In 2023, Epicenter Agro Holding, a member of the Epicenter K group of companies, began construction of a plant for the production of urea-ammonia mixture (UAN) and liquid complex fertilizers (LCF) in Vinnytsia region, according to the official website of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, the fertilizers are to be used during the 2024 sowing campaign.
“We have very ambitious goals for 2024. Changing the sowing structure, further testing of the No-till system, our own fertilizer production, and a number of other projects are just a small part of the challenges we have set for ourselves. In addition, we are confidently moving towards the introduction of processing of our products. This means that we firmly believe in ourselves as a team of professionals, our company Epicenter Agro, and the peaceful future of Ukraine,” said Svitlana Nikitiuk, Head of the Central Office of the Agricultural Department of Epicenter Agro.
Epicenter K LLC was established in 2003 and opened its first hypermarket in Kyiv in December of the same year. It has a network of shopping centers of the same name in Ukraine. It has also been developing its agricultural business since 2016. It cultivates more than 160 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions. The group includes 20 livestock farms and 15 elevator complexes with a total storage capacity of 1.5 million tons.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the shareholders of Epicenter K LLC are Oleksandr Gerega (51.3%), Galyna Gerega (47.97%) and Tetiana Surzhyk (0.73%).
Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works of Zaporizhzhia has re-commissioned a pulverized coal injection (PCI) unit to reduce the cost of pig iron production.
According to the company’s Facebook post, the equipment was temporarily suspended due to unstable power supply and logistical constraints associated with the full-scale war.
“Now, thanks to the team of #Zaporizhstal blast furnace workers, the equipment is back in operation and operates by blowing pulverized coal into the blast furnaces. The use of pulverized coal technology reduces the cost of pig iron without affecting its quality and increases the productivity of Zaporizhstal’s blast furnaces,” the plant said in a statement.
As reported earlier, Zaporizhstal switched to the use of energy-efficient PCI technology in blast furnace production in October 2011: the project was launched in the first quarter of 2008, and the contract for the supply of technology and equipment was signed in 2006 with the German company Küttner.
The plant became the third steelmaker in Ukraine to implement PCI technology, following Donetsk Iron and Steel Works (DMZ) and Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works (Luhansk Oblast). The technology involves feeding wet PCI coke to grinding mills, where the coal is ground to dust, or particles smaller than 90 microns. It is then dried and blown into the combustion chamber – the blast furnace furnace.
“Zaporizhstal recouped the cost of constructing the pulverized coal plant worth about UAH 1 billion, including UAH 350 million for the construction of the basic coal storage facility (BCF), in 1.5 years after commissioning. The use of the PCI technology made it possible to increase the productivity of blast furnaces by an average of 10-15%.
“In the first nine months of 2023, Zaporizhstal reduced its net loss by 91.8% compared to the same period in 2022, to UAH 236.623 million from UAH 2 billion 883.850 million, while its net income for the period increased by 9.2% to UAH 41 billion 329.014 million. Retained earnings as of the end of September 2023 amounted to UAH 28 billion 961.786 million.
“Zaporizhstal ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 4 billion 864 million 684.828 thousand, while in 2021 it made a net profit of UAH 16 billion 809 million 158.412 thousand.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are widely known and in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
According to the NDU for the third quarter of 2023, Kyiv Securities Group LLC owns 24.5003% of Zaporizhstal shares, Midland Capital Management LLC (both Kyiv, registered at the same address) owns 11.2224%, Global Steel Investments Limited (UK) owns 12.3466%, and Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owns 47.0032%.
Earlier it was reported that Metinvest Group’s effective shareholding in Zaporizhstal remains at 49.9%.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
The weighted average price of land in Ukraine has increased by 10.4% to 38.5 thousand UAH/ha since the beginning of 2023, and the capitalization of the agricultural land market has increased by 115.1 billion UAH, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
“The second stage of the land reform will increase the value of privately owned land plots and landowners’ incomes. Revenues to local community budgets will also increase. In addition, Ukrainian agricultural producers will have access to bank lending secured by land,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy commented on the launch of the second stage of the land market in Ukraine on January 1, 2024.
