Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a Facebook post on Saturday that “the market has spoken” after the US announced new trade tariffs.
“The trade and tariff war that the United States has launched against the whole world is unprovoked and unjustified,” he said.
Guo Jiakun called on the United States to stop “doing the wrong thing” and resolve differences with trading partners through equal consultations.
This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on goods from 185 foreign trading partners of the United States, including 34% duties on Chinese goods. In response to this step, China decided to impose additional duties on American goods in the amount of 34%, which will take effect on April 10.
Insurance company Busin (Kyiv) in 2024 collected UAH 397.5 mln of gross premiums, which is 35.6% more than in 2023. This was reported by Standard-Rating in the information on updating of credit rating/rating of financial stability of the insurer at the level of “uaAA+” according to the national scale on the basis of the analysis for the outlined period. At the same time receipts from reinsurers have decreased by 26,64% – to UAH 31,677 mln.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers for 2024 compared to 2023 have increased by 55,20% – up to UAH 301,021 mln. Thus, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums has increased by 9.59 p.p. – up to 75,73%.
The company’s net premiums for 2024 amounted to UAH 96.457 mln, while net earned premiums amounted to UAH 40.325 mln.
Last year the company paid to its clients UAH 32,304 mln of insurance payments and indemnities, which is more than 24 times higher than the volume of insurance payments for the same period of 2023. Thus, the level of payouts increased by 7,68 p.p. – up to 8,13%.
Assets of the insurer on January 1, 2025 have decreased by 7,22% – to UAH 291,385 mln, shareholders’ equity has decreased by 19,94% – to UAH 157,908 mln, liabilities have increased by 14,26% – to UAH 133,477 mln, cash and cash equivalents have decreased by 0,35% – to UAH 253,783 mln.
IC Busin was registered in February, 1993. It specializes on risk types of insurance. It is a member of a number of professional and branch associations – League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine, Insurance Payments Club, International Association of Aviation Insurers (UA), Nuclear Insurance Pool, American Chamber in Ukraine, British Business Club.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday enacted 10% base tariffs on most imports, continuing his strategy of encouraging domestic investment and helping companies that seek to avoid import taxes, according to a Bloomberg report on Saturday.
Although the base duty is already starting to apply, for some countries the higher duties, which replace rather than add to the prime rate, will take effect April 9.
These new tariffs raised U.S. duties to the highest level in more than a century, dealing a major blow to the global trading system that emerged after World War II and which Trump has long called unfair, the publication reported.
The U.S. president’s statement sent U.S. stocks plummeting, with the S&P 500 index plunging to its lowest level in 11 months, losing $5.4 trillion in market value in just two trading sessions to end the week. It was the biggest two-day drop since the U.S. pandemic began in March 2020.
Afterward, Trump said he was willing to cut duties if other countries offered him something “phenomenal”.
Zaporizhzhia-based Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works increased its rolled steel output by 3.5% year-on-year to 636.7 thousand tons from 615.3 thousand tons in January-March this year.
According to the company’s press release on Wednesday, steel production for the period amounted to 748.4 thousand tons (731 thousand tons in January-March 2014), and pig iron production – 849.6 thousand tons (785.4 thousand tons).
In March, Zaporizhstal produced 296.6 thousand tons of pig iron (265.4 thousand tons in February), 270.1 thousand tons of steel (235.3 thousand tons) and shipped 226 thousand tons of rolled products (195.7 thousand tons).
As reported, in 2024, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled products output by 18.1% compared to 2023 – to 2 million 426.7 thousand tons from 2 million 54.7 thousand tons, steel – by 17.2% to 2 million 890.8 thousand tons, and pig iron – by 14.2% to 3 million 106.3 thousand tons.
“In 2023, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled steel output by 57.2% compared to 2022, to 2 million 54.7 thousand tons, steel by 65.4%, to 2 million 466.9 thousand tons, and pig iron by 35.3%, to 2 million 718.9 thousand tons.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are in great demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries of the world.
“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.
Ukraine and France have signed seven agreements in the healthcare sector worth a total of EUR 51 million, including the construction of a children’s rehabilitation center in Vinnytsia and the reconstruction of a rehabilitation department in Ladyzhyn (partner – Ginger International, funding amount – EUR 15 million).
According to the Ministry of Health, the agreements also provide for the provision of portable X-ray machines to 75 medical institutions in 5 regions: Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Odesa (partner – DMS Imaging, the amount of funding is EUR 10.98 million), providing 58 hospitals throughout Ukraine with the latest technologies for rehabilitation after amputations (partner – Dessintey, the amount of funding is EUR 8 million).
Also, agreements were signed for the purchase of 700 mechanized cardiopulmonary resuscitation devices (EUR 5.92 million), development of telemedicine networks in Odesa, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zhytomyr regions (partner – C3Medical, amount of funding – EUR 4.35 million), creation of a network of autonomous micro-clinics based on rehabilitation facilities in Kyiv, Lviv and Poltava (partner – Schiller Medical, the amount of funding is EUR 4.1 million), as well as provision of 150 ultrasound diagnostic systems in medical institutions in all regions of Ukraine (partner – Sonoscanner, the amount of funding is EUR 2.98 million).
The Ministry of Health notes that, taking into account the agreements signed today, France has allocated a total of EUR 130 million to support the medical sector of Ukraine. The projects will be funded by the French government and implemented through French medical companies.
The grant agreement between the French and Ukrainian governments provides for the implementation of 12 more projects in the areas of infrastructure, energy, demining, and water supply worth about €149 million.
Central Plains Group (CPG) (Lviv region), which includes a modern starch plant, has started the 2025 season, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
“On March 27, the potato planting season started at CPG,” the company said in a statement.
Central Plains Group clarified that 1.3 thousand hectares of chips, starch, table and seed potatoes are planned to be planted in 2025.
CPG Group started operating in the Lviv region in 2006, and initially grew potatoes on 100 hectares, as well as cereals, rapeseed and sugar beet. In 2021, a potato storage facility with a capacity of 23 thousand tons was put into operation in Lviv region, and in 2022, a starch plant near Lviv with a capacity of 10 thousand tons per year was launched. The area under potatoes averages 1000 hectares.
The main investors in CPG are a group of European potato growers: Mark Laird, Diarmid Johnston, Kate Dawson, Richard Janaway, Alastair Stewart, Oleg Drin, Vince Gillingham.
