Public associations of farmers are asking the government to consider the possibility of providing chemical enterprises with a commodity loan for 1.25 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the production of mineral fertilizers, this will avoid a shortage of fertilizers and “unrestrained price increases” for them next spring.The corresponding appeal of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Federation of Employers, the Union of Chemists of Ukraine, the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agri Council and the Ukrainian Agrarian confederation to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was published on the UAC’s website.As stated in the appeal, over the past month, most of the major European producers of nitrogen mineral fertilizers have reduced production due to a sharp rise in prices for natural gas, which leads to a shortage of mineral fertilizers in the European and world markets.According to UAC, Ukraine meets the needs for mineral fertilizers mainly due to domestic production, while in order to provide the country’s sowing campaign, 2.3 million tonnes of fertilizers are needed for the period of November 2021-May 2022, of which 75% is expected from domestic production and 25% – from import supplies.In such conditions, an important component of providing Ukrainian farmers with nitrogen fertilizers is the stable and uninterrupted operation of domestic producers, primarily in the winter period, when their stock is formed for the spring sowing campaign and feeding winter crops. In turn, this can be achieved only if there is a necessary supply of natural gas, the main raw material for the chemical industry at a stable price.The associations in their appeal suggested that the government consider the possibility of allocating a commodity loan for 1.25 billion cubic meters of natural gas to domestic producers of nitrogen fertilizers for the period from November 2021 to April 2022 at the expense of the reserves of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy.
US Eximbank has tentatively agreed on the total amount of financing for construction of two new power units using AP1000 technology of the American company Westinghouse, further negotiations are underway, Head of Energoatom Petro Kotin has said.”Financing is provided through the US Eximbank. The total amount of financing for two power units has been preliminary agreed, but there is still a long procedure to make a final decision in order to receive this money,” Kotin said at a briefing at the international conference Atomic Opportunities for National Development, held in Kyiv on Monday.At the same time, he specified that “both the American and Ukrainian shares are being financed.” At the same time, he did not name the amount of funding.In the Energoatom’s presentation on nuclear power development, presented at the conference, the amount of construction of one power unit is indicated approximately in the range of $5 billion.At the same time, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko noted that conditions for provision of financing that are favorable for Ukraine, are being considered.”I would not like to specify anything before making a final decision, but I will say: we are talking about the use of funds for 18 years at very low interest rates,” he said, adding that “now we are talking about the first tranche of financing for two units.”As reported, Westinghouse (USA) and Energoatom signed two cooperation agreements providing for the start of projects for construction of two new power units at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (KhNPP) using AP1000 technology.As part of the September visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States, Energoatom and Westinghouse Electric signed a memorandum on construction of five nuclear power units in Ukraine. The cost of the project will be about $25 billion.
The self-propelled floating crane Nibulon Max of agricultural holding JV Nibulon LLC (Mykolaiv) has transshipped more than 5 million tonnes of products at Mykoaliv seaport and loaded more than 160 vessels in two years since its launch in October 2019, according to the website of the group of companies.According to it, 41% of all shipments were wheat, 38% – corn, 16% – barley, and 5% – rapeseed. Agricultural products were exported to more than 30 countries of the world.Nibulon specified that it reached its maximum transshipment volumes in August 2021 – 700,900 tonnes of agricultural products. The best quarterly indicator for the shipment of products was also recorded in the first quarter of the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY, July-June) – 1.83 million tonnes, 62% out of which were shipped due to transshipments in the outer roads.According to Nibulon’s data, the Nibulon Max floating crane, with a nominal daily loading capacity of 18,000 tonnes, loads Panamax-class vessels in three days. The presence of two cargo holds with a capacity of 13,400 cubic meters allows continuous operation even in the absence of a non-self-propelled fleet, since it is able to carry out loading and unloading operations in its own holds. Also, it can store cargoes when foreign-going vessels are not available, thereby releasing fleet to transport cargoes.”Nibulon Max has considerably increased the company’s capacity to transport cargoes by river and to ship in the outer roads. According to the company’s specialists, the shipments by floating cranes can be soon increased by 26%, thereby enabling the company to efficiently use its own capacities in the outer roads. The shipment capacity now comprises 6 million tonnes [annually],” the company said.Nibulon was established in 1991. It has 27 transshipment terminals and reception complexes, storage capacity of 2.25 million tonnes and a fleet of 82 units (including 23 tugs), as well as the Mykolaiv shipyard.Nibulon cultivates 82,000 hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exports agricultural products to more than 70 countries.During the navigation period of 2020, the fleet of the Nibulon company transported a record 4.14 million tonnes of cargo, exceeding the figure of 2019 (3.8 million tonnes) by 8.9%.
