Acting Ukrainian Culture and Information Policy Minister Rostyslav Karandeyev has said that the agency is preparing a communication with global computer games manufacturers regarding the presence of Ukrainian-language versions of their products on the country’s domestic market.
“We will soon come out with a global proposal to the world manufacturers of computer games regarding the presence of Ukrainian-language versions in the most popular games of the largest manufacturers, in order to ensure that it is they came to the Ukrainian market,” Karandeev said on the air of the national telethon on Friday.
At the same time, he noted that this is a rather specific market, and communication with program developers should be built not quite traditionally, in particular, through personal communications.
France has increased defense spending, some of which will be invested in production in Ukraine, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine Gael Vesierre has said.
During the 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum founded by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation, the Ambassador noted that France’s defense spending exceeded 2% of GDP.
Regarding investments in defense, the diplomat stressed that investments are also needed to produce in Ukraine what the Ukrainian Armed Forces need.
“We say: if we can start such production in Ukraine, we should do it,” Vesier said.
He also called for supporting Ukraine to achieve victory.
“Let’s imagine for a second if Russia wins. It means that Russia can destroy a neighbor and the international community can do nothing in response. It means that many countries will say: we now need to join the nuclear club because our security is at risk. It will be a more risky and unstable situation than today,” the French diplomat emphasized.
The 16th annual Kiev Security Forum, organized to mobilize transatlantic support for Ukraine, is taking place March 21-22.
Number of refugees from Ukraine in selected countries as of 31.12.2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In January-February of this year, ferrous scrap companies increased scrap supplies to Ukrainian steelmakers by 71.4% year-on-year, up to 206 thousand tons from 120.2 thousand tons.
As reported in the operational information of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (UAVtormet) on Thursday, scrap metal procurement in the first two months of this year increased by 70% compared to the same period last year – up to 258.7 thousand tons from 152.2 thousand tons.
At the same time, exports of scrap metal for the period amounted to 40.4 thousand tons compared to 24.8 thousand tons in January-February 2023 (an increase of 62.9%). At the same time, imports of scrap amounted to 0.02 thousand tons, while in January-February 2023 – 0.05 thousand tons.
As of March 1, 2023, the level of scrap stocks at Ukrainian steelmakers was estimated at 20-30 thousand tons.
As reported earlier, ferrous scrap companies may increase their scrap procurement by 17-33% year-on-year in 2024, to 1.5-1.7 million tons.
According to UVTORMET’s forecast, Ukraine will produce 6.8-7 million tons of steel in 2024 (6.228 million tons in 2023 and 6.263 million tons in 2022), procure 1.5-1.7 million tons of scrap metal (1,277.3 thousand tons in 2023 and 996.7 thousand tons in 2022), and steel companies will consume 1,277.3 thousand tons (1,277.3 thousand tons in 2023 and 996.7 thousand tons in 2022). tons in 2023 and 996.7 thousand tons in 2022). tons), steelmakers will consume 1.2-1.4 million tons of scrap (1 million 34.7 thousand tons in 2023 and 895.7 thousand tons in 2022), export 250-300 thousand tons of scrap (182.5 thousand tons and 53.6 thousand tons, respectively), increasing the export of strategic raw materials for steelmakers by 37-64% compared to last year.
The modernization of CHP plants is one of the key priorities for 2024, which the management of Naftogaz Group discussed with the company’s Supervisory Board at an offsite meeting on March 20, 2024.
“The thermal generation facilities transferred to Naftogaz are in an extremely poor condition. They have not been modernized for years, and the war has also had a negative impact on their operation. In today’s environment, they cannot operate efficiently and ensure the proper level of reliability. Therefore, we need to find funds to modernize these facilities,” the Naftogaz Group website said on Thursday, citing its head Oleksiy Chernyshev.
Among the key priorities of the group this year, Naftogaz also highlighted the growth of gas and oil production, an increase in the volume of gas from foreign energy companies in Ukrainian underground storage facilities, the development of customer services for household consumers and the protection of facilities in times of war.
In particular, the group plans to increase natural gas production by 0.5 bcm this year and attract about 4 bcm of gas from foreign traders for storage in Ukrainian underground storage facilities, up from 2.5 bcm in 2023.
“As in the previous year, our top priority remains to increase our own Ukrainian gas and oil production. Our plan for 2024 is to increase natural gas production by at least half a billion cubic meters. We are increasing the pace of drilling new wells, using modern technologies for both subsoil exploration and direct gas production,” Chernyshov said.
As reported with reference to the head of Naftogaz, the group plans to produce 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2024 at the expense of PJSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya (UGV) and PJSC Ukrnafta.
According to Chernyshev, in 2023, UGV produced 13.5 billion cubic meters of gas.
For his part, according to UGV CEO Oleh Tolmachov, in 2023, the company increased gas production by about 700 million cubic meters compared to 2022. In 2022, the company produced 12.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas (commercial).
“In 2023, Ukrnafta increased oil and condensate production by 3% (by 39.9 thousand tons) compared to 2022, to 1 million 409.9 thousand tons, and gas production by 5.8% (by 60.4 million cubic meters), to 1 billion 97.4 million cubic meters.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to transfer six CHPPs from the State Property Fund to Naftogaz of Ukraine (Dniprovska in Kamianske, Mykolaivska, Kryvorizka, Khersonska, Odesa, and Centralized Metallurgical Plant of Sievierodonetska CHPP) in early August 2021. Later, the government decided to increase the authorized capital of the NJSC by UAH 646.248 million through an additional share issue by contributing additional stakes in these CHP plants.
According to preliminary data, a large Ukrainian manufacturer of sowing and tillage machinery Elworthy JSC (formerly Chervona Zirka, Kropivnitsky) has completed 2023 with a loss of UAH 85.85 mln, which is 81.6% more than the same indicator of 2022.
The corresponding information is contained in the agenda of the general meeting of shareholders of the company, scheduled for April 25, published in the disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM).
According to the draft decision of the meeting, the losses are planned to be repaid at the expense of retained earnings of previous years.
According to the Clarity-project resource, the company’s retained earnings amounted to UAH 611.039 million by the beginning of this year.
The meeting also intends, in particular, to re-elect the Supervisory Board.
JSC “Elworthy”, which is part of the group of enterprises “Elworthy Group” of businessman Pavel Shtutman, specializes in the production of seeding and tillage equipment: seeders for sowing grain and row crops, cultivators for continuous and inter-row tillage, disc harrows for resource-saving tillage.
As reported, in January-September 2023, the company has received UAH 59.17 million loss against net profit of UAH 29.3 million for the same period of 2022, with net income falling by 35% to UAH 422.93 million.
According to Clarity-project, net income for the whole of 2023 fell by 34.3% to UAH 490.7m.
