Ukraine and Saudi Arabia are working on plans to launch bulk production of Ukraine’s new light multipurpose An-132 aircraft with a capacity of 9.2 tonnes designed by Antonov State Enterprise (Kyiv) at the production facilities in Taif (Saudi Arabia).
The press service of Antonov State Enterprise said on its Facebook page that during a visit of a delegation from Antonov headed by Antonov President Oleksandr Kryvokon to Saudi Arabia Ukrainian specialists studied a project on building a technological cluster where bulk production of new An-132 aircraft would be launched.
The press service said that this project is to be a part of the scientific and technical development program of Taif city located in the western part of Saudi Arabia. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia officially announced the start of the program in October 2017.
The program includes building of industrial and university campuses, a residential quarter with 10,000 apartments and an international airport. The technological cluster will be built in cooperation with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), which is one of the key partners in the An-132 program. The technological cluster will include: an airplane factory with an airfield, an enterprise for manufacturing solar panels and a solar power plant.
“TAQNIA Aeronautics and Antonov State Enterprise are working on a feasibility study for the construction of an aircraft plant with the participation of Western experts. The construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2019. It will take nine months to build the plant. The bulk assembly of An-132 aircraft should be launched in 2021,” the press service said.
The An-132 multipurpose plane with a carrying capacity of 9.2 tonnes is modification of the An-32 light transport aircraft aimed to replace the An-32 and the An-26 planes on the market.
Antonov is implementing the program under a contract signed in April 2015 with Saudi Arabia’s KACST and TAQNIA Aeronautics Co. The plane is being built with participation of leading western manufacturers: Pratt & Whitney Canada, CMC Electronics (Canada), U.S. Honeywell, France’s Liebherr and Britain’s Dowty Propellers.
The assembly of the prototype showcased at the air show was finished at Antonov’s facilities in December 2016. In March 2017, the plane successfully carried out its maiden flight.
Ukraine since the beginning of the 2017-2018 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of March 12, 2018 had exported 27.661 million tonnes of grain.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the country exported about 13.4 million tonnes of wheat, 4 million tonnes of barley, and 10.1 million tonnes of corn.
In addition, 320,800 tonnes of flour had been exported on the indicated date.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine in the 2016/2017 MY exported 43.9 million tonnes of grain.
The structure of the egg market in Ukraine is close to oligopoly, however it is competitive, according to a report of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for 2017 posted on its website. According to the report, the main participants in the egg production market are the agricultural holdings Avangard and Ovostar Union, Inter-Agrosystems Corporation with a total share of 46.61%.
The AMC notes the market is export-oriented with a trend towards increase in export volumes.
Taking into account the dynamics of production, sale of eggs in Ukraine and for exports, the AMC extended for 2018 a study of this market for compliance with the legislation on protection of economic competition in connection with price fluctuations.
As reported, Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding in 2017 reduced the land bank by 5.8%. Ukraine’s largest producer of eggs Avangard agricultural holding, controlled by Ukrlandfarming, whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, in October 2015 completed the restructuring of eurobonds for $200 million. Previously American Cargill has withdrawn from among the shareholders of Ukrainian-based UkrLandFarming (ULF) agrarian holding, according to a ULF financial report for 2016. Cargill’s subsidiary, Cargill Financial Services International Inc. by the end of 2015, had held 1,668,749 ULF shares, or 5% of the total number. By the end of 2016, the number of shares owned by Avonex Limited had not changed, whereas the package held by Cargill was transferred to Cyprus-based Quickcom Limited’s ownership. The report says that the sole owner of Avonex Limited and Quickcom Limited is Oleh Bakhmatiuk. Cargill acquired a 5% stake in ULF early in 2014 for $200 million. Based on the sum of the deal, the total value of the holding was assessed at $4 billion.
The European Commission (EC) has rejected price commitments proposed by Metinvest Group and other hot-rolled steel exporters from Ukraine, Russia, Iran and Brazil in exchange for non-applying the previously introduced anti-dumping duties to them. According to the EC decision dated March 8, published in the Official Journal of the EU on March 9 of this year, the verdict came into force the day after the publication in the official bulletin, i.e. on March 10, 2018.
At the same time, it is specified that five exporters from Ukraine, Russia, Iran and Brazil sent their price obligations to the EC in exchange for non-application of anti-dumping duties to them. Since these proposals were made at the end of the investigation, the commission was unable to analyze them in accordance with the established deadline, before making decisions within the investigations, undertaking to exclusively do this later. After making final conclusions on the investigation and publication of restrictive measures, price commitment from one more sixth exporter was sent to the EC.
The European Commission on December 18, 2017 informed the applicants about the intention to reject all the obligations they proposed. The applicants, in turn, gave additional explanations and made amendments to their obligations, and their hearing was also conducted.
European Travel Insurance (ERV, Kyiv) in 2017 posted a net profit of UAH 16.288 million, which is twice as much as a year earlier (UAH 8.058 million), according to materials for the agenda of a general shareholders’ meeting scheduled for April 17. Retained earnings grew by 2.3 times, to UAH 27.831 million. In 2017 the company increased assets by 53.3% compared to 2016, to UAH 138 million. Net worth of the insurer for the year rose by 53.7%, to UAH 41 million.
Total debtor indebtedness increased by 3.5 times, to UAH 18.741 million, cash and cash equivalents by 6.7%, to UAH 73.808 million, current liabilities by 2.1 times, to UAH 26.875 million.
European Travel Insurance was founded in 2006. It occupies one of the leading positions in the market of tourist insurance in Ukraine. The charter capital of the insurer is UAH 9.473 million.
The KIMS dry cleaner’s network will open ten outlets for collecting polyethylene in Kyiv on March 13, KIMS Executive Director Tetiana Kuznetsova has said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine. “We have launched our eco project in Odesa in early November, installing eco boxes at eight sales outlets, and until today we’ve managed to collect 720 kg of polyethylene (the weight of one package is about 1.5 grams). Such a project is being launched in Kyiv. Boxes will be installed at ten points of sales, mainly in the center of the city,” Kuznetsova said.
According to her, the KIMS network signed an official agreement for the further processing of polyethylene with Ecomir.
The founder of the dry cleaner’s network, Oleksandr Kohan, noted that the company plans to develop similar eco projects in other cities, where the network operates, in particular, in Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, and Lutsk. According to him, the project is unprofitable: the price of 1 kg of polyethylene is about UAH 3, and for the four months KIMS received about UAH 2,000 from collection of packages.
Kyiv authorities also plan to introduce measures to reduce the amount of polyethylene used, the deputy head of the industry and entrepreneurship development department of Kyiv City State Administration, Denys Pikalov, said. In particular, the administration plans in the spring of 2018 to abandon the use of plastic bags in the Besarabsky market, and also to start garbage collection at seasonal fairs.
