The occupancy of Kyiv hotels in the first quarter of 2018 increased by 4 percentage points compared to the same period a year earlier and amounted to 43%, the press service of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) consulting company in Ukraine has said. “The operational indicators of the hotel market of the Ukrainian capital are gradually recovering. Even in first quarter, which is not traditionally active, dynamics is visible: the average market occupancy in the period from January to March increased by 4 p.p. compared to the previous year, to 43%, against the backdrop of tariff growth,” the head of the JLL hotel business department, Tetiana Veller, said.
According to JLL, the average tariff for staying in the top segment hotels in January-March increased by 8% compared to the first quarter of 2017 and amounted to $160, while in the middle segment this indicator increased by 18%, to $68. At the same time, the occupancy of expensive hotels remained at the last year’s level of 40%, while occupancy at middle segment hotels rose by 3 p.p., to 50%.
According to JLL’s forecasts, in the second quarter it is worth expecting an increase in the operating indicators of the capital hotels in connection with the Champions League final, as well as other cultural and business events. Jones Lang LaSalle provides financial and comprehensive professional services in the field of real estate. The company’s turnover in 2017 was $7.9 billion. The portfolio in real estate management is 423 million square meters. The company has about 300 corporate offices in more than 80 countries around the world, uniting more than 82,000 employees.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv), the country’s largest air carrier, has performed the first flight along the Kyiv-Delhi route.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, the aircraft departed on May 1 at 20:50 Kyiv time and arrived at around 06:00 Indian time. The occupancy was about 100 passengers, while about 245 tickets were sold on the return flight.
The flight will be operated four times a week and soon, according to UIA Vice President for Commerce Serhiy Fomenko, five times a week.
Previously the company noted that flights from Kyiv will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And return flights from Delhi will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday on board Boeing 767-300 aircraft with three classes of service – business, premium, and economy – to/from Delhi International Airport (Indira Gandhi International).
“Delhi will be the fifth long-haul route in the UIA network and the second point connecting Ukraine with the countries of the Indian subcontinent,” UIA Corporate Spokeswoman Yevhenia Satska said.
As reported, the minimum cost of a ticket in both directions, taking into account all fees and taxes, from Kyiv starts from UAH 14,849 (the price may vary depending on the hryvnia to U.S. dollar exchange rate fluctuations), from Delhi from $529.
Ukraine raised ferroalloy output 3.8% year-on-year in Q1 2018 to 266,320 tonnes, the Ukrainian Ferroalloy Producers’ Association has told Interfax-Ukraine. The country raised silicon manganese production 10.9% to 221,110 tonnes while ferromanganese output fell 29.8% to 21,960 tonnes. Output of 45%-ferrosilicon fell 15.2% to 19,800 tonnes and manganese metal production fell 17.6%, to 1,970 tonnes.
Nikopol Ferroalloy Works, the biggest of Ukraine’s three ferroalloy smelters, raised silicon manganese production 14.3% to 189,450 tonnes but reduced ferromanganese output 41.5% to 12,760 tonnes and boosted other alloy output 6.3-fold to 1,480 tonnes. Overall ferroalloy output at Nikopol grew 8.5% 203,690 tonnes.
Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Works reduced silicon manganese production 5.7% to 31,660 tonnes, with ferromanganese falling 2.6% to 9,200 tonnes. Overall output fell 8.9% to 62,630 tonnes.
The Stakhanov Ferroalloy Plant idled due to the conflict in Luhansk region, where it is located.
The country’s two manganese concentrate producers, the Pokrovsky (formerly Ordzhonikidze) and Marhanets mining and beneficiation plants, produced 301,830 tonnes of concentrate between them in Q1 2018, 13.3% more than a year previously. Pokrovsky raised output 20.1% to 186,870 tonnes and Marhanets raised it 3% to 114,960 tonnes. Pokrovsky also produced 36,130 tonnes of manganese sinter, up 2.3-fold.
PrivatBank (Dnipro) organized the business of the Nikopol and Zaporizhia ferroalloy plants, as well as Pokrovsky and Marhanets mining and processing enterprises until its nationalization.
The Nikopol plant is controlled by EastOne Group, established in autumn 2007 as a result of restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group (both based in Dnipro).
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) from April 27, 2018 introduced UAH 1 and UAH 2 coins, the central bank has said on its website.
The NBU said that these coins will be in circulation jointly with the old UAH 1 coin and UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes.
“Ukrainian will be able to pay using the new coins synchronously with the UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes for the unlimited period of time. The NBU will not remove UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes from circulation, and eventually the coins would fully replace the damaged and worn down banknotes,” Director of the money circulation department at the NBU Viktor Zaivenko said.
As reported, the NBU intends to stop printing UAH 1, UAH 2, UAH 5, UAH 10 banknotes and replace them with coins.
The NBU said that that UAH 1 and UAH 2 coins will be put into circulation on April 27, 2018, UAH 5 and 10 UAH coins will be introduced under a separate decision of the NBU.
The first issue of UAH 1 and 2 coins will be 5 million pieces of each denomination. They will be put into the market along with the withdrawal of the worn-out banknotes of the corresponding denominations.
