Consumer goods giant Unilever has said that the company continues to condemn the war in Ukraine, has stopped business operations in Ukraine and has suspended all imports and exports of our products into and out of Russia.
“We continue to condemn the war in Ukraine as a brutal and senseless act by the Russian state. Our business operations in Ukraine have stopped and we are now fully focused on ensuring the safety of our Ukrainian employees and their families, including helping with their evacuation where necessary, and providing additional financial support,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said in a statement posted on the company’s website.
He said that the company has suspended all imports and exports of our products into and out of Russia, and we will stop all media and advertising spend.
“We will not invest any further capital into the country nor will we profit from our presence in Russia. We will continue to supply our everyday essential food and hygiene products made in Russia to people in the country. We will keep this under close review,” he said.
“We join calls for an end to this war and hope that peace, human rights, and the international rule of law will prevail,” he said.
Unilever brands include Lipton, Dove, Vaseline, Cif, Signal, Domestos, Rexona AXE, Chistaya Liniya, Barkhatnye Ruchki and Inmarko.
In Ukraine, the company has a tea factory in Hostomel near Kyiv, which is the scene of heavy fighting.
In Russia, it has ice cream plants in Tula Region and Omsk, tea, cosmetics and household cleaner production facilities in St. Petersburg, and a cosmetics factory in Yekaterinburg.
Prometey Group of Companies, which owns 29 granaries in Ukraine with a total storage capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of agricultural crops, intends to purchase four-six more elevators this year, the company’s website reported on Monday.
“In the future, Prometey Group intends to take a leading position in terms of one-time storage capacity and become the largest latifundist in Ukraine. This year, the company aims to purchase four-six more elevators,” the grain trader said in a statement.
It is noted that in 2021, Prometey acquired four granaries, which made it possible to increase the elevator capacity of the group of companies by 210,000 tonnes.
Prometey provides services for the storage, processing and logistics of grain and leguminous crops on the basis of 29 elevators in Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky, Zaporizhia, Sumy, Odesa, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Nova Poshta Group plans to invest UAH 5 billion in development in 2022, of which UAH 1.2 billion into an innovative terminal in Odesa.
As Nova Poshta said in a report on Wednesday, the terminal in Odesa will become the company’s second largest sorting facility after its opening.
Construction work at the Odesa terminal began in June last year. The terminal will consist of two buildings – postal and freight, their total area – more than 26,000 square meters.
Active construction is currently underway: a building frame is being assembled at the cargo terminal.
“In 2022, we plan to invest unprecedented UAH 5 billion in the Nova Poshta development: in terminal infrastructure; a network of branches and post offices; in innovation. This is one and a half times more than last year. We believe in our country, we believe in its people, so we continue to develop our business and work with inspiration,” co-owner of Nova Poshta Volodymyr Popereshniuk is quoted in the report.
In March, the installation of automated equipment will begin at the terminal. These will be two main automated Vanderlande lines for sorting parcels from 2 kg to 30 kg and three lines for sorting small parcels manufactured by the Ukrainian company Konsort.
In addition, telescopic conveyors will be installed at the terminal, which drive directly into the car body and help automate the process of loading. A total of 48 such “telescopes” are planned to be installed at the terminal.
It is planned to use 50 robotic carts at the cargo part of the terminal: robots manufactured by Ukrainian SBR for moving cargo.
The terminal will begin operation, tentatively, already in November of this year. It will be able to process up to 40,000 parcels per hour, which is three times more the speed of the current terminal.
The terminal will sort the parcels for Odesa and 65 settlements of Odesa region. It will create more than 700 new jobs.
The company also said that they planned to open an automated terminal in Zaporizhia the following week.
The Nova Poshta group of companies includes, in particular, Nova Poshta, NP Logistic, NovaPay and Nova Poshta Global companies.
Businessman Rinat Akhmetov in Mariupol, where Metinvest’s metallurgical plants are located, announced his intention to continue investing heavily in the modernization and development of this largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding.
“We continue to build, we continue to invest. This year, Metinvest will invest $1 billion in new production,” he said.
“We will build a new university, we will do everything in our power to ensure that there is a decent job in Mariupol, a decent salary, and most importantly, a happy life for people,” Akhmetov added.
The meeting is also attended by MP Vadim Novinsky, who is a co-owner of Metinvest.
Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said that a decision, which had been made this year earlier than usual, to increase the holding’s salary by 10% on average from March 1 is made.
Ryzhenkov said that Metinvest has currently planned its investment program at $1.3-1.5 billion per year over the next three or four years, further investments will depend on how the company develops the green metallurgy.
The decarbonization trend is focusing on the steel industry, he said. However, there are already well-studied low-carbon technologies for direct reduced iron (DRI) and electrometallurgy (electric arc furnaces). Metinvest’s efforts in the field of decarbonization are connected not only with the climate, but also with renewal and entry into new markets (in terms of efficiency and product quality).
The updated technology strategy that the company continues to develop suggests different scenarios, but each of them includes a transition to low-carbon operations. The strategic goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90% by 2050 using a phased approach with key milestones in 2030 and 2040. The final stages of the strategy are expected to include the use of hydrogen.
Metinvest is the largest mining and metallurgical holding in Ukraine. The group’s enterprises are located mainly in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Metinvest’s main shareholders are the SCM group (71.25%) and Smart Holding (23.75%), which jointly manage the company.
Germany has confirmed its intention to provide financial assistance for green energy initiatives in Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“The German Chancellor confirmed Germany’s intention to fill with specifics and financial assistance initiatives for green transformation, decarbonization and development of renewable energy in Ukraine. Our state is ready to offer great prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of green energy,” he said at a joint briefing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv on Monday.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain José Manuel Albares Bueno will pay a visit to Ukraine on February 8-9 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the ministers will hold talks, the key topics of which will be support and containment of the Russian Federation from further aggression. The parties will also discuss the increase in trade and investment between Ukraine and Spain.
On Wednesday, February 9 at 10:20, the ministers will hold a joint online press conference.
