BASF, an international chemical producer, is to invest EUR 2 million in a new plant that will produce concrete additives in the town of Obukhiv, Kyiv region, which is to open next spring, Managing Director (CEO) at BASF Ukraine Andreas Lier has said. “There will be about EUR 2 million in investment. This is our first investment in Ukraine. If it is successful, we will continue investing in this production. We have already been present in the Ukrainian market with these products for several years. We have been importing this product for a long time, but now we’ve decided we want to produce it here,” Lier told Interfax-Ukraine.
BASF’s National Development Manager Oleksandr Ruban says that the plant’s production capacity will be 10,000 tonnes of produce per year with the possibility of boosting the output in future. The plant is scheduled to be launched in March-April 2019.
Production in Ukraine will halve the price of concrete additives and will also allow the company to significantly increase its market share.
“Now we are bringing all the additives from abroad, and our share in the market is very small – less than 1%. We plan to grow up to 10% of the market in the first year,” Ruban said in a comment to the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Governor of Kyiv region Oleksandr Horhan forecasts that the production of the additives at the plant in Obukhiv will speed up the pace of construction in Kyiv region.
“Kyiv region is the leader in construction. These additives will make frame-monolithic construction possible amid sub-zero temperatures, allowing construction all the year round. Now such additives are available on the market, but they are imported and expensive,” Horhan said.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukraine exported 8.652 million tonnes of grain from July 1, 2018 (the beginning of the 2018/2019 marketing year, MY July-June) to September 26, 2018, which was 8.6% less than by the same date of the previous MY. As of today, farmers exported about 5.06 million tonnes of wheat, 1.93 million tonnes of barley, 1.5 million tonnes of maize, Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said on Wednesday.
In addition, 45,200 tonnes of flour was sold on foreign markets over the period under review.
The ministry also said that the volume of forecast wheat exports remained at the level that was recorded in the Memorandum of Understanding for 2018/2019 MY, signed by the ministry and grain market players on August 10, i.e. 8 million tonnes of food wheat and 8 million tonnes of coarse wheat.
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy has accumulated enough volumes of natural gas in its underground gas storage facilities to steadily pass the autumn and winter period, Naftogaz Chief Commercial Officer Yuriy Vitrenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Now there are some 16 billion cubic meters of gas in underground gas storage facilities. This is enough to pass winter with comfort,” he said.
Vitrenko said that there is a strong likelihood that after the completion of the heating season the company would have a good gas reserve in the storage facilities.
Seven locomotives General Electric (GE) TE33AC Trident (Tryzub) arrived in Chornomorsk (Odesa region), and the arrival of the next batch is expected in two weeks, acting Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov has said. “Another seven GE diesel locomotives arrived in Chornomorsk at night. They left the United States about a month ago and in a few days they will be sent for installation of the remained equipment in Ukraine,” Kravtsov wrote on Tuesday on his Facebook page and posted a short video from the port.
According to Kravtsov, in November, eight GE Evolution locomotives will operate in the railway: “We plan to use them for transportation on southern routes.”
He expressed hope that Ukraine will be able to receive the first 30 diesel locomotives before the end of this year.
“We are waiting for the next batch in two weeks,” he added.
As reported, in the beginning of August General Electric Transportation sent the first of 30 locomotives GE TE33AC to Ukraine. On September 11, it arrived in Ukraine.
The framework agreement between Ukrzaliznytsia and GE envisages a 15-year partnership in updating and modernizing traction rolling stock, the first stage of which is the delivery of 30 new diesel locomotives GE TE33AC to Ukrzaliznytsia under leasing terms with a localization level of 10%.
GE Transportation and Kriukov Car Building Works early June signed an agreement on the localization of production of 30 locomotives TE33A of the Evolution series. It was planned that Ukrzaliznytsia will receive the first locomotives late 2018.
