KYIV. Aug 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine ranks fifth among European Union countries in terms of production of horticultural and berry products and has a great potential in this direction, according to a report on the business prospects of Ukraine in production, storage, processing and packaging of fruits and vegetables.
“The purpose of our research is to show the potential of the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market to American suppliers of equipment and technologies. We should do this because the news about Ukraine in the U.S. news space is not very positive. The main goal is to give American companies the information so that they get interested in supplying technology and equipment and in investments,” U.S. Embassy Commercial Officer in Ukraine Michele Smith told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, work on research of the fruit and vegetable market of Ukraine began in November 2016. The partners of the embassy on the project became the Ukrsadprom association and the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Support Project.
According to the study, in 2016 Ukraine increased exports of vegetables by 57%, to $153 million compared to 2015, by increasing supplies to the EU. In addition, the new markets of South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and Africa (Kenya and Guinea) were opened.
KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Berry Guild LLC, a member of the Agrospring 2011 berry cooperative, seeks to launch a first phase of the berry farm in Makariv district of Kyiv region, which construction is to finish by the end of this year.
“The sum of investment in the farm is around UAH 30 million. The core business is sale of sprouts and planting stock of key berries: strawberries, cranberries, blackberries and blueberries,” the owner of the company Vadym Skorokhod told Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the construction of the farm was started in March 2017.
The company is holding talks with U.S. and European selection companies and receiving a license to sell high-quality beery planting stock of foreign selection.
“Our five-year plan is to expand the fields and build an in-vitro laboratory,” he said.
KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Specialists of the Pallada Kherson state-owned plant as part of the resumption of freight transportation by river have initiated the designing of a ferroconcrete environment friendly tow boat with a carrying capacity of 1,000 tonnes, the top managers of the enterprise have told Interfax-Ukraine.
The tow boat will be able to transport mineral and construction freight, agricultural products, heavy and other freight.
“Shipbuilding concrete based on sulfate resistant ordinary portland cement will be used for the hull of the boat. The Pallada plant has been using this material for building floating composite docks operated in many countries,” the plant said.
“When ferroconcrete facilities are built and used no expensive protective paint-and-lacquer coating is used, and the Pallada-made tow boats will be environment friendly,” the plant said.
Pallada Kherson state-owned plant is currently the world’s only shipyard that specializes in building next generation composite floating docks for maintenance of civil and naval ships. The warranty period of the equipment it makes is 50 years. Among the company’s customers are Japan, South Korea, Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Algeria, Croatia, France, and South Africa.
KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some 86 multi-apartment building co-owners associations and cooperative housing societies have benefited from the public program to partially compensate the cost of loans for modernization of heating efficiency and increase of energy efficiency in the Ukrainian housing sector (the ‘warm loans’ program) to the tune on UAH 29.1 million in July 2017, which is four times more than over a similar period of 2016, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said.
“The ‘warm loans’ government program allows Ukrainians to save money and the state to become more energy efficient and independent, so more and more Ukrainians decide to use ‘warm loans’. In July, 86 multi-apartment building co-owners associations and cooperative housing societies raised ‘warm loans’ to the tune of UAH 29.1 million. This is four times higher than over the same period in 2016,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page.
He recalled that the Ukrainian government had recently allocated additional UAH 300 million to finance this program in 2017.
KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv) has set a goal of passing the certification at the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA) by late 2020 and ensuring the switch of production facilities to NATO standards, the press service of the enterprise reported last week.
According to the report, the goals are outlined in the production development plans for 2018-2020 drawn up by Antonov managers.
Antonov said that in 2016, the enterprise was reorganized and design structure was brought in line with the requirements of the aviation rules of Ukraine (Part 21, Chapter J). The rules were drawn up to implement the rules of the European Union by Ukraine.
“Compliance with the Part 21 requirements allowed Antonov to cooperate with leading foreign suppliers of equipment, acting as an integrator. Cooperation with famous leaders of aviation industry, such as Honeywell (the United States) and Pratt & Whitney (Canada), has been established. The companies qualified their products for installing them at Antonov aircraft in line with U.S. FAA rules,” the enterprise said.
Flight Test Center has been created at Antonov. This gives hope to receive the certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the press service said.
“Certification of the enterprise and An aircraft at FAA would allow considerably expanding the markets for sale of the planes,” Antonov said.
The press service said that the enterprise intends to develop a comprehensive system for supporting operators of An aircraft and open regional servicing centers in India, South Africa, Columbia, Sudan, Bulgaria and Malta by late 2020.
Antonov also plans to re-equip the enterprise in cooperation with western Brotje and MTorres, improve organization structure, develop IT solutions via the introduction of the IT Enterprise software in 2018-2020.
KYIV. Aug 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The German Society for Investment and Development (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, DEG) will contribute $10 million to the investment fund for small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine, the German Embassy in Ukraine reported.
The Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) will facilitate the access of small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine to long-term financing, the press service of the German embassy reported.
“Through this participation Germany will strengthen its position as one of the most important countries investing in the Ukrainian economy. Germany’s participation is a signal for other private and institutional investors,” the embassy said.
The diplomatic mission told that the fund invests in export-oriented industries, in particular, in IT, light industry, food industry, as well as enterprises of electronic commerce and health.
The German embassy said that the financed fund primarily focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises that need capital for their own growth and, as experience shows, create a lot of new jobs.
German diplomats added that there are intentions to raise the capital of the Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) to $150 million.
