PrJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has taken over management of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipro region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), has started selling titanium raw materials to Italy, Spain, Germany and is systematically expanding its exports.
According to the company, despite the difficulties and risks of wartime, it shipped more than 102 thousand tons of products in 2023. The planned supply volumes for 2024 are 200 thousand tons.
Yegor Perelygin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of UMCC, quoted in the information, noted that due to effective approaches and communication with potential buyers, the company signed contracts for the supply of approximately 80 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
“We were able to attract a series of subscriptions for finished products from stable market players and open new ways to supply world-class end users. We have integrated the coordination and logistics management functions in the commercial unit, become more flexible and focused on an individual approach to strategic customers. As a result, we have opened the UMCC brand to well-known end users in Italy, Spain and Germany,” he explained.
Mr. Perelygin added that by the end of the second quarter of this year, UMCC’s rutile and zircon may become absolutely regular and key components in the raw material portfolios of major processors in Italy, Spain and Germany.
At the same time, companies in the United States and the Czech Republic remain strategic partners for UMCC’s ilmenite concentrate. We are also launching export deliveries of Irshansky GOK’s ilmenite to one of the largest end users in North America. The company plans to sell about 60 thousand tons in the near future. The company emphasizes that the supply chain and end users of these products are strictly controlled by the company and law enforcement agencies.
“Our success is due to our large team. These are more than 4,000 professionals who work in the NONstop mode. Together, we have made a good start for 2024 and are moving step by step towards our strategic goal of producing value-added products and significantly curtailing the aggressor’s influence in the markets of critical minerals and strategic materials,” summarized Perelygin.
The United Mining and Chemical Company started its actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovska oblast) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyrska oblast) to its management. Previously, these plants were leased to Firtash’s structures. Then the company was transformed into a PJSC and then into a PrJSC.
In August 2016, the government included UMCC in the list of companies to be privatized in 2017. Its deadline was postponed several times, and the tender was disrupted twice.
UMCC used to sell its products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world’s largest producers of titanium raw materials, accounting for 4% of the global market. The company mines titanium ore.
Germany is sending equipment and weapons to Ukraine: the new military aid package includes 14,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition, 4 WISENT 1 demining vehicles, 3 mobile remote-controlled and protected demining systems, and 250 demining kits, the German government website reported on Monday.
According to the published updated list of military aid delivered to Ukraine, it also includes 10 Vector reconnaissance UAVs with spare parts; 22 anti-drone systems; 12 SatCom terminals; 4 vehicles for border guards; and materials for the disposal of explosive ordnance;
The package was provided by the resources of the Federal Armed Forces and government-funded industry.
It is noted that about 5 billion euros (2023) and about 1.6 billion euros (2022) have already been spent on military assistance to Ukraine. An additional 2.9 billion euros were allocated in the first two years of the war for aid that will be received only in 2025-2028.
In total, since February 24, 2022, Germany has supplied materials from the Federal Armed Forces’ stockpiles worth approximately €5.2 billion. In addition, more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received military training in Germany. The cost of this training is currently about €282 million.
The German economy may enter recession in the first quarter of 2024, the Bundesbank said in its monthly report. According to the German central bank, the country’s GDP is likely to decline slightly again in January-March.
It contracted by 0.3% in quarterly terms in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to preliminary data from the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The final data will be presented on Friday.
As negative factors for the German economy, the Bundesbank notes a significant decline in demand for industrial exports, the likely continued restraint of consumers in spending, increased uncertainty about climate policy, a decrease in order books in industry and construction, as well as strikes, including in rail transport and aviation.
Germany will provide military aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR7.1 billion in 2024, including a EUR1.1 billion aid package, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a press conference in Berlin on Friday.
“In total, Germany has allocated or committed EUR28 billion for military aid,” he added.
Today, Scholz noted, “we are preparing a new level – EUR 1.1 billion. This includes 36 armored howitzers and wheeled howitzers from industrial stocks, 120 thousand pieces of ammunition, as well as two Skynex systems and missiles for IRIS-T,” Scholz said.
