig iron worth $226 thousand.
Exports were made mainly to the United States (38.47% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (32.91%), and Turkey (8.12%), while imports were made from Germany (100%).
In 2023, Ukraine reduced imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 8.5% compared to 2022, to 328.697 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), coke imports in monetary terms decreased by 25.8% to $129.472 million during this period.
In 2023, Ukraine exported 3,383 thousand tons of coke, down 12.3% from 2022. In monetary terms, it decreased by 22.2% to $787 thousand.
Exports were carried out to Moldova (100% of supplies in monetary terms), while imports were mainly from Poland (88.47%), Colombia (7.72%) and the Czech Republic (3.15%).
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 98% compared to the previous year – to 3,856 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 97.6% – to $1,011 million. The main exports were made to Hungary (42.63% of supplies in monetary terms), Georgia (37.69%) and Turkey (17.41%).
In 2022, Ukraine imported 359.192 thousand tons of coke and semi-coke, which is 54.5% less than in 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 50.3% to $174.499 million. Imports were carried out mainly from the Russian Federation (43.43% of supplies in monetary terms, before the war), Poland (30.07%) and the Czech Republic (13.15%).
As a result of the war, a number of mines and coke plants are located in the territories temporarily not controlled by Ukraine.
