KYIV. Aug 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – It is planned in 2017 to purchase 275 school buses, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“This year, together with the local authorities we plan to purchase 275 school buses,” he said during a conference call on preparations for the start of the new 2017-2018 academic year in Dnipro.
At the same time, the premier noted the need to provide children with school textbooks by September. 1.
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine has increased gas stocks in its underground storage facilities to over 14 billion cubic meters (bcm), Ukrainian energy and coal industry minister’s advisor Maksym Beliavsky has said.
“Today the stocks crossed the point of 14 bcm. Less than in one month we have pumped 1 bcm,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
Beliavsky wrote that Ukraine had 13 bcm of gas stocks on July 29, 2017.
Ukraine in July 2017 expanded its gas stocks by 1.64 bcm, and since March 22, 2017 when the country started pumping gas into the underground storage facilities after the winter period, by 5.08 bcm. In July, daily pumping was 52.8 million cubic meters (mcm), while in June it was 49.9 mcm and in May – 51.9 mcm.
The action plan to prepare the energy complex to the autumn and winter period 2017-2018 approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine envisages that Ukraine by November 1, 2017 will accumulate 17 bcm of gas in underground storage facilities. Naftogaz Ukrainy estimates the volume to be pumped at 16 bcm, believing that these stocks are even superfluous.
Ukraine started the 2016/17 heating season with 144.7 bcm in stock.
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Exports of grain by Nibulon agricultural company in the 2016/2017 marketing year (MY, July-June) amounted to 4.65 million tonnes, which corresponds to the figure of the previous season.
“In the rating of Ukrainian exporters, Nibulon confidently ranks first, having exported 4.65 million tonnes of agricultural products,” the company said on its website.
According to its information, the level of competition between traders in the domestic market grew in the 2016/2017 MY. In particular, the matter concerns expanding activities of international companies in the country.
“The advantages of our company are a rapid response to the changing situation in the domestic and foreign markets and a flexible approach to decision making, which is possible due to the creation of a modern and powerful logistics system, which includes, in particular, a multilevel system of quality control and management,” manager for the wholesale trade in grains Volodymyr Slavynsky said.
In addition to increasing the presence and impact on the existing markets (the Middle East, North Africa, EU countries), Nibulon continues exports to the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa. At the end of the 2016/2017 MY Nibulon shipped about 70,000 tonnes of corn to Kenya.
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is mulling opportunities of developing crediting and investing in Ukraine in hryvnias, EBRD Director for Ukraine Sevki Acuner has said.
He said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday that one of the bank’s goals is to expand financing in the national currency. The banking system now has much hryvnia liquidity, while crediting remains weak, he said. The role of the EBRD is to provide for the channel for injecting liquidity to the market, he said.
Acuner said that the EBRD is holding negotiations both with banking groups and corporate clients. In addition, it is planned to cooperate with municipal enterprises.
He said that the scale of the bank’s transactions in this segment would depend on development of the Ukrainian economy.
The bank has various options for raising hryvnia liquidity – via partners or via the issue of hryvnia-pegged bonds. The bank is preparing for this, but the bank needs the conditions on the market for realizing it, Acuner said.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the bank’s operations in the country in 1993, its total liabilities have reached almost EUR 12.2 billion in 377 projects.
KYIV. Aug 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – UDP Group plans to build power plants on renewable sources with a capacity of up to 300 MW in the next five years, UTP Renewables Managing Partner Serhiy Yevtushenko has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“We intend to build up to 300 MW in the next five years… We start with the project [the construction of a solar power station] in Kyiv region. We have already completed the construction of a 6 MW plant in Brovary district, formalized the documents,” he said.
The expert said in the next two years UDP Renewables will focus on photovoltaics, and in future will also consider the construction of wind farms and stations on biomass.
According to Yevtushenko, his company already has a developed portfolio of 120 MW projects.
He noted investment in the construction of 1 MW of installed capacity of a solar power plant by the company is estimated at EUR1 million.
KYIV. Aug 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Exports of Ukrainian agricultural products grew by 28% in January-June 2017 year-over-year, to $8.7 billion.
According to a press release of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine, in H1 2017 exports of all types of agricultural products rose.
Animals and animal products for $492.5 million were supplied to foreign markets (55% up compared with H1 2016), crops for $4.3 billion (24.5%), including grain crops for $3.3 billion (22.7%), fats and oil for $2.5 billion (27%) and finished food for $1.4 billion (33.6%).
Agricultural products for $1.97 billion were imported to Ukraine in H1 2017, and this was 12% more than a year ago.
Animals and animal products for $311.7 million were supplied to the Ukrainian market (1.3% up compared with H1 2016), fats and oil for $119.8 million (6.6% up) and finished food for $798.1 million (2% up), crops for $742.1 million (a decline of 0.7% year-over-year), including grain crops for $113.2 million (decline of 2.5%).
In general, in H1 2017 the surplus of foreign trade with agricultural products of $6.7 billion was recorded. The share of exports of agricultural products of total Ukrainian exports over the period was 42.1%, the ministry said.
