KYIV. Aug 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Exports of computer services from Ukraine in the first half of 2017 increased by 7.5% compared to the same period of last year, to $588.3 million, the State Statistics Service has said on its website.
According to its data, in the first half of 2016 the figure was 13.7% higher, and in general over the past year exports of computer services from Ukraine rose by 10.9%, to $1.106 billion.
In the first quarter of this year growth from the same period last year was 9.9%, to $293 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, computer services in January-June 2017 accounted for 11.8% of the total Ukrainian exports of services.
As for imports of these services, their growth rates also declined from 3.9% in January-June 2016 to 1% in January-June 2017, while in absolute terms imports reached $83.9 million in the first half of this year.
The service recorded a negative dynamics in foreign trade in information services. If in January-June 2016 their exports increased by 5.3% with a 13.1% drop in imports, in January-June 2017 the situation changed to the exact opposite: exports decreased by 10.1%, to $120.3 million, while imports rose by 26.2%, to $39.1 million.
KYIV. Aug 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine in January-June this year purchased nuclear fuel for a total of $212.808 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, during this period Ukrainian nuclear power plants purchased Russian fuel for $130.076 million, Swedish products worth $82.732 million.
Thus, the share of purchases of nuclear fuel by Ukraine in January-May 2017 from TVEL (Russia) in monetary terms amounted to 61.12%, Westinghouse (Sweden) some 38.88%.
Earlier President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company Jose Emeterio Gutierrez in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine reported that the company in 2017 would increase the supply of nuclear fuel to Energoatom to six batches. It is planned that the six batches will be delivered until 2020.
Energoatom President Yuriy Nedashkovsky, in turn, confirmed the company’s intention in 2017 to buy six shipments of Westinghouse nuclear fuel.
KYIV. Aug 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The tourist flow from Ukraine to Turkey for the six months of 2017 increased by 27.77% compared to the same period in 2016, to 530,258 people, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey has reported.
According to the agency, in the first half of 2017 the most popular regions among Ukrainians were Antalya, Istanbul and the resorts of the Mugla province – Fethiye, Dalaman, Bodrum and Marmaris.
During the first half of 2017, the tourist flow from Ukraine to Antalya increased by 44%, to 282,112 people, thus, Ukraine ranks third in terms of the number of tourists in Antalya.
According to the administration of Antalya airports, for the six months of 2017 some 421,263 Ukrainian tourists visited Antalya, which is 33% more than a year earlier. The tourist flow from Ukraine to Istanbul retained at the level of 2016: in January-June 2017 the city was visited by 147,885 Ukrainians. The province of Mugla for the six months of 2017 was visited by 46,762 Ukrainian tourists, which is 55% more than a year earlier.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey predicts the continuation of the growth trend of the Ukrainian tourist flow in the autumn season and by the end of the year.
KYIV. Aug 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Scania Ukraine LLC at the end of last week handed over 15 Scania G400 Euro 5 vehicles to Nibulon, the leading Ukrainian agricultural company, the press service of the auto distributor has said.
The trucks were purchased under the Scania SilverLine program, which includes the purchase of machinery under terms of leasing. The financing was provided by Scania Credit Ukraine, part of Scania Group. The cost of the trucks is not disclosed.
“Strategic partnership between Nibulon and Scania Ukraine began in 2010 with the delivery of the first batch of vehicles. At that time Scania was the only Western manufacturer to offer vehicles as an alternative to KAMAZ and MAZ trucks. The next batch of trucks is the confirmation of our long-term partnership,” head of regional and wholesale sales at Scania Ukraine Valeriy Ostrovsky said.
The press release notes since 2009 Nibulon has been implementing an investment project worth $500 million to revive the Dnipro and Southern Bug (Pivdenny Buh) Rivers as the shipping arteries of Ukraine, with the company’s logistics reorienting almost entirely to water transport.
KYIV. Aug 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a bill on the main requirements to structures and the conditions for the marketing of construction products.
The decision was made at a government meeting on Friday. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman read the document among those passed without discussion.
The bill is intended to implement the EU Regulation No. 305/2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products.
The bill sets the key requirements to structures and the construction materials technical approbation rules for marketing them, as well as to the entities that take part in the technical approbation and declaration in the construction sphere. The bill introduces a rule for determining the essential characteristics.
The bill also describes obligations of manufacturers marketing
KYIV. Aug 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Representatives of GESS Ukraine, the Ukrainian division of U.S. Green Energy Sustainable Solution – GESS International – have shown their interest in Kherson combined heat and power plant (CHPP), Deputy Head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) Yuriy Nikitin has said after a meeting with them.
The parties discussed the conditions of the sale, the prices and possibility of restructuring debts of the plant. The plant’s debt has reached almost $4 million.
“After three failures [to sell the plant] in the previous years we want to put the CHPP up to sale… The announcement of the tender is preliminarily scheduled for October 2017,” Nikitin said.
He said that the fund has drawn up the conditions of the sale. A government working group is to discuss them and then the Cabinet of Ministers is to approve them.
He said that the fund would do its best to conduct transparent privatization of the plant and the fund is ready to consider any acceptable offers, in particular, the involvement of Kherson CHPP in a project to develop alternative energy.
“The company wants to make a privatization project. No project participant, including the CHPP and consumers, should lose, on the contrary, they should earn,” the SPF said, citing a representative of GESS Ukraine Shaun Edward Lee.
He said that the company has three business projects in Kherson region.
Nikitin also told Interfax-Ukraine that there is an interest to Mykolaiv CHPP. The auction to sell the plant was failure this week, but there were two preliminary bids. However, the deposit guarantee was not confirmed.
He said that Kryvy Rih and Severodonetsk CHPPs are being prepared for sale.
“There is Odesa CHPP, but we have bankruptcy there,” Nikitin said.
