Russia’s Gazprom refuses to abide by final and binding awards of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce regarding gas supply to Ukraine and gas transit via the country, the press service of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy reported after the negotiations with Gazprom held last week. “At that meeting Gazprom made clear that the Russian gas monopoly refuses to resume deliveries to Ukraine as ordered by the Tribunal in the Gas Sales Case concluded in December last year, and refused to confirm that it will pay the 2.6 billion dollars which the Tribunal ordered it to pay in the Gas Transit Case award which was rendered in February,” Naftogaz said.
Both arbitration awards are final and binding on Gazprom, the company said.
Naftogaz said that “Gazprom’s position in the meeting was instead to amend the contracts or to terminate the contracts to reverse the decisions of the Tribunal. Both positions are in direct contravention of and disregard for the decisions in the Arbitral Awards rendered by the Stockholm Tribunal. Naftogaz finds this position unacceptable and has rejected Gazprom’s proposals to this effect.”
The parties agreed to have another round of negotiations in April.
PrJSC Kyivmiskbud holding company (Kyiv), one of the largest developers of Ukraine, in 2017 saw net profit fall by 29% compared to 2016, to UAH 71.231 million. According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission on holding a general shareholders’ meeting on April 26, 2018, its assets increased by 12.6% and amounted to UAH 7.018 billion.
Total debtor indebtedness in 2017 increased by 3.5 times compared to 2016, to UAH 339 million.
Undistributed profit of Kyivmiskbud increased by 2.6% in comparison with the previous year and amounted to UAH 1.512 billion. Short-term liabilities decreased by 1.8%, to UAH 3.748 billion, while long-term liabilities almost doubled to UAH 1.681 billion. The staff of the company in 2017 grew to 693 people from 660 people a year earlier.
Kyivmiskbud was established on the basis of the property of state municipal construction corporation Kyivmiskbud in 1994 by combining in its charter capital of controlling stakes in 28 enterprises and other assets.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has informed the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elzbieta Bienkowska about priorities for the development of the Ukrainian economy. “We are engaged in large-scale restoration of infrastructure, building roads, discussing the possibilities of concession. Our priority is economic growth of 5-7%. We will dynamically move forward,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers quoted Groysman as saying at a meeting with the commissioner in Kyiv.
The sides noted that Ukraine and the European Union were intensifying the dialogue in the sphere of industry to speed up economic growth in Ukraine and create opportunities for involving Ukrainian enterprises in the all-European industrial strategy.
“Today’s meeting is of the utmost importance. My government’s goal is to ensure sustainable economic growth. The potential of the industry has broad opportunities. We are working to remove barriers to development and get a new impetus to moving forward in all sectors,” Groysman said.
Bienkowska, in turn, said that Europe appreciated the reform progress in Ukraine.
“We see the reform progress. We see how much effort you are making to make changes. I hope that we will be able to discuss the possibilities of various sectors of the economy, and we are talking about Ukraine becoming part of our overall industrial strategy. We are not just talking about support, but about details and concrete accents of our industrial dialogue,” she said.
According to her, Ukraine has great potential for development, first and foremost, in industry and agriculture.
“This is why we are ready to help fulfill this potential, taking into account, first of all, regulatory decisions. We believe in free trade (with Ukraine), in the free market. We will never run counter to WTO policy and free trade policy,” Bienkowska said.
The sides also discussed cooperation with international financial organizations and macro-financial support for Ukraine from the EU.
“Ukraine is already the best in many respects. Ukraine is really an example for Europe in the context of the restoration of the state. You should be proud of what you have done in the way of reform, and we need to strengthen our ties between enterprises and as part of industrial clusters,” she added.
Swiss International Airlines, part of Lufthansa Group, from March 26 resumed flights from Zurich to Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) after almost a four-year break. Swiss International Airlines General Manager for Ukraine Rene Koinzack said at a press conference in Kyiv that partnership with Swiss airline will allow Ukrainians to travel to Switzerland four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
As reported, the airlines that are part of Lufthansa Group intend to increase the number of flights to Kyiv in the summer navigation of 2018. Lufthansa offered six additional flights a week from Frankfurt to Kyiv from March 25, 2018, and Swiss airlines planned to return to work on the Ukrainian route to Zurich with four flights a week on March 26, 2018.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2017 received a net profit of UAH 5.062 billion, while in 2016 it amounted to UAH 2.704 billion. According to the company’s announcement of an annual shareholders’ meeting scheduled for April 26, retained earnings by the end of the year amounted to UAH 32.980 billion.
Over the past year, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih increased current liabilities by 23.1%, to UAH 17.044 billion, but reduced long-term liabilities by 2.1%, to UAH 6.791 billion. At the same time, the plant increased debtor indebtedness by 34.7%, to UAH 22.928 billion.
The assets of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in 2017 increased by 10%, to UAH 89.063 billion, in particular fixed assets by 1.4%, to UAH 47.134 billion.
The shareholders intend to spend net profit received in 2017 on the development of production, dividends won’t be accrued and paid.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of steel products in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular, fittings and wire rod.
Ukraine in February 2018 increased steel production by 11.2% compared to the same period in 2017, to 1.9 million tonnes, ranking 12th in the rating of 64 countries, the world’s major steel producers, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel). In February, the growth of steel making in half of the top ten countries was recorded.
The top ten countries in terms of steel production in February were China (64.930 million tonnes, an increase of 5.9%), India (8.434 million tonnes, an increase of 3.4%), Japan (8.296 million tonnes, a drop of 0.5%), the United States (6.446 million tonnes, an increase of 0.4%), South Korea (5.415 million tonnes, a decrease of 2.1%), Russia (5.150 million tonnes, a fall of 2.1%), Germany (3.340 million tonnes, a 3.2% decrease), Turkey (2.998 million tonnes, an increase of 8.7%), Brazil (2.714 million tonnes, a 5.5% increase), and Iran (2.120 million tonnes, an increase of 48.6%).
They are followed by Italy (2.093 million tonnes, an increase of 4.5%), Ukraine (1.9 million tonnes, an increase of 11.2%), and Taiwan (1.810 million tonnes, a fall of 2%).
In general, in February 64 countries produced 131.791 million tonnes of steel, which is 3.5% more than in February 2017.
