Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

STATE-OWNED ARTYOMSOL INCREASES SALES BY 60% IN 2021

In 2021, state-owned enterprise Artyomsol (Donetsk region) extracted, processed and shipped 1.9 million tonnes of salt to consumers, which is 60% more than in 2020, while the share of exports in total supplies grown by 11.2 percentage points – from 28.3% (336,600 tonnes) to 39.5% (744,200 tonnes).
The company said in a report on its website on Tuesday, the sale of de-icing salt last year grew by 25.2% by 2020, to 936,800 tonnes, shipped in bulk ground salt – to 545,800 tonnes (33.2% more), packaged salt sales amounted to 171,900 tonnes, salt in flexible containers (FIBC) increased to 53,700 = tonnes (5.4% more), iodized salt amounted to 45,300 tonnes.
“The increase in the efficiency of the enterprise was achieved thanks to… a comprehensive program for the improvement of production, developed and implemented at the end of 2020. As a result, last year the volume of salt production increased, sales of products grew, the level of profitability of the enterprise increased, and the wages of employees also grew,” the company said.
SOE Artyomsol is one of the largest enterprises for the extraction and sale of table salt in Central and Eastern Europe. The production facilities of SOE Artyomsol are located in Soledar, Donetsk region.

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SEVERAL US CONGRESSMEN LEAVE FOR UKRAINE

A delegation of U.S. congressmen, led by head of the International Committee of the House of Representatives Gregory Meeks, left for Ukraine on Tuesday, The Hill reports.
Both Democrats and Republicans are participating in the trip.
The visit of members of Congress to Ukraine will be the third trip to the country by legislators from the United States in recent months. Earlier last week, a delegation of the Senate visited Ukraine, and in December last year, a delegation of the House of Representatives headed by Ruben Gallego visited the country.
Meeks himself said on Monday that he supports the diplomatic path chosen by the U.S. president to reduce tension on the border between Russia and Ukraine, and also criticized Russia for the lack of signs of de-escalation.

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PIVNICHNY MINING RAISES UP PELLET OUTPUT BY 20% IN 2021

Pivnichny (Northern) Mining and Processing Plant (Kryvy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region), part of Metinvest Group, increased production of commercial pellets in 2021, according to recent data, by 20.2% compared to 2020, to 6.35 million tonnes.
As the company told Interfax-Ukraine, in December production of pellets amounted to 550,000 tonnes.
At the same time, output of iron ore concentrate last year increased by 5.2%, to 13.4 million tonnes, including 1.13 million tonnes produced in December.
In 2020, the plant reduced production of commercial pellets by 32.6% compared to 2019, to 5.28 million tonnes, and production of iron ore concentrate increased by 4%, to 12.739 million tonnes.
Pivnichny Mining and Processing Plant is part of Metinvest Group, the main shareholders of which are PrJSC System Capital Management (SCM, Donetsk, 71.24%) and Smart-Holding (23.76%).
Metinvest Group’s management company is Metinvest Holding LLC

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UKRNAFTOBURINNIA GAS PRODUCTION GOES DOWN BY 5% IN 2021

PrJSC Ukrnaftoburinnia (UNB) produced 691.3 million cubic meters of gas in 2021, which is 5% less than in 2020 (725.4 million cubic meters), according to a company press release on Tuesday.
According to the document, the volume of oil/condensate production decreased by 6% (by 4,200 tonnes) and amounted to 76,600 tonnes.
In general, gas production at Sakhalynske field last year amounted to 789.5 million cubic meters, and oil/condensate production – 80,800 tonnes.
“The UNB production indicators show a slight decrease compared to the previous year. The primary reasons for it included the forced reduction in the capital investment program and cancellation of the drilling program in the crisis year of 2020 and a natural decline in well flow rates at Sakhalynske field as it gradually depletes,” the press release says.
At the same time, in 2021, the company resumed its drilling program. In April, it completed new well No. 22 of 4,565 m. The initial daily flow rate of the well is 280,000 cubic meters of natural gas and 30 tonnes of condensate.
According to UNB, in 2021, the company completed workovers of eight wells. Well No. 54 was transferred from gas-lift to submersible pumping operation by installing a sucker rod pumping (SRP) at 3,251 m deep being the deepest sucker rod pump installation in Ukraine. Moreover, a large-scale investment project to construct a booster compressor station at Sakhalynske field is being implemented.
“UNB continues to implement investment projects aimed at further efficient development of Sakhalynske field and plans to drill another well and put it into operation in the first half of 2022,” the company said.
In the next two years, UNB also plans to expand the geography of production in Ukraine beyond Sakhalynske field.
“The team and I have very ambitious plans for 2022, aimed not only to maintain production at Sakhalynske field but also to find new investment opportunities outside it. Of course, the implementation of these plans will largely depend on what mechanisms the state will use to deal with the energy crisis in the country and how they will affect private gas companies,” Chairman of the Executive Board of Ukrnaftoburinnia Mykhailo Bakunenko said.
PrJSC Ukrnaftoburinnia is one of the largest private gas production companies in Ukraine. Since 2010, it has been developing Sakhalynske oil, gas and condensate field (Krasnokutsk district, Kharkiv region).

