Romania’s gas transmission system (GTS) operator SNTGN Transgaz has started selling capacity at the point of interstate connection with Ukraine Orlivka/Isaccea-1 on the RBP auction platform since April.
In this regard, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) congratulated the Romanian colleagues in its message, expressing hope for the signing of interaction agreements at other points of connection between the countries.
“GTSOU constantly and systematically works with all its colleagues to ensure that such practices become a reality on each border with Ukraine and contribute to the further integration of Ukrainian and neighboring markets. We are glad that Romanian colleagues have now joined Poland and Hungary. This is another step towards easing the use of the Trans-Balkan Gas Corridor. We hope that our Slovak colleagues will support the trend of introducing auctions even before the end of 2021,” Director on Government and International Affairs Olha Bielkova said.
GTSOU said that the distribution of capacities at auctions is a transparent mechanism for the sale of services for the transportation of natural gas, in accordance with the Third EU Energy Package. From October 1, 2020, GTSOU, like all EU countries, distributes capacities to all points of interstate connection exclusively through auctions.
Sales of agricultural machinery Amazone in Ukraine last year in units increased 19% compared to 2019, despite the general drop in the market of agricultural machinery by almost 15%, Amazone-Ukraine subsidiary has told Interfax-Ukraine.
In particular, in 2020, the sales of pneumatic seed drills Primera DMC and Condor increased significantly, which allowed Amazone in terms of the number of sold seed drills among importers to climb from the fourth place in 2019 to second place in 2020, having sold 58 units.
“Despite a significant overall drop in the seed drills market by about 40%, we managed to increase sales of Amazone seed drills by almost 30% compared to 2019. One of the positive factors was the growth in demand for no-till, strip-till technologies in Ukraine, which is associated with climatic challenges that agricultural producers faced last year,” General Director of Amazone-Ukraine Dmytro Davydenko said.
According to the company, the segment of disc harrows in Ukraine in 2020, compared to other segments, decreased slightly – by 5-6%, which, according to Amazone-Ukraine, confirms the general trend of transition to minimum tillage technologies. “At the same time, sales of Amazone disc harrows grew by 64%, which allowed the brand to increase its market share to 12%. In the segment of fertilizer spreaders and high-tech sprayers, Amazone maintains a stable leadership in Ukraine,” the press service said.
As Davydenko said, this year, taking into account climate changes and a revision of the approach to organizing agricultural production processes, the company intends to continue to offer farmers Amazone technologies, which can significantly improve soil performance and reduce the costs of enterprises for fertilizers and plant protection products.
The press service of the company also reported that in 2020, the turnover of the Amazone group in the world increased 15% compared with 2019, to EUR 537 million, which made it possible to achieve the highest profit in the entire 138-year history of the enterprise, despite the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 80% of products are exported, Amazone is the leader in the markets of Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Russia and Austria, and a high level of turnover was again recorded in France, Ukraine, Poland and the UK in 2020.
Family company AMAZONEN-WERKE H. DREYER SE & Co. KG, headquartered in Hasbergen-Gast, specializes in the manufacture of agricultural and municipal machinery. The company has nine production sites in Germany, France, Russia and Hungary with a total of about 1,900 employees.
It manufactures tillage implements, seeders, fertilizer spreaders and crop protection implements.
This year it expects at least to keep sales at the level of the previous year.
The company has been operating in Ukraine since 1998. Amazone-Ukraine does not disclose the figures of turnover in monetary terms.
The national operator Datagroup is investing $20 million in a project to modernize the all-Ukrainian backbone network in partnership with the world leader in production of network equipment Cisco (the United States), the company’s press service said.
Datagroup notes that investments in the project will amount to $20 million, and the project itself will help the company bring the quality of services to a higher level.
At the same time, it is specified that the company carried out thorough preparation for a tender and chose the best world equipment manufacturers to participate in it. Based on the results of the tender, Cisco became the project vendor.
“In 2020, the company’s network traffic grew by 35%. We made a decision on a large-scale network modernization, which will allow us to implement our business strategy. It will also lay the foundation for business growth for 10 years: it will allow us to introduce various innovative services and attract new clients in corporate, public and private sectors,” CEO of Datagroup Mykhailo Shelemba said.
The press release says the total length of the Datagroup high-speed data transmission network is more than 22,000 km: these are long-distance DWDM and MPLS networks, and urban MPLS backbone networks in the major cities of the provider’s presence. The modernization will apply to all levels of the network and will significantly increase its throughput.
Datagroup was founded in 2000. It is one of the largest B2B operators in Ukraine, provides services in more than 90 settlements of the country.
The company provides Internet connection, telephony, television and video surveillance services, as well as a cloud service from Microsoft and a range of cybersecurity services – DataProtect.
Data Group in 2019 increased its net profit by 6.97 times compared to 2018, to UAH 141.764 million.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 08/04/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
The Ministry of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine is considering issuing licenses in the near future to import additional 50,000 tonnes of raw sugar, the ministry said on its website on Thursday.
“The cost of sugar produced from imported raw material is about UAH 20 per kilogram. Accordingly, after the import in the coming weeks, the price situation will level out and sugar will become more affordable for Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the parliament is considering the possibility of a temporary zeroing of duties on imports of white sugar to Ukraine, which will also contribute to the saturation of the domestic market with sugar,” the ministry’s press service said, citing Deputy Economy Minister Taras Vysotsky.
He said that in February-March, 40,000 tonnes of sugar were also imported under the established tariff quota with a zero duty rate in accordance with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
According to the Economy Ministry, imports of additional raw sugar will provide the processing industries with a sufficient amount of raw materials, which will saturate the market and lead to a decrease in the retail price.
As reported, on April 5, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) launched an investigation into the grounds of anticompetitive concerted actions on the primary sugar market against the Astarta Group and Radekhiv Sugar LLC (Lviv region), which during September-November 2020, equally increased the wholesale selling prices for this product by an average of 48%.
Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau arrived on a visit to Ukraine, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“We planned to meet later, but taking into account the situation, Zbigniew Rau adjusted his plans and arrived in Kyiv earlier at my invitation. Purpose is to strengthen the Ukrainian-Polish strategic partnership amid the aggravation of the security situation by Russia,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
The foreign minister said that Poland is a long-time ally and reliable friend of Ukraine.
As reported, Rau is on a working visit to Ukraine on Thursday. The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Poland will hold talks on the entire range of issues of strategic partnership between the countries, discuss further interaction and increase the volume of trade and investment.
