Ukraine considers Qatar as a promising market for increasing exports of grain, poultry products, vegetable oil, as well as for expanding the range of agricultural products supplied, Head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko said, following negotiations with Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Ukraine Hadi Al-Hajri.
“We understand the importance of ensuring food security in the world, therefore, we are interested in stepping up cooperation in this direction. In particular, Ukraine is making every effort to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of food to foreign markets,” Petrashko said.
The Economy Ministry said the Ukrainian agricultural sector is promising for attracting internal and foreign investments, and the mutually beneficial development of investments between Ukraine and Qatar can provide an additional impetus to trade and economic cooperation in this direction.
According to the ministry, in 2020 the trade turnover between Ukraine and Qatar increased by 69.2%, year-over-year, to $139.16 million, while the export of Ukrainian goods increased by 75.7%, to $131.61 million.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky made changes to the composition of the Coordination Council for solving problems in urban planning, excluding Head of the Executive Committee of the National Reforms Council of Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili, and appointed Giorgi Tskhakaia to be expert on the committee.
The head of state signed relevant decree No. 87/2021 on March 4, according to the presidential website.
Earlier, the president appointed Olena Shuliak as head of the Coordination Council. Head of the Coordination Center for ensuring interaction with the Cabinet of Ministers Volodymyr Kladiyev has been appointed its secretary.
COUNCIL FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS, MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, SOLVING PROBLEMS
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday will hold a conference call with the regions to increase the speed of vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, 19,118 people have been inoculated. I am not satisfied with these numbers, I set a different task for the speed of vaccination. By the end of the previous week, we had to reach 10,000 people per day and increase this number. We reached a little more than 2,000-3,000 vaccinations per day. Today we will hold an appropriate conference call, which will be attended by the heads of the Regional State Administrations, the leadership of the President’s Office, and directorates of health departments that coordinate vaccinations locally,” he said.
In addition, the minister noted that 185 cases of side effects from vaccination were recorded in Ukraine.
“As of today, out of almost 20,000 vaccinations, only 185 reports of side effects from immunization have been recorded. No serious side effects from vaccination have been recorded in Ukraine. Only one case required medical supervision, when a person had a fever for two days after vaccination,” he said.
Stepanov also said that as of March 9, some 190,230 people had already signed up for the vaccination waiting list.
Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies, has acquired an additional stake in the largest coking coal business in Ukraine, Pokrovske coal business, increasing its effective interest to a controlling stake.
According to a company press release issued on Friday, as a result of consolidating the acquired businesses into the group, Metinvest expects to become fully self-sufficient in coking coal for its hot metal production.
The acquired business comprises several entities (jointly referred to as the Pokrovske coal business), the most significant of which are Pokrovske Colliery and Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Factory. Together, they mine raw coal, enrich it and sell coking coal concentrate. The assets are located on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, close to the group’s coke producers. None of the acquired assets are located in the non-controlled territories of Ukraine.
Pokrovske Colliery produces mostly high-quality K-grade coking coal, which is used in metallurgical coke production. As at 1 January 2019, its JORC Mineral Resources and Reserves amounted to 248 million tonnes and 151 million tonnes, respectively, enough to maintain operations for at least 30 years.
Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Factory is one of the largest beneficiation plants in Ukraine. Its design processing capacity is also around 8 million tonnes of raw coking coal per year.
In 2020, the Pokrovske coal business mined 6.2 million tonnes of raw coal, up 55% from 2018, and produced 3.2 million tonnes of coking coal concentrate, up 39% from 2018.
According to the press release, the acquisition of control in the Pokrovske coal business follows Metinvest acquiring 24.77% of the effective interest in the Pokrovske coal business in July 2018, as well as an option to purchase the remaining 75.22% from the other co-investors upon condition of obtaining all required governmental and other approvals. In October 2020, the group received a one-year approval from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to obtain control over certain entities being part of the Pokrovske coal business.
Total consideration for an additional stake acquired by the group in the Pokrovske coal business was driven by the value of the option Metinvest obtained in 2018.
In 2019-2020, amid a potential business combination with Metinvest, the Pokrovske coal business restructured a significant part of its loans and borrowings. As at December 31, 2020, the Pokrovske coal business had external debt of $535 million. This mainly consists of a $480 million restructured debt facility maturing in 2030. It is Metinvest’s intention to prudently manage the debt portfolio of the Pokrovske coal business.
Commenting on the news Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest Yuriy Ryzhenkov said that this acquisition is very important for Metinvest.
“The group has experienced a lack of adequate coking coal supplies in recent years. We are now fully self-sufficient in coking coal, which strengthens our vertical integration. From here, the next objective is to integrate the assets into the group to maximise synergies. I am confident that the Pokrovske coal business will improve its efficiency as part of Metinvest and believe that its employees will benefit from our corporate culture and strong social guarantees,” the top manager said.
Potato producer Central Plains Group Ukraine (CPG) intends to build a waste-free potato processing plant in Hlyniany (Lviv region) with a capacity of 40,000-50,000 tonnes per year.
This is stated in a posting on the website of the Lviv Regional State Administration.
“We grow potatoes and cooperate with the Frito-Lay company, which produces chips. Now every sixth pack of chips of this company is made from our potatoes, and in general, this is every tenth pack in Ukraine. Ambitious plans are that every fourth pack in Ukraine was from our potatoes,” member of the Board of Directors and a representative of the Finnish Investment Fund Oleh Drin said.
According to the administration, investors from CPG Ukraine and Governor Maksym Kozytsky discussed the working aspects of the project, in particular the permits for the construction of a potato processing plant. CPG also discussed the possibility of repairing the Zastavne-Hlyniany road in 2021 with the regional administration.
The administration said that the company, founded by a group of farmers from the U.K. and Finland, plans to invest about $7 million in a project for waste-free processing of potatoes (including starch) and create about 50 jobs.
“For the profitable operation of the plant there is a great need for raw materials. We plan to establish cooperation with local farmers and build an effective process for growing and supplying raw materials to the plant. We plan to cooperate with USAID on the development of farming and in the future to establish a process for purchasing potatoes from farmers,” Drin said.
According to the administration, CPG in 2020 grew 15,000 tonnes of potatoes in Kamianka-Buzka and Sambir districts of Lviv region on a total area of 700 hectares.
Last year, the company put into operation the first stage of potato storage facility with a capacity of 11,000 tonnes with refrigeration equipment. This year, CPG plans to build a second stage of the potato storage facility with a similar capacity.
Euroins Ukraine insurance company (Kyiv) ended 2020 with a net profit of UAH 37.548 million versus a net loss of UAH 14.6 million in 2019, follows from the materials for the agenda of the meeting of shareholders, made public in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
According to it, the company’s assets over the past year grew by 47%, to UAH 433.2 million, cash and their equivalent – by 22%, to UAH 56.4 million, equity – by 39.8%, to 129.7 UAH million, accounts receivable – by 71.6%, to UAH 67.2 million.
Noncurrent liabilities of the company in 2020 rose by 27.7%, to UAH 209.1 million, current liabilities – by 83.9%, to UAH 94.419 million.
As reported, Euroins Ukraine collected UAH 320 million in insurance payments in 2020, which is 25% more than a year earlier.
The insurer said that, according to the data of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine, in 2020 Euroins Ukraine entered the top ten insurers of Ukraine in terms of the number of compulsory civil liability insurance of land vehicle owners (OSAGO) policies sold. The total amount of insurance payments of the company over 2020 exceeded UAH 110 million.
PrJSC Euroins Ukraine has been operating on the Ukrainian market since 1992, is a part of Euroins Insurance Group AD (Bulgaria).
