Former head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) Yuriy Alekseyev (2005-2014) has concerns about the current national policy in the space industry and the absence of the state program to maintain and develop the sector. “On the eve of Cosmonautics Day, I learned that the Ukrainian space agency has neither the concept of the industry nor the action plan for the near future, which is a very bad trend. It means that we do not need anyone as the industry and we are not interesting for the government in solving national tasks and problems. Despite the fact that many words and good intentions about the revival of the former glory and power of the Ukrainian space were mentioned during the appointment of the new head of the SSAU,” the former SSAU head said in an article posted on the website of the nongovernmental organization Space Initiatives Center (SIC).
“Forty years of work in the aerospace industry of the Soviet Union and the state of Ukraine allow me to think so and speak. From the very first days of Ukraine’s independence, the then leaders of the state thought and cared about people and enterprises that had never been controlled by Kyiv. L.Kravchuk, V.Masol, L.Kuchma, V.Pustovoitenko, O.Kuzmuk, P.Hermanchuk and many others understood that this is the intellect of science, both among scientists and engineers, and among the working class. We got an opportunity to work actively and contact with the leading aerospace enterprises and agencies around the world,” he said.
Alekseyev said that the history of the formation of the space industry of independent Ukraine was not easy, and included both successes and losses. Among them is the disruption of plans for cooperation with the United States on the launch of low-Earth orbiting satellites with the help of the Zenit-2 launch vehicle (LV) designed and produced in Ukraine under the Irridium program and the successful implementation of a large-scale international project on the commercial launches of satellites from the Sea Launch pad using the same Zenit LV.
“We made more than 30 successful launches, but at the same time there were failures and partially fulfilled tasks. Ukraine earned about $1 billion through Pivdenmash and Pivdenne [Design Bureau] thanks to the Sea Launch company,” he said.
According to Alekseyev, the work done by the industry enterprises in the field of satellite systems creation contributes to the successes of Ukraine. This is the creation of the Earth remote sensing satellite for Egypt following the international tender that was launched in 2007 by the EgyptSat spacecraft and the creation and launch of its own Sich-2 satellite with a target resolution of 2.5 meters in 2011. These works on EgyptSat and Sich-2 showed the world that Ukraine is able to design, manufacture, prepare for launch and operate spacecraft. The volume of its own work in the creation of these devices and ground infrastructure reached 75-80%,” the ex-head of the SSAU said.
“But this is all in the past. The last years of leapfrog and the replacement of the agency’s directors [SSAU], four in three years, have led to the fact that the industry stands on the verge of collapse,” Alekseyev said.
Thus, the ex-head of the SSAU criticized “the loud statements of some heads of space enterprises and agencies at briefings and press conferences in Canada and Japan on the construction of launching sites in Canada, then in Scotland, then in Australia,” which, he said, do not do honor to the State Space Agency of Ukraine and the leadership of the country.
At the same time, Alekseyev connects his hopes for positive changes in the space industry with 2019.
“I hope that the year 2019, the year of the 75th anniversary of Pivdenmash, will be the year of the revival of Sea Launch’s launches, the year of completion of the work on the creation of a Ukrainian war missile,” he said.
Consumer confidence index in Ukraine is growing for the fifth consecutive quarter: in Q4 2017 it reached 61 points, which is 3 points more than in Q3 2017 and 9 points more than in Q4 2016, according to the Nielsen global consumer confidence report. “Consumer behaviors are evolving. However, we see how demanding they are in selection of goods, services and brands,” Managing Director of Nielsen in Ukraine and Belarus Vaios Dimoragas said.
According to him, having a limited budget, consumers want impressions and positive emotions from shopping, the Internet helps them make the right choice before buying.
The index is calculated by three indicators: the consumers’ assessment of the prospects for the labor market in the next 12 months, the level of financial wellbeing in the next 12 months, the willingness to spend money at the moment.
The increase in the consumer confidence index in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the third quarter of the same year is due to the improvement in the indicators for all three indicators.
According to the document, the absolute majority of Ukrainians continues to believe that the country is in a state of crisis, while the number of those has increased slightly: 93% – in the fourth quarter 2017 against 92% – in the third quarter 2017.
The number of consumers, who believe that the country will not get out of the crisis in the next 12 months, fell to 66% at the end of 2017 with a 74% quarter before.
On the first and second places in the list of concerns of Ukrainians are still feelings about the growth of utilities tariffs and war: 29% and 28% of consumers are worried about this, respectively. The top five reasons for experiencing also include rising prices for food, economy and health, according to the study.
According to it, 26% of Ukrainian consumers do not have free funds after buying essential goods. Those, with whom they stay, spend free money on new clothes (37%), make savings (29%), have fun outside the house (26%).
The value of the index above 100 points indicates the prevalence of optimists in the country, pessimists are below 100 points, and the value of 100 points is about the balance between optimistic and pessimistic expectations from the future.
State-owned enterprise (SOE) Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv), the largest airport of the country, plans to service 12.55 million passengers in 2018, which is 19% more than in 2017, when 10.555 million people were serviced. This is outlined in a financial plan of the airport approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on April 11 and a copy of which has been sent to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the document, this year the airport seeks to boost passenger flow on international routes by 16.8%, to 11.31 million and on domestic routes – by 42.7%, to 1.24 million people.
“The decrease in the airport fees in the Boryspil airport since June 2017 and the introduction of a program to stimulate growth in volumes by the number of carriers allow us to maintain high growth rates of passenger traffic,” the airport said in an explanatory note to its financial plan.
In 2018, the Boryspil airport plans to serve 101,466 flights, which is 16% more than in 2017. The number of international flights is planned at 89,363 (17.6% more), domestic – 12,103 (5.4% more).
Prices in the industry of Ukraine in March 2018 increased by 0.3%, while in February their growth was 1.2%, in January 4.4%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
In annual terms, in March this year the growth of producers’ prices slowed to 15.9% from 19.6% in February and 22% in January.
The main reason is the sharp decline in prices of metal ores (10.7% down).
Since early 2018, industrial prices in Ukraine grew by 5.9%.
Prices in mining and quarrying in March fell by 4.8%, in particular in mining of metal ores by 10.7%, crude oil and natural gas by 1.1%.
In processing industry prices went up by 0.2%, in particular, in production of rubber and plastic goods, other non-metal mineral goods – by 1.8%, bread production and beverages by 1.6%, vehicle, trailers and semitrailers, other vehicles production, production of PCs, electronic and optic goods – by 1.6%, production of key pharmaceutical products and medications – by 1.5%.
Prices in production of sugar fell by 7.5%, coke and petroleum products output – by 3.7% and in intra-branch consumption by 1.5%.
Tariffs in the supply of electricity, gas and air conditioning increased 3.1%.
Cygnet agricultural company plans to invest $700,000 in reconstruction and modernization of its sugar refinery in Zhytomyr region in 2018.
According to a posting on the company’s website, the works are intended to increase efficiency of the sugar refinery to 2,750 tonnes a day, reduce gas, limestone, coal, raw materials consumption and boost the quality of finished products.
Overhauls and current repair would start in the first half of April.
The company also said that Cygnet sowed 59% of areas with corn, 14% with soybeans, 14% with sugar beets and 10% with winter wheat.
As reported, Cygnet in 2017 invested $2.7 million in the modernization of a sugar factory in Zhytomyr region.
The company cultivates 25,000 hectares in Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia regions, where it grows corn, soybeans, wheat, and sugar beets.
Cygnet also has a dairy business line (about 700 cows), its products are sold to local processors, and the elevator capacity is 60,000 tonnes.
