Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, increased steel production by 3% in 2019 compared with 2018, to 7.578 million tonnes, and pig iron production fell by 3%, to 7.928 million tonnes, and total coke production – by 11%, to 4.667 million tonnes. Metinvest B.V., the parent company of the holding, said in a report on operational results for Q4 2019 and entire 2019, in Q4 2019 pig iron production fell by 7% compared with the previous quarter, to 1.887 million tonnes due to scheduled major overhauls of blast furnaces at the Mariupol steelmakers.
Steel production in Q4 2019 fell by 16% compared with the previous quarter, to 1.673 million tonnes as the group both produced less hot metal and allocated more to make merchant pig iron. The latter came amid higher demand for that product and lower demand for slabs and finished products.
In Q4 2019, coke production totaled 1.05 million tonnes, which is 8% less than in the previous quarter due to a fall in domestic consumption in the reporting period.
In 2019, Metinvest’s coke output dropped due to: a shortage of coal that started in June 2019, as direct supply stopped from Russia; unstable operation of coke-oven batteries, a coke dryquenching plant and emergency shutdowns of coke cars early this year at Avdiyivka Coke Plant; and lower intragroup consumption in Q4 2019.
Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, today met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to deliver the voice of business in the course of the Secretary’s visit to Ukraine.
Andy Hunder thanked Secretary Pompeo and the entire U.S. Department of State for providing support to all AmChams throughout 43 European countries. AmCham Ukraine’s office is, by far, the biggest in Europe.
Mr. Hunder delivered AmCham Business Climate Survey and provided tangible examples of realities of doing business on the ground, voicing member companies’ success stories. He stressed that the mood of business is upbeat, with 88% of AmCham members seeing increased growth in revenues and 65% increasing investment in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is ripe for U.S. investment, and now is the time to invest in Ukraine. There is a need to shift the narrative on U.S.-Ukraine relations to focus on business and investment. Ukraine is going through a massive overhaul and the 600 members of the American Chamber of Commerce are seeing growth and increased revenues for their business in Ukraine,” commented Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce at the meeting with Mike Pompeo on January 31st.
The parties also discussed rule of law, further cooperation with the IMF, unlock of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s (EXIM) full financing capacity, and OPIC’s transformation into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Andy Hunder thanked Secretary Pompeo for the constant support that Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Kristina Kvien and the whole U.S. Embassy team provide to members.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine sees that the business optimism is growing and will continue to help businesses grow in Ukraine throughout 2020.
National energy company Ukrenergo during procurement of goods, labor and services in 2019 saved 15% (UAH 219 million) of their expected cost, the company’s press service has reported. According to the company, the total volume of more than 5,000 procurement tenders last year was UAH 1.25 billion. The share of construction, reconstruction, repair and design services was 27% (UAH 342.9 million), economic goods – 21% (UAH 263 million) and basic equipment – 20% (UAH 243.2 million).
“Since 2016, we have reviewed almost all estimates and project decisions, thanks to which we have received two-digit figure savings. However, such a high indicator is positive only at the initial stages of the procurement system reform, when the expected prices are too high. Today, we have switched to careful procurement planning, when the savings depends only on competition at the auction,” Head of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
Interest rates on nbu’s active and passive operations set for February 3
ãSource: National Bank of Ukraine
The Refinancing Rate is a rate at which the NBU provides loans to commercial banks for replenishment of their monetary reserves and lending funds
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Friday improved the assessment of Ukraine’s country risks, putting the country from the seventh to the sixth group of the classification of countries participated in the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits.
“Of course, this is very small, but all the risks associated with Ukraine and Ukrainian companies are becoming less. This means lower insurance costs, lower loan rates, longer terms and limits of credit lines!” Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
Along with Ukraine, Kosovo was transferred to the sixth group from the seventh, and Serbia from the fifth to the fourth.
At the same time, the OECD worsened the country risk assessment of a number of countries, in particular, Algeria and Oman was moved from the fourth group to the fifth, Tunisia from the fifth to the sixth, and Iran and Turkmenistan – from the sixth to the seventh.
In addition to Ukraine, the sixth group also includes countries such as Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Mongolia.
Von der Heyden Group, an international investment firm on the European real estate market (Valletta, Malta), has opened its first regional office in Kyiv and plans to invest EUR 50 million in commercial and residential property in Kyiv and Lviv during its preliminary phase.
“Von der Heyden Group… has opened new offices in Kyiv in Q4 2019 to establish multi-million euro investments in Ukraine. The group… will invest around EUR 50 million in commercial and residential properties in Kyiv and Lviv during its preliminary phase, aiming to increase this to up to fourfold in its mid-term portfolio expansion in a favourable market,” the company said in a press release.
According to the report, the Von der Heyden Group has appointed a local expert team, formed to expand the group’s real estate portfolio led by Dmitry Havrylenko who assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer in Ukraine. Havrylenko until recently held the position of National Director and head of the Ukrainian office of global investment management firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Ex-Head of Capital Markets at the Kyiv office of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Tatyana Yarmolitskaya joined the Von der Heyden Group as Investment Director. Ex-Associate with the tax practice of leading Ukrainian law firm, Arzinger, also joined the team as Legal & Tax Director.