Grammarly, an IT company with Ukrainian roots, has attracted more than $200 million in investments from venture capitalists Baillie Gifford and BlackRock, according to a press release from the company.According to the announcement, Grammarly has reached a valuation of $13 billion.Grammarly plans to use the investment to accelerate product innovation and team growth.“Grammarly’s latest funding round underscores the importance of our mission and the broad need for effective communication,” Grammarly CEO Brad Hoover was quoted as saying.The company will also continue to promote its natural language processing and machine learning technologies to provide personalized feedback to users around the world.“We’re delighted to partner with the team at Grammarly to democratize effective communication. As the world has digitized, people communicate more than they ever have – yet it has never been so difficult,” Peter Singlehurst, Head of Private Companies at Baillie Gifford said.“What attracted us is the company’s vision and the team’s ability to drive the product forward to help more people in more situations communicate better. Grammarly’s long-term and ambitious approach also aligns with our approach to investing. We look forward to many years of partnership with Grammarly,” he said.The company also said that the number of Grammarly employees has almost tripled since 2019, and thanks to the recently announced hybrid model of remote work, the company is hiring employees in the United States, Canada and Ukraine.Grammarly was founded in 2009 by Kyiv residents: Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, and Dmytro Lider. Its offices are located in Kyiv, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver.Grammarly is an online grammar checker service created by Grammarly Inc. It automatically detects potential grammatical, spelling, punctual, verbal and style errors. The service is available in a web editor, desktop app, as well as extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge browsers, mobile keyboards, and an add-in for Microsoft Office.
Delta Wilmar Ukraine LLC, a member of the group of the transnational corporation Wilmar International, on November 15 at the plant in the village of Novi Biliary (Odesa region) launched the tenth line for bottling sunflower oil under the Chumak brand, which will also become the second line for filling oil in containers of 1.8 liters, 3 liters and 5 liters, according to the company’s Facebook page.According to him, the sales market for products in containers of increased volumes is the Middle East and Africa, where people live mainly in large families and, accordingly, buy oil in large containers.The sunflower oil producer specified that its products are exported to 40 countries of the world.As reported, Delta Wilmar in 2020 opened a new workshop for processing and packaging margarine and fat products at an enterprise in Odesa region, investments in which amounted to more than $ 29 million.Delta Wilmar Ukraine LLC is part of the group of the transnational agro-industrial corporation Wilmar International, the market capitalization of which is estimated at $ 22 billion.In Ukraine, it owns two plants – one for processing tropical oils, the other for processing oilseeds, as well as a complex for transshipment of vegetable oils in Pivdenny port. All enterprises are located in the village of Novi Biliary, 30 km from Odesa.In the 2020/2021 marketing year (September-August), the company produced 153,000 tonnes of refined sunflower oil, its share in the Ukrainian product market was 16.6%.
Ovostar Union, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, in January-September 2021 received $2.85 million in net profit, which is a quarter less than for the same period in 2020, its EBITDA decreased by 29% – to $5.4 million.According to the company’s report, published on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Ovostar’s revenue for the nine months of 2021 increased by 39% – to $94.36 million, its gross profit decreased by 5% – to $10.95 million, operating profit – by 51%, to $2.22 million“In the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the increase in fixed assets of the group of companies amounted to $570,000 (September 30, 2020: $2.21 million). In particular, the group purchased equipment for poultry houses for $420,000 and allocated $156,000 for capital expenditures,” the report explains. The document states that the assets of the agricultural holding as of September 30, 2021 increased by 8% compared to the same date last year, to $142 million, its long-term debt liabilities increased by 19.6%, to $6.99 million, and the current ones decreased by 2%, to $21 million.