The ministry drew the attention of communities to the fact that they now have the opportunity to lease communal agricultural land through Prozorro.
“The sale fills their budgets with UAH 355.2 million in revenue annually. And the turnover and use of agricultural land brings communities an average of 10%-12% of the total community budget,” the agriculture ministry said, adding that only 1% of land was sold in Ukraine during the market’s operation, of which 99.5% remained in agricultural production.
As reported, the land market in Ukraine was opened on July 1, 2021, after the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine No. 552-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions for the Turnover of Agricultural Land”.
The second phase of the implementation of the Land Market Law started in Ukraine on January 1, 2024: the market was opened to legal entities resident in Ukraine, and citizens were entitled to acquire up to 10 thousand hectares of land instead of 100 hectares in the first phase. The minimum purchase price of agricultural land should not be lower than the NMV (normative monetary value). Leaseholders retain the preemptive right to purchase the land. Foreigners have no right to sell or buy land. The sale of municipal and state land remains prohibited.
Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and part of Metinvest Group, has successfully passed a recertification audit of its compliance with the requirements of the international energy management standard ISO 50001:2018.
According to a press release on Wednesday, the audit was carried out at the coal preparation, coke and resin processing shops, as well as at the desulphurization and desulphurization shops and the chief power engineer department of the enterprise by specialists from the audit company Technical and Management Services, a corporate partner of the certification company TÜV AU.
During the audit, they analyzed internal documentation and compliance with the established rules in the work of the units. The auditors paid special attention to the development of new approaches to energy saving and the measures taken to strengthen the company’s energy independence.
The experts noted the high level of staff involvement in the process of energy saving and continuous improvement. Based on the results of the audit, Zaporizhkoks confirmed its compliance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 50001:2018 and recommended issuing an updated certificate of conformity.
It is noted that Zaporozhkoks has been certified since 2014 and regularly confirms its compliance with international standards of quality management system, environmental management, occupational health and safety management.
As reported, Zaporozhkoks increased its blast furnace coke production by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, up to 856.8 thousand tons from 737.4 thousand tons.
“Zaporozhkoks has a full technological cycle of processing coke products.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
In 2023, the sugar plant of Cygnet Group in the village of Andrushky, Zhytomyr region, operated until December 22, a record period for the 160-year-old plant, and produced more than 32 thousand tons of sugar, the company reported in a video on Youtube.
According to the report, in 2023, the Cygnet group of companies sowed more than 4 thousand hectares of sugar beet. During the sugar production season, Cygnet processed more than 22 thousand tons of sugar beet. In addition, the company has changed the packaging for its products – now sugar is packed not only in 50 kg bags, but also in 1-ton big bags.
Cygnet cultivates about 29 thousand hectares in Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia regions, where it grows corn, soybeans, winter wheat, and sugar beets. The company’s assets include an elevator with a one-time storage capacity of 60 thousand tons and a sugar plant with a processing capacity of up to 2.8 thousand tons of beets per day (both in Zhytomyr region).
The company also has a dairy business (605 cows), which sells its products to local processors.
Benchmark crude oil prices continue to fall.
The market is under pressure from extremely uncertain forecasts for global demand amid an expected increase in supplies, especially from non-OPEC countries, Trading Economics reports.
The price of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:07 a.m. CT is $75.84 per barrel, which is $0.05 (0.07%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Tuesday, these contracts fell by $1.15 (1.5%) to $75.89 per barrel.
Quotations for February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) on Wednesday morning fell by $0.06 (0.09%) to $70.32 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $1.27 (1.8%) to $70.38 per barrel.
Traders’ attention is focused on the prospects for global oil demand and whether the central banks of the world’s leading countries will be able to ensure a “soft landing” of their economies, said Craig Earlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, as quoted by MarketWatch.
Demand is expected to “remain low due to the global economic downturn and record oil production in the United States,” said Haralampos Pissouros, senior investment analyst at XM.
