KYIV. July 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Business contracts totaling more than $40 million have been signed during the Ukrainian-Belarusian business forum held on July 21 within the framework of the official visit to Ukraine of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the press service of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said.
According to the report, in general, 16 commercial contracts were signed during the forum held at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was attended by over 300 Ukrainian and 90 Belarusian companies.
Among the signatories were Gomselmash, Technotorg Don, Ukravtozapchastyna LLC, Belarus-Ukraine Trade House, Baranovichi Cotton Production Amalgamation, Biltex LLC, Vostok-BELAZ-Service LLC, Novotroitske quarry management company, BelAZ, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Mogilevliftmash, Karat-Liftkomplekt LLC, foreign investment company BNH Ukraine, and Eridon.
According to the chamber, the problems of lending and insurance of export supplies, prospects for using electronic trading platforms, increasing transport supplies, entering CIS markets, as well as the issues related to scientific and technical cooperation, the agro-industrial complex caused the greatest interest of both countries’ businesses.
One of the main priorities of cooperation is the development of joint projects in machine building.
KYIV. July 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The volume of construction work in Ukraine in June 2017 increased by 31.9% compared with June 2016, while the growth in May 2017 from May 2016 was 24.5%.
According to the State Statistics Service, the data are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol and part of the ATO zone. Data on Donetsk and Luhansk regions could be reviewed.
According to the agency, the volume of construction works in June 2017 from May 2017 increased by 13.4%, whereas in May 2017 from April 2017 it grew by 11%.
According to the report, the growth in construction work in June 2017 compared to June 2016 was observed in all areas of construction. The largest increase in the figure was recorded in construction of engineering facilities – by 49.7%.
According to the service, in May 2017 from April 2017 the volume of construction work in construction of residential buildings declined by 6.1%, non-residential buildings by 18.6%, and in construction of engineering facilities grew by 17.1%.
In January-June 2017 on January-June 2016 a decline in construction works was recorded in three regions: Luhansk (by 17.1%, to UAH 225.1 million), Mykolaiv (11.5%, UAH 762.4 million) and Chernivtsi (8.4%, UAH 380.7 million).
The largest growth of construction works in January-June 2017 year-over-year was seen in Kirovohrad (1.8-fold, to UAH 415.1 million) and Zhytomyr (1.8-fold, to UAH 521.5 million) regions.
KYIV. July 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-June 2017 increased electricity exports by 44.5% (by 974.8 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2016, to 3.164 billion kWh, a source in the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island towards Hungary, Slovakia and Romania increased by 21.3% (by 324.9 million kWh), to 1.853 billion kWh.
Electricity deliveries to Poland declined by 6.3% (by 41.5 million kWh), to 615.6 million kWh.
A total of 695.1 million kWh was exported to Moldova compared with 3.7 million kWh in January-June 2016.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus and Russia in January-June 2017.
In June 2017 exports of Ukrainian electricity amounted to 545.1 million kWh, which is 1.7 times (219 million kWh) more than in June 2016. This is linked to resumption of commercial exports to Moldova.
In addition, Ukraine in January-June 2017 imported 26.2 million kWh of electricity (25.6 million kWh from the Russian Federation, 600,000 kWh from Belarus) against 44.9 million kWh in the six months of 2016.
LVIV. July 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Lviv City Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed an agreement to prepare a loan of EUR 20 million to modernize solid household waste treatment infrastructure in the city.
EBRD Director for Ukraine Sevki Acuner told reporters on Friday that along with the EUR 20 million loan a grant of EUR 11 million will be provided.
He said that the loan agreement will be signed no later than October 2017 and first funds will arrive at the end of the year.
This project is important for Lviv, as it would help the city to solve current problems with waste, he said. On the other hand, it will be a first step in the long process of changing approaches to waste treatment, he said.
According to the agreement, the funds will be sent to improve the waste collection and sorting system, primary steps to reclaim the Hrybovychi landfill and building a first stage of the waste recycling plant in Lviv.
KYIV. July 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Three Ukrainian ice cream producers are completing the verification procedure for obtaining the right to export products to the countries of the European Union.
“Currently three enterprises from the Ice Cream and Frozen Foods association of Ukrainian producers are completing inspection to get the right to export products to European markets. These are Kharkiv-based Khladprom, Laska (Kirovohrad region) and Lasunka (Ternopil region),” president of the association Ihor Bartkovsky said at a press conference.
According to him, starting from 2015 some 44 dairy enterprises has worked on getting the right to gain access to the EU market.
“Only 16 enterprises passed verification, and today they have an appropriate permission to supply products,” he said.
According to the president of the association, Ukraine in 2016 exported 4,500 tonnes of ice cream.
“Today, with our capacities and modern technological lines, we can export up to 7,000 tonnes of products to the markets of the EU and other countries,” he said.
KYIV. July 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The net profit of the 94 largest state companies of Ukraine in January-September 2016 increased by 20 times compared to 2015, to UAH 40 billion.
According to a report posted by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade on the activities of the 94 largest state-owned companies during this period, the structure of the portfolio of these enterprises for January-September 2016 did not change. The largest portfolio assets are concentrated in the oil and gas sector (NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy), transport (PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia) and electric power (Energoatom).
The net profit of the largest state-owned companies is due to the growth of profits in the oil and gas sector and energy, the ministry explained. The figure in the oil and gas industry amounted to UAH 25.5 billion, which is 120 times higher than in the same period of the previous year. The growth in net income was shown by all sectors of the portfolio, except for chemical and coal industries, in which this figure fell by 38%, to UAH 7.5 billion, and by 18%, to UAH 3.9 billion, respectively.
“This growth can be explained by reforming the price policy of Naftogaz, whose net profit increased by 108 times compared with the same period in 2015,” the ministry said.
According to the agency, for the first nine months of 2015 Naftogaz posted a net profit of UAH 234 million, while in January-September 2016 some UAH 25.5 billion.
