Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINIAN AGRO-REGION PLANS TO BUY FARMLAND AFTER OPENING OF MARKET

Agro-Region (Velyka Oleksandrivka, Boryspil region in Kyiv region) plans to buy farmland with the opening of the land market in Ukraine, Agro-Region CEO Kateryna Rybachenko has said. “We, of course, plan to buy land with the opening of the market. The huge problem was that we could not invest in irrigation if the land did not belong to us. If people want to sell the land, we will be the first in line who will offer to buy it,” she told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Rybachenko, now the company pays an average of $150 rent per hectare.
“We annually invest at least $100 per hectare in new equipment. The plans for the next year, in addition to investing in equipment, are to send funds to buy land if someone has a desire to sell it,” the CEO said.
At the same time, she said that there were no plans to increase the land bank, however, Agro-Region considers it necessary to invest in updating existing assets and ongoing projects.
Agro-Region was founded in 2002. It processes 38,000 hectares in Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions. The company annually produces 240,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds. It has two silos in Boryspil and Myropil with a total storage capacity of 150,000 tonnes.

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PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE HEAD INITIATES RETURN OF VAT ON IMPORTED EQUIPMENT FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS AND WIND FARMS

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada committee for energy and utilities Andriy Herus has initiated the abolishment of the provision to exempt taxpayers from paying value added tax (VAT) on imported equipment for solar power plants and wind farms.
“This is an absolutely unacceptable situation when importers receive preferential VAT, do not pay it to the national budget, and Ukrainian producers are forced to pay VAT under the worst conditions… From Monday [September 30] I will register the corresponding bill in order to cancel this equipment import privilege as quickly as possible,” he said during a meeting on legislative regulation of state support for the development of renewable energy projects in Kyiv on Friday.
As reported, at the end of 2018, the Verkhovna Rada introduced amendments to the Tax Code, which exempted taxpayers from paying VAT on imported equipment for solar power plants and wind farms.

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LEADING PRODUCER OF CEREALS IN UKRAINE DECIDES TO CHANGE PLACE OF REGISTRATION FROM CYPRUS TO POLAND

The Board of Directors of the Cereal Planet Group, a leading producer of cereals in Ukraine, has approved the decision to change the place of registration from Cyprus to Poland, the company has reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Friday.
According to the report, shareholders at an extraordinary meeting on August 12 made this decision. Now Cereal Planet is going through the registration process in the relevant authorities of Poland. The plans are to register a holding company of the group called Cereal Planet S.A. in Warsaw.
Cereal Planet produces weight grains for B2B under the OLIMP trademark – four product lines: Bulgur, Ridlan, Mayfayna, Zlatokositsa, and under the Lyuba Ferma trademark – animal feed mixtures. It exports cereals to more than 30 countries.
Cereal Planet, according to the company, occupies up to 10% of the Ukrainian cereal market. The monthly production volume is 4,500-5,000 tonnes.
The owners of the group are Anatoliy and Oleksandr Vlasenko (33.54% and 29.93% respectively), Oleksandr Slavhorodsky (29.93%), and Ihor Dobruskin (5.5%).

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25,000 HASIDIC PILGRIMS ARRIVE TO UKRAINE TO CELEBRATE JEWISH NEW YEAR

Nearly 25,000 Hasidim arrived to Ukraine to celebrate Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) 5780, which is celebrated from September 29 through the evening of October 1 this year, according the Jewish calendar.
As a press service of the State Border Guard Service reported on Saturday, for the last 24 hours border guards registered arrival of 5,687 Hasidic pilgrims, who were seeking for entry to Ukraine.
Overall, border guards at the checkpoints in Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia and on the borders with Poland, Slovakia and Romania have already documented the arrival of 24,782 pilgrims in the prescribed manner.
Since the beginning of the arrival of Hasidim from September 6, State Border Service officials refused entry to eight Israeli citizens due to the lack of necessary documents and a ban on entry to Ukraine during a previous visit.

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UKRAINIAN CHORNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE OPENS WATER ROUTES FOR VISITORS

Water routes in the exclusion zone are open for the visitors and comply with all safety standards, said Head of the State Agency for Management of the Exclusion Zone of Ukraine Vitaliy Petruk following a conciliation meeting in Chornobyl and running along one of the recently approved water routes.
“Water routes in the exclusion zone are ready to host the visitors and meet all safety standards. The checkpoints are ready, dosimetric control and escort are provided,” a press service quotes Petruk as saying on Friday.
According to the information, in order to visit the exclusion zone along this route, one need to fill out an application, and the organizer of the visit must provide visitors with water transport.
Pursuant to a presidential decree No. 512/2019 “On certain issues of the development of territories affected by radioactive contamination as a result of the Chornobyl disaster”, the agency approved water routes for visiting the exclusion zone, which provide for movement along the Prypyat and Uzh rivers.

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IBOX BANK FROM KYIV DECIDES TO INCREASE CHARTER CAPITAL BY 50%

IBOX Bank (Kyiv) has decided to increase its charter capital by UAH 100 million, or by 50%, to UAH 300.004 million through an additional issue of shares.
According to a bank report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, its shareholders decided to increase charter capital at a general meeting on September 25.
The shares will be offered at a price of UAH 1.18 per share, which equals its nominal value, without making a public offer.
The bank plans to use financial resources raised during share placement to bring regulatory capital in line with the requirements of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the report said.
According to the NBU, at the beginning of August 2019 Volodymyr Drobot owned 54.991842% of the bank’s shares, Oleksiy Putiatin some 9.970795%, Ihor Khmelev some 9.897932%, Yevhen Berezovsky some 6.122%, Iryna Shpileva some 5.122519%, Oleksandr Smaliy some 4.70397%, and Natalia Konzurovska some 4.301307%.
IBOX Bank was founded in 1993.
The bank ranked 63rd among 76 banks operating in the country on July 1, 2019 in terms of total assets (UAH 820.014 million), according to the NBU.

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