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BUSINESSMAN VASYL KHMELNYTSKY: WE CONTINUE TO WORK, CREATE VALUE AND INVEST IN UKRAINE

The owner of the UFuture group, businessman Vasyl Khmelnitsky, has said that he and his family have no plans to leave Ukraine and go abroad, and expressed confidence that there will be no full-scale war and its threats are not justified.
“Me and my whole family (mother, wife, children and grandchildren) stay in Ukraine. We continue to live our usual lives and do not plan to go abroad. My whole team also remains in the country. We continue to work, create value and invest in Ukraine,” Khmelnytsky wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He said that he speaks exclusively as an entrepreneur, and his position is based on an understanding of many internal and external processes.
“But these are political processes, and I don’t want to discuss them publicly,” he said.
Khmelnytsky expressed the opinion that today, the most real threat that paralyzes all processes is panic.
“What can we do now to at least slightly stabilize the situation: 1. Continue to work effectively and live a familiar full life. 2. Maintain critical thinking, common sense and a cool head,” the businessman said.
“Whatever storms occur in the country and the world, I will leave my ship last,” he added.
A day earlier, a similar public post was posted by Andriy Stavnitser, co-owner of the TIS terminal group and the towing company P&O Maritime Ukraine, calling for “constructive calm activity.”
“We can’t let this crisis go to waste, it should make us stronger… I don’t believe in a full-fledged invasion, but I better be ready,” the businessman wrote.
UFuture is a holding company that brings together Khmelnytsky’s business and social projects. It has a diversified portfolio of assets in real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and IT. The value of UFuture’s assets is estimated at $500 million. The total capitalization of the businesses in which it has invested is up to $1 billion.

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OLYMPIAD “BALATECH” CALLS FOR 50,000 STUDENTS TO LEARN PROGRAMMING

The International Programming Olympiad “BalaTech” for schoolchildren will be held on February 19, 2022 in an online format. Estimated 50,000 schoolchildren from the CIS countries will take part in the event and compete for a prize fund of $10,000 USD in the form of:

  • Laptops;
  • Smartphones;
  • 1,000 pounds discount in studying in the United Kingdom;
  • 1000 Euro discount for studying in Germany;
  • 2000 USD dollars discount on studying at American universities;
  • Testing for free education in Italy;
  • 50% discount on studying in Malaysian universities;
  • 10% discounts on studying at a Malaysian university.

REGISTER now on BalaTech (www.balatech.org), and/or share this wonderful opportunity with your network. More activities can be followed on Instagram by hashtags: #Balatech #UNDP #AcceleratorLab

United Nations Development Program is the official general partner, who is committed to providing accessible and inclusive digital education for the next generation to be ready for the future works! And “BalaTech” is recognized by the UNDP “Digital x Scale Accelerator” as one of the ten most impactful digital solutions in 2021, with the generous support from the Government of Japan. Thanks to UNDP, BalaTech provides all learning contents and participation at the Olympiad 2022 for FREE for all children and youth.

“BalaTech” ( www.balatech.org ) is a multilingual educational platform for children and youngsters to learn programming in an interactive way among peers. BalaTech makes learning experience fun and engaging through gamification. There are 10 learning modules with 175 challenge-based tasks that users can learn and play for FREE. For completed tasks, users receive their points to unlock the next level game with diverse virtual settings where they continue their learning adventure. With the help of UNDP “Digital X”, BalaTech has enhanced the user’s experience with a better UX design and learning algorithms. Moreover, the platform is designed to be gender sensitive to encourage more girls in learning programming. Anyone with a smartphone (not necessarily laptops) equipped with low-gadget basic internet can access the platform to learn and play from the beginning level. No prerequisite programming knowledge is required. Annually, BalaTech organizes the Olympiad to popularize programming learning among school students. The following entails the criteria and key messages of “BalaTech Olympiad” in 2022:

  • Participants: Students of grades 5-11;
  • Total estimated number of participants: 50,000 people;
  • Participating countries: Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Uzbekistan, Ukraine and others.
  • Categorization of age groups: Junior group from 5 to 7 grades, Medium group from 8 to 9 grades, and the Senior group from 10 to 11 grades;
  • The winners are awarded with Gold, Silver, and Bronze prizes in each age groups;
  • The prize fund of the Olympiad is worth $ 10,000 USD (these are laptops, smartphones, discounts in international universities);
  • FREE learning content (10 learning modules with 175 general tasks and 137 additional difficult tasks) to get ready for the Olympiad;
  • FREE participation at the Olympiad.

* For any inquiries on partnership opportunities on BalaTech, please contact: +996 550984747,  tech.balatech@gmail.com. For UNDP partnership on digital innovation, please contact the Head of Experimentation at Accelerator Lab UNDP Kyrgyzstan, Jenny Jenish kyzy (Ensi Tszie) at ensi.tszie@undp.org

References:

Meet Digital X’s 10 ambitious new teams | Digital UNDP

Accelerating inclusiveness of digital education through a gamified mobile app with Digital X | UNDP in Kyrgyz Republic

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