The Office of the President of Ukraine hopes that the Ukrainian parliament will consider a bill on demonopolization of the spirit sector in Ukraine next week and that the preparations of state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt will start, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Yulia Kovaliv has said.
“According to our estimates, the privatization of Ukrspyrt will bring us at least UAH 5 billion,” she said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
Kovaliv recalled that last week, the president introduced a bill on the demonopolization of alcohol production in the country to the Verkhovna Rada.
“Now alcohol is produced by the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt, while in another law we stipulate that all licenses for the production of alcohol can be granted only to state-owned enterprises. Actually, in conditions of non-liberalized production of alcohol in Ukraine, Ukrspyrt can only be sold at the price of scrap metal. We hope that next week this law on the demonopolization of the alcohol industry will be adopted and, together with this, preparations will be made for the privatization of Ukrspyrt,” Kovaliv said.
State-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt is a major producer of alcohol and alcohol-containing products in Ukraine. Until now, it was under the control of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food.
The total production capacity of the SOE is more than 36 million decaliters per year.
Its work is provided by 41 production sites.
Electricity consumption in Ukraine in January-September 2019, taking into account in-process losses, decreased by 0.6% compared to the same period in 2018, to 110.751 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Excluding in-process losses, electricity consumption over the period decreased 0.1%, to 89.554 billion kWh.
The country’s industry, excluding in-process losses, reduced electricity consumption by 0.3%, to 38.551 billion kWh. In particular, metallurgical industry consumed 22.063 billion kWh (0.2% less compared to January-September 2018), fuel industry some 2.533 billion kWh (3.4% less), machine building industry some 2.734 billion kWh (8% less), chemical and petrochemical some 2.702 billion kWh (12.8% more), food and processing some 3.295 billion kWh (1.1% more), construction materials some 1.669 billion kWh (0.7% less), while others 3.555 billion kWh (1.4% less).
In addition, agricultural enterprises consumed 2.778 billion kWh (3% down), transport 4.856 billion kWh (4.6% less), and construction 711.1 million kWh (2.9% more).
In January-September 2019, the country’s population consumed 25.937 billion kWh (0.3% less), household consumers some 11.277 billion kWh (0.7% less), and other non-industrial consumers some 5.444 billion kWh (9.4% more).
In January-September 2019, the share of industry in total electricity consumption decreased from 43.1% to 43%, and the share of the population remained at 29%.
Hungarian low cost Wizz Air launches flights from Lviv to Larnaca
The Hungarian low cost airline Wizz Air on Monday, October 28, launched direct flights from Lviv to Larnaca (Cyprus).
According to the airline’s reservation system, flights will be operated twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. The flight duration is three hours.
The cost of one-way ticket without baggage is UAH 709.
As reported, from March 2020 Wizz Air launches flights from Zaporizhia to Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow (all based in Poland), Vienna (Austria), Vilnius (Lithuania), and Budapest (Hungary).
Wizz Air, the largest low cost carrier in Central and Eastern Europe, offers flights on more than 600 routes from 25 bases, connecting 145 destinations in 44 countries. The airline fleet consists of 120 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft.
Private joint-stock company Farmak, a pharmaceutical company from Kyiv, is mulling a possibility of exporting own substances to the countries of the European Union (EU), Farmak Chief Operating Officer Pavlo Pavlyk has said.
“There are a number of projects with European companies. There are a number of orders. We are now looking at innovative substances in order to develop and produce them for the EU countries,” he told reporters on Monday.
Pavlyk also said that in May-June 2020, Farmak expects an FDA inspection, which will allow the company to supply drugs to the U.S. market.
Farmak is one of the three leaders of the pharmaceutical industry of Ukraine. It is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU). The company’s beneficiary is head of the supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
The opening of tenants’ space on the second floor of the Cherry Mall in Vyshneve, Kyiv region is scheduled for November 10, 2019.
“Today the second floor of the Cherry Mall is almost ready, most of the floor tenants are completing repairs. In particular, Budynok Іhrashok, Foxtrot, as well as a food court on the second floor, in particular, New York Street Pizza, Kryla, burger’s place and other fast food establishments. We set the task to open the second and second+ floors by November 10,” Technical Director of the shopping center Viktor Bleskin told Interfax-Ukraine.
He also said that Sport Life is actively carrying out repair work, which occupied the entire third floor, as well as the Linia Kino cinema chain and the Play & Jump children’s entertainment center on the fourth level.
“The official opening of the entire mall is tentatively planned for the middle of December. By this time, all tenants must complete repairs at their facilities,” Bleskin added.
According to CEO of Edelburg Development (the project developer) Serhiy Kucher, the development of megamalls today is an erroneous strategy.
“It is clear now that local facilities of 20,000-30,000 square meters will live much longer and grow faster,” he said.
As reported with reference to the project manager, partner of UTG (exclusive agent for the rental of retail space in the Cherry Mall), Artiom Neposedov, the first floor in the new Cherry Mall shopping center of 3,400 square meters was opened in September 2019.
Ukraine from October 30, 2019 will return to the U.S. General System of Preferences, according to a proclamation of U.S. President Donald Trump. “On Saturday Kyiv time or on Friday night in Washington, the news came out that Trump has completely returned Ukraine to the General System of Preferences,” Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Ukraine’s trade representative Taras Kachka said at a press briefing on Monday.
He said that all 155 types of goods that were removed from the system of preferences, again will receive the possibility of duty-free trade in the United States.
“These are mainly food processing products – confectionery product… [and also] industrial products, especially complex engineering products,” Kachka said.
He said that the return to the system of preferences was made possible thanks to the progress in introducing new legislation on collective management organizations (CMOs).
“This is unlikely to affect trade statistics, since these are not mass products, but will positively influence small and medium-sized businesses,” Kachka added.
As reported, in 2018, the United States suspended the General System of Preferences, which allows the import of more than 3,500 types of goods to the United States duty free, for 155 types of Ukrainian goods due to systematic copyright violation.
