State-owned Ukrgasbank has signed new loan agreements under the state program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” for UAH 110 million with Ukrcable Group, a leading cable manufacturer in Ukraine, the financial institution’s press service reports.
“Loan funds totaling UAH 110 million will be used to conduct current business activities, including the purchase of raw materials and supplies for the production of cable and wire products and the rhythmic loading of new equipment, which was also partially financed by the bank,” the statement said.
It is noted that the agreements were concluded as part of the continuation of the 3-year cooperation under the state program.
The bank notes that Ukrcable Group companies actively cooperated with the Kotsiubyno village council, Irpin city council and several military units both during the occupation of Kyiv region and during the recovery.
According to the bank, Ukrcable actively cooperates with electricity producers and suppliers to provide electricity to the population during power outages across the country.
According to the company’s website, Ukrkabel LLC (Kotsiubynske, Kyiv region) is capable of producing 150,000 km of cable per year, with a total area of 60,000 square meters, including 28,000 square meters of production capacity. According to OpenDataBot, the ultimate beneficiaries are Volodymyr Dovbenko (33.34%), as well as Halyna Bondar and Oleh Melnyk (33.33% each).
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2023, Ukrgasbank ranked 4th in terms of total assets (UAH 168.6 billion) among 64 banks operating in the country, with net profit for the first half of the year amounting to UAH 2.6 billion.
In the third quarter, the state-owned bank’s network decreased by one branch and now includes 218 structural units across the country.
Insurance group “TAS” (Kyiv) in January-September 2023 collected UAH 2.542 billion of insurance payments, which is 47.8% more than in the three quarters of 2022, according to the company’s website.
Of these, 512.77 million UAH was collected under CASCO, which is 51.2% more than in the same period a year earlier, MTPL – 825.11 million UAH (+37.6%), “Green Card” – 605.8 million UAH (+23.83%), voluntary health insurance – 288.22 million UAH (+53.8%)
At the same time, under property insurance contracts TAS Insurance Group has collected UAH 53,84 mln in the nine months of the current year, payments – by 12,6% more than in the same period last year, under other insurance contracts – UAH 262,47 mln (+31%).
During the reporting period, the insurance group “TAS” has paid UAH 933,21 mln as indemnities under the concluded insurance contracts – by 38,1% more than this indicator for January-September 2022.
UAH 286,59 mln (+56,5%) has been paid under hull insurance contracts, that makes 30,71% of the total amount of payments of the insurer, under CMTPL insurance – UAH 350,13 mln (+31,2%) and 37,52% of total payments, under “Green Card” – UAH 163,2 mln (+47,6%) and 17,49% of the total amount of payments, under voluntary medical insurance – UAH 103,79 mln (+19,5%) and 11,12%.
In turn, the amount of payouts of SG “TAS” under property insurance contracts has amounted to UAH 5,83 mln. Under other insurance contracts the company has paid UAH 23,67 mln as insurance indemnities.
IG TAS was registered in 1998. It is a universal company, offers more than 80 types of insurance products on various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network of 28 regional directorates and branches.
The Rivne branch of the state specialized enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” Kostopil Forestry was the first in Ukraine to receive a special permit to use forest resources in electronic form, said Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the state enterprise.
“The electronic logging ticket is an important component of the forestry reform and another huge step towards the de-shadowing of the forestry industry,” he wrote on Facebook.
The head of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that the pilot project, which started on June 1 and will last for two years, provides for the introduction of a single electronic database of logging tickets and certificates of origin in the industry.
The logging ticket is expected to increase the effectiveness of public control over timber harvesting and counter illegal logging. Greater transparency will reduce corruption risks by minimizing contacts between farms and officials, the state enterprise believes.
As reported, the state specialized economic enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest forest user in Ukraine. It is managed by the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The company manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest land.
In 2016, Ukraine launched a forestry reform. It has already introduced the sale of unprocessed timber at electronic auctions. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency’s online map.
On June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber. In addition, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has launched a pilot project for the procurement of timber harvesting services.
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSUFSCP) in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened a new market in Kuwait for Ukrainian producers of poultry meat and poultry products, the press service of the agency reported.
According to the report, the relevant form of international certificate is published on the official web portal of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the section “International Cooperation”, in the section “Veterinary and Safety”, in the subsection “Certificates for Export from Ukraine”, as well as in the section “Requirements of the countries of the world”.
The State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection emphasized that the market operator is responsible for food safety and compliance with the requirements of the country of destination, while state supervision and control is a function and competence of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection.
The first step for exporting food products is a request from the market operator to the territorial body of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection at the location of the facilities, the agency explained.
As reported, the markets of Azerbaijan and North Macedonia have already been opened for Ukrainian livestock products in 2023.
Ukraine’s share in honey imports to the EU in 2022 amounted to 24%, which allowed it to take second place among exporting countries, Beehive reported on Facebook, citing data from Eurostat and the European Federation of Honey Packers and Distributors (F.E.E.D.M.).
According to the report, in addition to Ukraine, the top countries supplying honey to the EU include China (36%), Argentina (10%), Mexico (7%), Turkey (4%), Cuba and Vietnam (3% each).
According to Beehive’s preliminary forecasts, the total amount of honey exported from Ukraine in 2023 will be 5-10% higher than in 2022.
“It can be noted that Ukraine holds its position in the market and has every chance to increase the number of exports, taking away market share from other major players,” the company summarized.
As reported, the investment holding EFI Group (Effective Investments) has started selling Ukrainian honey produced by one of its companies under the Beehive brand in UK supermarkets.
Registered in 2013, Beehive LLC’s production facilities of 5 thousand square meters are located in Cherkasy region. The daily output of finished products is 40 tons. The company’s capacity is designed to produce more than 10 thousand tons of honey per year. The company has two production lines: bottling in barrels and packaging in glass containers of various volumes for retail. Honey production complies with international standards such as Organic Standard, FDA, IFS Food, FSSC 22000, and Halal.
Effective Investments Group was founded in 2007 and is engaged in the implementation of business projects in Ukraine. It operates in various sectors of the economy: agriculture, pulp and paper industry, construction, gas industry, energy, creative industry, mechanical engineering and coal industry.
In January-September 2023, PJSC “Ukrainian Joint-Stock Insurance Company “ASKA-Life” (Kyiv) collected net and gross insurance premiums in the amount of UAH 117.5 million, which is 49% less than in the same period of 2022.
The company’s interim financial report, published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NSSMC), does not include premiums to reinsurers.
According to the published data, for the first nine months of 2023, the company paid UAH 8.376 million to customers, which is 36% more than in the same period last year.
The company’s administrative expenses for the reporting period increased by 15.4% to UAH 9.436 million, while sales expenses decreased by 2.2 times to UAH 98.9 million.
The financial loss from operating activities for the first nine months of 2023 decreased to UAH 12.6 million from UAH 15.7 million compared to the same period in 2022.
Net loss amounted to UAH 1,058 million, which is 6.5 times less than in January-September 2022.
ASKA-Life Insurance Company was registered in 2003 and specializes in life insurance.
As reported on the website of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, as of the second quarter of 2023, 55.6667% of the company belongs to SCM Finance Limited, and 44.3333% to Alexander Sosis.
