Kusto Logistics, part of Kusto Agro PTE. Ltd. (Singapore) has acquired 25 grain hoppers and plans to expand its fleet to 70 hoppers by the end of this year.
“Now the total fleet of the company’s wagons is 45 units. It is planned to purchase another 25 grain hoppers [by the end of 2019],” the company told Interfax-Ukraine.
As reported, Kusto Agro acquired Lischynske LLC and Tereschenko Agrarian Fund LLC in Zhytomyr region from France’s AgroGeneration with assets in Ukraine.
Kusto Agro is part of the international holding Kusto Group (Singapore), which develops business in oil, energy, agricultural, construction and other industries. Kusto Group implements projects in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkey, Vietnam, and China.
In Ukraine, the company’s land bank is 12,000 hectares in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytsky regions. In addition, Kusto Agro owns three silos with a total storage capacity of 90,000 tonnes. The group also has about 600 heads of dairy herd.
According to the information on the group’s website, Kusto Agro plans to create a land bank for crop production of at least 100,000 hectares over the next five years.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry has decided to postpone corporatization of state-owned enterprise (SOE) Boryspil international airport, Director General Pavlo Riabikin said at a press conference at the airport on Thursday.
“There is no final government decision on the corporatization of the Boryspil airport, but at the level of the Infrastructure Ministry, during all consultations that lasted about six months, we decided to set aside the issue of corporatization and stay at the level of implementing corporate governance at the airport,” he said.
According to Riabikin, the issue of corporatization does not have a final decision today: the problem is that the main part of the property of the Boryspil airport belongs to the category of property that cannot be included the charter capital and cannot be privatized – this is, first of all, the entire airfield. If we compare the cost of these facilities with what can be transferred as part of the corporatization – the ratio is about three to one, the director of the airport said.
He said that, in theory, this can be solved by a separate law, as it was done with Ukrzaliznytsia, or by introducing elements of corporate governance, leaving now the status of SOE.
“Corporatization with such a large amount of property that does not enter the enterprise will necessitate the creation of two enterprises, one of which will manage the part of the property that cannot be privatized, the second – the terminals. And in the future, this may create problems, for example, attraction of loans from European financial institutions,” the director of the airport said.
At the same time, he said that the enterprise needs such a body as a supervisory board.
On May 22, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the composition of the supervisory board of the Boryspil airport, consisting of three independent members and two state representatives.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) from June 15, 2019 will launch direct flights from Kyiv to Izmir (Turkey).
The press service of UIA reported that flights between Kyiv and Izmir will be operated daily by medium-haul Boeing 737-800 NG and Embraer aircraft. It will take 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to the destination.
One-way economy class ticket prices include all taxes and surcharges start from UAH 819 when booked in advance.
UIA has enhanced its fleet with second medium-haul Embraer-195. The plane received the registration number UR-EMF. The plane is scheduled to operate its first commercial flights from May 27.
Ukraine International Airlines was founded in 1992. The fleet consists of 42 airplanes of different modifications. One of the ultimate beneficiaries of the airline is businessman Ihor Kolomoisky.
The Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine predicts that this year grain harvest in the country could reach 70.8 million tonnes compared with 70.1 million tonnes in 2018 under favorable conditions.
The ministry said that corn harvest could decrease by 7.5%, to 33.1 million tonnes, wheat harvest could increase 9.3%, to 26.9 million tonnes and barley – by 12.3%, to 8.2 million tonnes.
As reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its May report predicted grain harvest in Ukraine in 2019 at 72.1 million tonnes.
According to the USDA, wheat production in Ukraine this year may reach 29 million tonnes, corn – 33 million tonnes, barley – 9 million tonnes.
State-owned enterprise (SOE) Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv region) plans to repay UAH 3.6 billion of debt under a state-secured loan of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) received 10 years ago to build Terminal D in accordance with the issue terms.
“It remains for us to pay the Japanese bank UAH 3.6 billion at the current hryvnia exchange rate, which was attracted to build Terminal D. We paid about 20%,” Deputy Director General for Economics and Finance of the Boryspil airport Kyrylo Zvonarev said at a press conference at the airport on Thursday.
According to him, the total amount of the loan at the current exchange rate is almost UAH 5 billion and approximately UAH 1.4 billion was paid. He also said that according to the payment plan, the airport will repay the loan before 2032.
“Twice a year we have to pay approximately UAH 150 million,” the deputy director said.
At the same time, Zvonarev expressed concern that setting a rate of transfer to the national budget of the company’s net profit at 90% could put at risk the repayment of the said loan.
Industrial production in Ukraine in April 2019 increased by 5.2% compared with April 2018, after a rise of 2.1% in March and a fall of 1.8% and 3.3% in February and January respectively, the State Statistics Service has reported.
The agency said that with the adjustment to the effect of calendar days, industrial production in April 2019 compared with April 2018 also increased by 4.4%.
The service said that compared with the previous month, industrial production in April fell by 1.8%, and taking into account the seasonal factor it grew by 0.9%.
In general, in January-April 2019, the growth in industrial production compared to the same period of 2018 is 0.6%, whereas in the first three months it fell by 0.9%, according to the State Statistics Service.
The rise in processing industry in April 2019 from April 2018 was 7.4%, in extracting industry and quarrying some 2.7%. The figure in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and conditioned air grew by 0.3%.
