Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Demand for imported used cars in Ukraine increased by 41%

Initial registrations of used passenger cars imported to Ukraine from abroad in October 2023 increased by 41% compared to October 2022 – to 21.3 thousand units, which is 1% more than in September this year, the Ukravtoprom association reported on its Telegram channel on Monday.

According to the association, the largest share in the segment of imported used cars in October consistently belonged to gasoline cars – 44% (in September, too), followed by diesel cars – 31% (unchanged), electric cars – 17% (16%), cars with LPG – 5% (unchanged) and hybrids – 3% (4%).

Volkswagen Golf remains the leader in registrations (1544 units), and the top five remained unchanged: Renault Megane (1200 units), Skoda Octavia (960 units), Volkswagen Passat (785 units) and Nissan Leaf (573 units).

The TOP-10 of this market in October also included Volkswagen Tiguan (451 units), Tesla Model 3 (442 units), AUDI A4 (416 units), Ford Focus (411 units) and Nissan Qashqai (404 units).

The average age of used cars that switched to Ukrainian license plates in October is 9.5 years.

Overall, in January-October this year, 169.3 thousand used cars imported from abroad were registered for the first time in Ukraine, which is 3.4 times more than the number of new cars sold in the same period.

As reported, in 2022, Ukrainians registered 388.5 thousand imported used passenger cars, which is almost a quarter less than a year earlier, but more than 10 times more than the market for new passenger cars.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine flew to South Africa

On Monday, November 6, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will pay an official visit to South Africa, which will be the first visit of the Ukrainian foreign minister to the country since 1998.

According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kuleba will hold talks in Pretoria with the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Naledi Pandor, the key topics of which will be the implementation of the Ukrainian peace formula, intensification of efforts to return Ukrainian children illegally taken from the temporarily occupied territories to Russia, ensuring food security in Africa, increasing bilateral trade, and intensifying cooperation between Ukraine and South Africa in international organizations.

The program of the visit includes a lecture by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to students and professors of the University of Pretoria, as well as the opening of the virtual reality exhibition “Living the War” about the consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine at the Javett Center for the Arts at the University.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that the visit to South Africa will be Kuleba’s fourth trip to Africa. The first one took place in October 2022 (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya), the second in May 2023 (Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique and Nigeria), and the third in July 2023 (Equatorial Guinea and Liberia).

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Oil prices rise, Brent $81 per barrel

Oil prices are rising on Monday after a sharp decline last week.

The cost of January futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:10 a.m. on Monday amounted to $85.3 per barrel, which is $0.41 (0.48%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Friday, the price of these contracts fell by $1.96 (2.3%) to $84.89 per barrel.

December futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by $0.5 (0.62%) to $81.01 per barrel by this time. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts fell by $1.95 (2.4%) to $80.51 per barrel.

Last week, Brent lost 4.8%, WTI – 5.9%, according to Dow Jones.

Concerns about the escalating conflict in the Middle East have eased somewhat, and traders’ attention has shifted to the prospects for oil supply and demand on the global market, Market Watch notes.

On Sunday, the Saudi state agency reported, citing an official source in the Ministry of Energy, that the country would not change the volume of voluntary oil production cuts, and would keep it at 1 million bpd until the end of 2023. At the same time, the source noted that in December, Saudi Arabia will review the parameters of the restrictions in order to make a decision either to deepen the reduction or increase production.

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UN calls for almost $0.5 bln in humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians get through winter

About $435 million is needed to help civilians across Ukraine by March 2024, according to the website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“The United Nations and partners are calling for about $435 million to be allocated for winter assistance. US dollars to provide winter assistance to more than 1.7 million people across Ukraine by March 2024,” the statement emphasizes.
It is noted that this year alone, the UN and partners have delivered 14 convoys to the frontline areas of Zaporizhzhia region, providing the necessary assistance to more than 30 thousand people living near the southern front. Since the beginning of the year, 96 humanitarian convoys have been delivered to the frontline areas.
In particular, as reported on November 3, an interagency humanitarian convoy delivered vital supplies for 1,600 people who remain in the frontline town of Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The aid included medicines, household items, hygiene kits, blankets, mattresses, solar lamps and sleeping bags.

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Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant has produced 242 units of underground transportation for DTEK Energy mines

“Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), a part of Corum Group (DTEK Energy), whose production site is located in Dnipro after the relocation, has produced 242 units of underground transport this year, fulfilling all orders for the supply of underground transport, having manufactured 242 units.

“After the plant was relocated, we had to re-establish production. Production of underground transport was no exception. However, Corum DrMZ machine builders have managed to cope and have even already fulfilled all orders for the production of trolleys,” the company’s Facebook page says.

In particular, 228 freight trolleys were produced, including 173 units of the most popular VG3.3-900, which can move up to 6 tons of coal; as well as 22 VDK2.5K trolleys designed for 4.5 tons of coal and capable of unloading anywhere without a special unloading mechanism (used in mine construction and during the reconstruction of coal enterprises).

In addition, in the first ten months of 2023, the plant shipped 33 transport trolleys to mines, which are used in mine construction.

“The mines are also updating their passenger car fleet. This year, machine builders have produced 13 trolleys for transporting miners through horizontal mine workings and one for transporting passengers through inclined mine workings with inclination angles of 6 to 30°,” the statement said.

All underground mine transport was made to order for DTEK Energy’s mines.

As reported, the plant produced the first freight cars after the relocation in May this year, having made changes to the design and manufacturing technology of parts and the car in general while maintaining quality.

Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine and is part of DTEK Energy, the operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK holding.

“Corum DrMZ increased its loss by 2.6 times in 2022 compared to 2021, to UAH 458.3 million, while revenue fell by 2.3 times to UAH 559 million.

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Lekhim reduced its net profit by 36.5%

In 2022, Lekhim JSC (Kyiv) reduced its net profit by 36.5% compared to 2021, to UAH 247.308 million.

According to the company’s announcement in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the performance indicators will be considered by its shareholders at an extraordinary meeting on December 4.

In addition, the shareholders plan to amend the corporate governance system and re-elect Valeriy Pechaev as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Tatyana Pechaeva as Deputy Chairman of the Board, Olga Pechaeva as Chief Executive Officer, and Valentina Mazuryk, Lesya Redkina, Lyubov Lazko, and Svetlana Pechaeva as members of the Board of Directors.

Lekhim JSC owns 100% of Lekhim-Obukhov LLC, 98.2% of Lekhim Kharkiv PrJSC, 81% of Technolog (Cherkasy region), 100% of Lekhim-Vilnius CJSC and 100% of Lekhim’s foreign representative office in Uzbekistan.

Lekhim produces more than 200 medicinal products of almost all therapeutic groups, and annually registers more than 10 new drugs. its products are exported to more than 35 countries. One of Lekhim’s anti-tuberculosis drugs is prequalified by the WHO.

As reported, in 2023, Lekhim Group of Pharmaceutical Companies signed a sublicense agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for the production of a generic version of the innovative Japanese antiviral drug Ensitrelvir manufactured by Shionogi, which can be used to treat COVID-19. Seven pharmaceutical companies signed sublicense agreements, and Lekhim is the only Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer among them. In addition, the agreement was signed by three generic pharmaceutical manufacturers from China, two companies from India and a company from Vietnam.

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