Demand and prices for Ukrainian sunflower oil are growing on the global market, with prices rising by $30-38 per tonne over the past week, APK-Inform news agency reported based on its own monitoring.
“The Ukrainian export market of sunflower oil was dominated by the price growth amid similar trends in the global vegetable oil market. Thus, the demand prices for Ukrainian sunflower oil in the ports reached the maximum since the beginning of the season-2023/2024 and as of March 18, they are mainly fixed in the range of $780-795/ton CPT port. This is $30-38/ton higher than the prices of the previous week,” the analysts said.
In addition, last week the exports of sunflower oil increased to 156 thsd tonnes. This is 9% higher than the previous week, according to APK-Inform.
Ruta, a major Ukrainian manufacturer of sanitary and hygienic paper products, whose management company is VGP JSC (Lutsk), produced products worth UAH 281.3 million in January-February, up 13.8% compared to the same period in 2023.
According to Ukrpapir Association’s statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, in physical terms, in particular, the production of toilet paper in rolls increased by 8.4% to 21.15 million units, which remains the third best result in the industry after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill (42.5 million units) and Kokhava Paper Mill (24.3 million units).
The company produces cellulose-based sanitary products from imported base paper.
VGP’s brand portfolio includes napkins, toilet paper, paper handkerchiefs, and kitchen towels under the Ruta, Ruta Selecta, Fesko, Nosovic, Polotenchko, 100% paper, Servetta, and Ecolo brands. The assortment includes more than 180 items.
As reported, in 2023, the company produced products worth UAH 1 billion 611 million, which is 64.8% more than in 2022.
Last month, Naftogaz Group companies paid UAH 5.3 billion in taxes, which is 17.8% more than in February 2023.
According to a report on Naftogaz’s website, the company paid UAH 4.8 billion to the state budget and UAH 0.5 billion to local budgets.
In total, since the beginning of 2024, the group has paid UAH 11.4 billion in taxes to the state.
As reported, in 2023, Naftogaz Group companies paid UAH 90.2 billion in taxes, UAH 83.4 billion of which went to the state budget and UAH 6.8 billion to local budgets.
In 2023, InterExpress Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected insurance premiums in the amount of UAH 58.616 million, which is 21.15% more than a year earlier.
This is reported by the rating agency Standard-Rating on the update of the company’s credit rating / financial strength (reliability) rating of the insurer on the national scale at the level of uaAA.
Revenues from individuals for the year decreased by 5.20% to UAH 23.223 million, and revenues from reinsurers in the analyzed period amounted to only UAH 132 thousand. Despite the increase in premiums from individuals, the insurer’s client portfolio is dominated by legal entities, as indicated by their share in gross premiums, which amounted to 60.15% in 12 months of 2023.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers decreased by 37.35% to UAH 4,649 million. Thus, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums decreased by 7.41 p.p. to 7.93%.
The company’s net written premiums increased by 31.75% to UAH 53.967 million, while earned premiums increased by 22.13% to UAH 53.111 million.
The volume of payments and reimbursements made by the insurer in 2023 decreased by 1.35% compared to 2022 – to UAH 17.065 million. Thus, the level of payments decreased by 6.64 p.p. to 29.11%.
In the analyzed period, IC Interexpress’ activities were profitable, while the insurer’s financial results showed a significant increase. Thus, the operating profit of IC “Interexpress” increased by UAH 23.408 million to UAH 24.340 million, and the net profit – by UAH 19.153 million to UAH 20.005 million.
As of January 1, 2024, the insurer’s assets increased by 53.88% to UAH 73.695 million, equity – by 56.31% to UAH 58.721 million, liabilities increased by 45.07% to UAH 14.974 million, cash and cash equivalents – by 56.09% to UAH 10.088 million.
RA also notes that as of the reporting date, the company has formed a portfolio of current investments in government bonds in the amount of UAH 5,828 mln.
InterExpress Insurance Company, registered in 2004, specializes in risky types of insurance.
In 2023, the consolidated net loss of Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, amounted to $194 million, while in 2022 it reached $2.193 billion (down 11 times).
According to the group’s annual report, its revenue fell by 11% from $8.288 billion to $7.397 billion in 2022, and EBITDA fell by 54% to $861 from $1.873 billion.
It is specified that the revenue of the metallurgical sector decreased by 15.2% to $4.846 billion, and the mining segment – by 0.8% to $2.551 billion.
At the same time, adjusted EBITDA of the group’s steel division decreased by 40.4% to $159 million and mining segment by 50.2% to $770 million.
Metinvest’s operating profit in 2023 amounted to $445 million against an operating loss of $1.426 billion in 2022.
In addition, free cash and cash equivalents increased to $646 million from $349 million at the end of 2022.
As reported, Metinvest B.V.’s consolidated net loss in 2022 amounted to $2.193 billion compared to a profit of $4.765 billion in 2021. At the same time, revenues fell by almost 2.2 times to $8.288 billion from $18.005 billion in 2021, and EBITDA fell by 3.4 times to $1.769 billion.
Revenue of the steel sector decreased by 2.5 times to $5.803 billion, the mining segment – by 1.8 times to $3.473 billion, adjusted EBITDA of the steel division fell by 11.1 times to $0.262 billion, and the mining segment – by 2.5 times to $1.448 billion. Metinvest’s operating loss in 2022 amounted to $1.426 billion, compared to a profit of $4.933 billion in 2021.
Taking into account asset write-downs of $1.283 billion and foreign exchange losses of $1.154 billion, the group’s total loss for 2022 amounted to $4.1 billion, compared to a total profit of $5.023 billion in 2021. Free cash flows decreased by 3.3 times to $0.349 billion.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions, as well as in Europe.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
As part of its partnership with the UKculture project, JSC OTP BANK will support the platform’s team in preparing a series of lectures on the history of money: from the hryvnia of the princes of Kievan Rus to the present, as well as figures and historical monuments from Ukrainian banknotes.
“We started the collaboration on the first day of World Money Week, which is celebrated annually in more than 100 countries. The joint project with UKultura will allow us to raise deeper meanings, to look at the history of Ukrainian money in philosophical, historical, and cultural dimensions. The platform’s experts study unusual topics, find unexpected facts, and tell them not through dates and a list of names, but through living stories. And they also explain how these stories have affected us today,” said Lesia Syrota, team leader of the OTP Bank Helps Ukraine charity project, Director of Retail Sales and Network Management at OTP Bank.
She noted that Ukrainian banknotes contain much more than the size of the payment denomination and anti-counterfeiting elements. In particular, she reminded that modern money depicts symbols or important artifacts of Ukrainian statehood that have played or are playing a significant role in the country’s history. Therefore, educational lectures will help expand and supplement knowledge about different eras and how they are reflected in the present.
“UKultura is an innovative educational project about Ukrainian culture with a human face. Without bombast and excessive academicism, together with leading researchers, we talk about the achievements and values of our culture from ancient times to the present. The UCulture educational platform was created for students seeking live information about Ukrainian culture, for teachers looking for relevant materials and teaching methods, for cultural professionals seeking to share their experience and knowledge, and for everyone who wants to learn more about Ukrainian culture,” commented Larysa Dovha, UCulture project manager.
All videos created as part of the cooperation will be available for free on the
the Bank’s YouTube channel and on the website UKkultura website.
The UKultura educational platform was launched in March 2023. Its website contains both lectures on the development of Ukrainian culture from ancient times to the present and interviews with leading experts and scholars.
