Business news from Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at a meeting on March 21 approved the state targeted economic program for the development of public roads for 2018-2022.
According to the program, its total funding is UAH 298.349 billion, of which UAH 178 million at the expense of the State Road Fund, and UAH 113.8 billion at the expense of other sources.
Presenting the program at a government meeting, Head of the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine Slawomir Nowak said that in five years it is planned to connect all the regional centers of the country with high-quality roads.
“I just want to note: we plan to gradually move away from the current repairs and carry out overhauls, reconstruction and new construction. This requires more professional preparation of project documentation, more preparation and competition between construction organizations,” he said.
According to the expert, half of public roads in Ukraine, i.e. about 20,000 km, can be repaired by the end of 2022.

Ukraine increases electricity exports 6.1% in January and February 2018 year-on-year to 1.032 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry told Interfax-Ukraine.
Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn thermal power plant energy island in the direction of Hungary, Slovakia and Romania for the three month fell 17.8% compared to January and February 2017, to 647.887 million kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland rose 56.6% to 288.352 million kWh. Ukraine exported 96.014 million kWh to Moldova in January and February 2018 compared to nil a year earlier.
No electricity was exported to Belarus or Russia in January and February 2018 or January and February 2017.
Ukraine imported 6.26 million kWh of electricity in January and February 2018 (of which 6.024 million kWh from Russia and 0.236 million kWh from Belarus) versus 8.293 million kWh in the same period last year. Energomarket contracts account for the imports as technological transfers.

The first British-Ukrainian Maritime Industries Forum is taking place in Odesa. Deputy Ambassador of Britain to Ukraine Helen Fazey told reporters during the briefing British business sees great opportunities for developing export and import capacities of Ukraine and its economy as a whole. “We are here because we see that this is an extremely great opportunity … British companies have tremendous experience in these matters: from port designing to financial and legal issues and security issues. I am pleased to see a large number of British companies at this forum, and I hope that this will lead to close cooperation of British companies with Ukrainian ports,” she said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan, in turn, noted that the seaports of Ukraine are the most attractive asset for concession investments in Ukraine.
He added that in May-June this year the State Property Fund of Ukraine would hold a tender for the “container part of Chornomorsk port,” and this will start the development of Ukrainian ports in a concession format.

The net profit of PrJSC Artwinery (Donetsk region) increased by 7.1 times in 2017 compared to 2016, to UAH 66.72 million.
According to the announcement of an annual shareholders’ meeting scheduled for April 24, its assets for the past year decreased by 6.4%, to UAH 632.19 million.
The current liabilities of Artwinery decreased by 27.7%, to UAH 287.3 million.
Total debtor indebtedness decreased by 48.9% compared to 2016, to UAH 145.1 million.
Artwinery is one of the largest producers of sparkling wine with a traditional bottle method in Eastern Europe. The plant’s capacity is 25 million bottles per year. The company’s trademarks are Krim, Artyomovskoye, Krimart, Charte and Soloking. Export deliveries cover more than 20 countries of the world.

The share of own trademarks in Ukraine in 2017 was 11.7% in terms of sales, while in Europe as a whole, according to data for 2016, it was 31.4% and was constantly growing.
According to a study by Nielsen, one of the limitations that networks face is the brand’s productive capacity.
“Sometimes it is difficult for networks to find a partner ready to produce a private label in the required amount. In most cases, brands are ready and have necessary production capacity. The dilemma is whether to produce a competing brand in the brand portfolio. Therefore it is important to develop small and medium-sized producers who are interested in production of own trademarks for networks,” the director for work with retail chains at Nielsen in Ukraine, Yuriy Lischuk, said.
In Ukraine, the main reason for the readiness of consumers to give preference to the own trademark of networks, according to the study, is the price: consumers believe that own brands are cheaper than the brand of manufacturers.
At the same time, in 2017 the number of buyers who believe private labels provides the best ratio of price and quality fell to 24% from 36%.
The main popular goods of own trademarks are grocery (rice, flour, sugar, etc.) – 78%, dairy products account for 70%, canned and packaged food products for 68%, house cleaning products for 60%, and paper products (toilet paper, napkins, etc.) for 59%.