Georgia exported 38.2 million bottles of wine from grapes (0.75-liter bottles) in January-June 2018, 21% more than in 2017, the Agriculture Ministry’s National Wine Agency reported. Russia was the leading importer of Georgian wine in the period, boosting imports 24.4% to 24.022 million bottles or 62.9% of the total. Other major importers included Ukraine – 4.191 million bottles (11% of the total), China – 2.976 million (7.8%), Kazakhstan – 1.652 million (4.3%) and Poland 1.164 million (4.1%).
A total of 190 Georgian companies exported wine in the six months, 18 more than a year earlier. Exports to countries in Europe and Asia, and to the U.S. and other countries, increased substantially. Georgia also exported 8.4 million bottles of brandy (0.5-liter bottles), 23% more than in H1 2017, to 20 countries. Revenue rose 6% to $17 million. Overall exports of wine, brandy and other products – chacha, other alcoholic beverages, wine materials and brandy spirits – were worth $148.3 million, 21.5% more. Georgia exported wine to 48 countries in H1 2018, up from 44 in the same period last year. Revenue from the exports rose 28% to $90 million.
Czech Sweetondale has finalized a deal to acquire three construction materials plants from Russia’s Technonicol and seeks to invest EUR 3.5 million in modernization of Cherkasy-based Techno Plant, Sweetondale CEO Tichomír Lelovics said during a press tour at the enterprise on Wednesday. He said that the company closed the deal to buy the mineral insulation plant in Cherkasy and two plants producing polymeric insulation and bituminous-mineral materials in Kamianske in February 2018.
“In the near future, investments are planned around EUR 3.5 million [in Techno Plant in Cherkasy]. A special emphasis will be placed on improving the quality of products and increasing production. By the end of 2018, it is planned to increase production to 1.5 million cubic meters of mineral insulation,” Lelovics said.
According to Oleh Khodakovsky, the director of the Techno Plant, investments will allow to increase production by 10-15%. According to him, for January-May 2018 the plant produced 600,000 cubic meters of mineral wool and it is boosting production in the period of preparation for the heating season. According to Khodakovsky, by now the company’s share of the Ukrainian mineral thermal insulation market is 41%.
At the same time, he said that the total market volume in 2017 was 215,000 tonnes, and in 2018 it would increase to 230,000 tonnes. Prices for mineral wool for the year grew by 5-7%.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, CZECH SWEETONDALE, PLANTS, RUSSIAN COMPANY
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will soon start flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais Airports.
“Our newest added destinations of Wizz from Kyiv include: Dortmund, Memmingen (Munich West,) Brussels-Charleroi, Paris-Beauvais and Copenhagen,” says a message sent to the airline’s customers on Thursday.
At the same time, flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais are not currently shown in the booking system, while flights to Dortmund and Memmingen (Munich West) have been serviced by the company for several years, and those to Copenhagen since August 2017.
As reported, Wizz Air in January-May 2018 transported 425,000 passengers to/from Ukraine, which is almost twice as many as in the same period of 2017. “From Kyiv, we offer 1.3 million passenger seats this year, which is 79% up. And in total from Ukraine this year, we offer 1.67 million passenger seats,” Head of Corporate Communications at Wizz Air Sorina Ratz said late in June.
Regal Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine in Q2 2018 increased average daily production of gas, condensate and LPG at the Mekhediviska-Golotvshinska (MEX-GOL), Svyrydivske (SV) and Vasyschevskoye (VAS) gas and condensate fields by 58.6% or 1,045 boepd, to 2,829 boepd.
The company reported on the website of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday, average daily production of gas, condensate and LPG from the MEX-GOL and SV fields for the period from 1 April 2018 to 30 June 2018 was 281,599 m3/d of gas, 55.4 m3/d of condensate and 27.5 m3/d of LPG (2,220 boepd in aggregate).
Average daily production of gas and condensate from the VAS field for the period from April 1, 2018 to 30 June 2018 was 86,728 m3/d of gas and 6.2 m3/d of condensate (609 boepd in aggregate).
At the VAS field, the VAS-10 well has reached a depth of 3,380 metres, where drilling has been concluded. Subject to successful testing, it is intended to hook the well up for production testing by the end of the third quarter of 2018.
In addition, the company said that At the MEX-GOL and SV fields, workover operations are underway on the SV-12 well. This well is a suspended well owned by NJSC Ukrnafta. The company has entered into an agreement with NJSC Ukrnafta under which the company has agreed to workover the well, and if successful, gas and condensate produced from the well will be sold under an equal net profit sharing arrangement between the company and NJSC Ukrnafta.
At 30 June 2018, the company’s cash resources were approximately $40 million, held as $15.9 million equivalent in Ukrainian hryvnia.
