Radiation levels on the territory of the Chornobyl exclusion zone, in Kyiv region and in Kyiv are within the norm, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine has said.
“Radiation levels in the city of Kyiv, in Kyiv region, and in the exclusion zone are within natural background levels,” Director of the State Emergency Service’s Emergency Response Department Volodymyr Demchuk said during an online briefing on Monday.
One of four fire beds has been contained in the Chornobyl zone as of this morning, Demchuk said.
“The most difficult fire bed is located near the village of Rudky, where all possible measures are being taken to prevent the fire from spreading to the territory of the Republic of Belarus,” he said.
The other two fire beds in the exclusion zone, near the village of Rosokhach and Kryva Hora, pose no threat to the forests and other territories in the exclusion zone, Demchuk said.
“The Confinement facility, the spent nuclear fuel storage facility and the other facilities of the state agency managing the exclusion zone are functioning normally, he said.
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service is maintaining contact with the Belarusian Emergency Situations Ministry as concerns joint firefighting measures, Demchuk said.
PrJSC Severodonetsk Azot, part of Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF nitrogen business, increased the production of mineral fertilizers 7.3 times in January-March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to 180,210 tonnes, the enterprise said in a press release. During the period, the production of ammonia nitrate amounted to 141,610 tonnes (6.3 times more), carbamide amounted to 32,030 tonnes, industrial aqueous ammonia was 2,810 tonnes (5.9 times more), urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) was 3,760 tonnes (twice as much).
“This year, the enterprise is gradually gathering pace after the restoration of the full production cycle and the start of ammonia production in March. The increase in the production of own ammonia made it possible to raise the production of mineral fertilizers, namely, ammonia nitrate, urea, UAN. Ammonia nitrate together with UAN remain the most demanded products. On the other hand, this year there was low rainfall, little moisture, and we see how demand for aqueous ammonia and urea is increasing,” the company said in the statement, citing chairman of the board Leonid Buhayev.
The company also said it is currently recovering, despite the special working conditions during the period of quarantine measures. All concluded agreements are fully implemented.
PrJSC Severodonetsk Azot is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical enterprises. It has been part of Group DF since 2011. The core business of the enterprise is production of mineral nitrogen fertilizers.
The most popular service connection requests to the Kyivstar mobile communications operator from business during the month of quarantine were solutions allowing companies outside of offices to communicate with employees and clients, ensure staff with tools for joint work and establish the effective exchange of documents.
The company’s press service said on Friday that the number of connections to Microsoft Office 365 and StarTeams services over the specified period has grown more than 20-fold. In addition, the number of connections to the Star.Docs electronic document management service increased almost 2.5-fold. The vast majority of applications came from representatives of medium and small-sized businesses.
Another common request for Kyivstar was the organization of the remote work of sales departments and contact centers. So, according to the operator, the number of connections the Virtual Mobile PBX with the quick transfer of all calls from fixed telephone lines of offices to mobile numbers of employees working from home has more than quadrupled for large companies and more than doubled for medium and small-sized businesses.
The largest number of service connections for remote work was ordered by wholesale and retail companies, logistics, light and manufacturing industries, the agricultural and financial sectors, hotel and construction businesses, state-owned enterprises, healthcare institutions, natural resource providers, and companies providing services for business and the public.
The metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine in January-March of this year maintained consumption of natural gas at the level of the same period last year, at 460 million cubic meters.
According to information from the Ukrmetalurgprom association, electricity consumption by metal enterprises over this period amounted to about 2.75 billion kWh (94% from January-March 2019).
As reported, the metallurgical enterprises of Ukraine in 2019 reduced consumption of natural gas by 2% compared to 2018, to 1.8 billion cubic meters. Electricity consumption by metal enterprises in 2019 amounted to about 11.2 billion kWh (95% compared to 2018).
GRAWE Ukraine Insurance Company (Kyiv) in 2019 collected UAH 97.438 million in net premiums, which is 27% more than a year earlier, according to the annual report of the company, published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
According to its data, gross premiums for the year amounted to UAH 115.026 million, which is 21.7% more than in 2018. Premiums transferred to reinsurance remained at almost the same level of UAH 8.138 million. The reserve of unearned premiums increased by 11.3%, to UAH 10 million.
In 2019, the company paid customers UAH 58.592 million, which is 26.6% more than a year earlier.
The company’s administrative expenses for the year increased by 32.3%, to UAH 18.136 million, sales expenses by 13.8%, to UAH 40.502 million.
As reported, GRAWE Ukraine Insurance Company in 2019 saw a net loss of UAH 30.345 million, while in 2018 some UAH 16.5 million. Over the year, it increased assets by 5%, to UAH 119.537 million.
Net worth decreased by 23.8%, to UAH 41.583 million. Charter capital, as before, is UAH 41.13 million.
The long-term liabilities of the insurer increased by 43.3%, to UAH 59.814 million, while current liabilities increased by 3.5%, to UAH 18.140 million.
Debtor indebtedness rose by 52.7%, to UAH 12.422 million. Cash and cash equivalents decreased by 18.6% and amounted to UAH 15.009 million.
UMG Investments, which combines the mineral extraction and processing assets of SCM financial and industrial group, has acquired a minor stake in Feednova, which is implementing a project to build a plant for the production of high protein feed additives and animal fat in Busk (Lviv region), according to a Feednova press release.
“We, as a local investor, understand that without new projects, without creating jobs and supporting business processes in portfolio companies, there will be no rapid economic recovery after overcoming the pandemic. We keep moving along all the previously agreed investment projects, and we are glad that our investment in Feednova helps create the first independent livestock by-product processing operator in Ukraine,” UMG Investments CEO Andriy Horokhov said.
Feednova said the financial details of this agreement were not disclosed.
Feednova is expected to process raw materials from external suppliers to produce feed additives and animal fat for farm and domestic animals. It is planned that the complex will have four production lines and five boilers (Mavitec, the Netherlands) with a capacity of more than 220 tonnes of raw materials and 90 tonnes of finished products per day. It is expected that up to 100 jobs will be created.
UMG Investments is an investment company with a focus on developing business in the raw materials and processing sectors. It was founded in 2006 by SCM Group. UMG Investments manages portfolio companies in the following sectors: mining, management of by-products and industrial waste, industrial goods and services. The market value of the assets managed by the company exceeds $500 million.