According to him, the signed agreement on military cooperation establishes that Germany will continue to support an independent Ukraine that is defending itself against Russian aggression.
Germany, Scholz said, “will support Ukrainian partners in building modern, defensible armed forces in order to prevent any future Russian aggression.” According to him, “today’s agreement also covers assistance in the civilian sphere, such as demining, energy infrastructure in Ukraine and reconstruction.”
In turn, Scholz noted, Ukraine assumes responsibility for continuing reforms leading to the country’s accession to the EU. “I have to be clear: of course, we all want this war to end as soon as possible. But, unfortunately, we see that Russia is not ready for a lasting and just peace,” the Chancellor said.
He also appealed to the US Congress to “make the decisions that Ukraine needs now to provide financial and military support.”
According to the website of the German Ministry of Defense, on Friday the federal government prepared another package of military support for Ukraine worth EUR1.13 billion.
It includes 18 Panzerhaubitzen-2000 self-propelled howitzers (to be delivered in 2026-2027, including training, spare parts and ammunition, in addition to the 14 already planned), 18 RCH 155 wheeled howitzers (to be delivered in 2025-2027 in addition to the 18 planned), 120,000 rounds of 122 mm artillery ammunition (to be delivered in 2024), a second SkyNex air defense system (to be delivered in 2025), and 100 more IRIS-T SLS missiles (in addition to the previously planned).
“Our Security Agreement with Ukraine is historic. For the first time in its history, the Federal Republic acts as a guarantor state. Today’s signing is a clear sign that Germany is fulfilling its increased security commitments in Europe. Our “Munich package” worth more than EUR 1 billion confirms our ongoing military support for Ukraine and shows that we are fulfilling our promise to stand by our Ukrainian partners in their fight against Russian aggression,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
An important part of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 (URC2024) in Berlin on June 11-12 this year will be a professional recovery forum aimed at achieving a concrete result in establishing contacts between Ukrainian, German and international stakeholders, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said.
“This is not an idle conference, we would like to create a business development fund with systemic financial instruments to support, for example, small and medium-sized businesses or to support local reconstruction,” she said at a roundtable discussion on Ukraine’s reconstruction at the Munich Security Conference.
Schulze also noted the intention to create a center to provide municipalities with the information, funding and training services they need.
She said the role of municipalities will be one of the four main topics that will be the focus of URC2024, along with the role of the private sector and private investors, the EU accession process and the reforms needed for it, and the topic of human capital and social recovery.
“We need to mobilize the private sector. This is really important. Not enough public money? – We also need private money. We have local and regional requirements: municipalities and regions need to be part of this process and they need to help drive it forward,” explained the German Development Minister.
According to her, all these topics at the Recovery Conference will also be permeated by the common theme of digitalization, in which Ukraine has already achieved impressive results.
business development funds, GERMANY, municipalities assistance center
Germany has handed over a new military aid package to Ukraine, which includes a new Skynex anti-aircraft artillery system and ammunition, the German government’s press service reports.
In addition, ammunition for the Patriot and IRIS-T SLM systems, as well as for Leorard 2A6 tanks, was transferred.
The aid package also includes 10 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 2 TRML-4D radars, 9,080 rounds of 155 mm ammunition, 2 WISENT demining tanks, 1 Biber bridge-building tank, 3,350 combat helmets, and 30 drone detection systems, 10 GO1 ground surveillance radars, 10 Zetros trucks, 3 8×8 HX81 tractors and a semi-trailer, 34 other vehicles, 305 MK 556 assault rifles, 0.75 million rounds of ammunition and 1152 winter camouflage nets.
In the future, it is also planned to transfer 4 IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft missile systems, 1 more Skynex air defense system with ammunition, 20 drone detection systems, 26,850 combat helmets, 41 Mercedes trucks, 4,695 MK 556 assault rifles, 0.45 million rounds of ammunition for firearms and 8,000 anti-tank mines.
