The plants of nitrogen holding Ostchem produced 520.6 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers in the first quarter of 2024, which is only 1% more than in the first quarter of 2023 (515.5 thousand tons), the holding said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The growth in production of the Ukrainian chemical industry has stopped due to the uncontrolled growth in fertilizer imports from Poland, as well as Russia-friendly Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan,” the company said.
According to the company, in the first quarter of 2024, fertilizer imports increased by 35% to 701.2 thousand tons.
It is specified that Cherkasy Azot produced 404.3 thousand tons in January-March this year, while Rivne Azot produced 128 thousand tons of fertilizers.
According to the report, the production structure remains fairly stable: ammonium nitrate is the leader (246 thousand tons produced), followed by urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) (123.8 thousand tons) and urea (123.5 thousand tons). Production of limestone-ammonium nitrate (LAM) increased slightly year-on-year to 15.8 thousand tons, and ammonia to 9.08 thousand tons.
Ostchem noted that it met its obligations in full during the spring sowing season, but in 2024 the negative industry trend intensified, with fertilizer imports significantly exceeding domestic production.
“In the first quarter of 2024, imports amounted to 701.2 thsd tonnes, exceeding domestic production by 35%. Imports continue to kill domestic production: four fertilizer producers have already been shut down – OPP, Dniproazot, Rivneazot and Sumykhimprom,” commented Oleg Arestarkhov, Head of Corporate Communications at Group DF.
It is noted that Ukrainian producers continue to lose ground in the Ukrainian market in most fertilizer segments, except for UAN.
“First of all, Ukrainian chemical plants are dramatically losing the urea market: in the first quarter, Ukraine produced 123.5 thousand tons of urea, while imports amounted to 181 thousand tons. 88% of all imported urea came from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, countries friendly to Russia,” Arestarkhov added.
According to him, Poland is also strengthening its position as the largest importer of fertilizers to Ukraine, as it is currently flooded with cheap Russian and Belarusian fertilizers that are not subject to EU sanctions, which is why all the excess fertilizers from the Polish market are being redirected to Ukraine.
According to Ostchem, in 2023, Poland imported 1.016 million tons of urea, of which urea from Russia accounted for 34% (345 thousand tons). At the same time, in the first quarter of 2024, Poland has already become the undisputed leader among importers of such fertilizers as ammonium nitrate (52 thousand tons out of 109.7 thousand tons of total imports), ammonium sulfate nitrate (7.9 thousand tons out of 9.4 thousand tons), UAN (17.4 thousand tons), and NPK (63.2 thousand tons out of 144.3 thousand tons) in the Ukrainian market.
In the first quarter, Ukraine imported 121.9 thousand tons of sulphate (China is the leader with 75.3 thousand tons) and 74.6 thousand tons of superphosphate (Bulgaria – 37.3 thousand tons and Greece – 27.4 thousand tons),
“Unfortunately, behind the loud slogans of Ukrainian government officials within the Buy Ukrainian campaign, there are no practical steps to reduce imports and protect the Ukrainian fertilizer producer,” Arestarkhov emphasized, recalling the specific proposals of the Ukrainian Chemists Union to protect the domestic market that were submitted to the government.
Ostchem is the nitrogen holding of Dmitry Firtash’s Group DF, which unites the largest mineral fertilizer producers in Ukraine. Since 2011, it has included Rivne Azot and Cherkasy Azot, as well as Severodonetsk Azot and Stirol, which are out of operation and located in the occupied territories.
Cherkasy Azot PrJSC (Cherkasy, Ukraine) is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical companies. Its design production capacity is 962.7 thousand tons per year of ammonia, 970 thousand tons per year of ammonium nitrate, 891.6 thousand tons of urea, and 1 million tons per year of UAN.
Rivne Azot is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical companies in Western Ukraine. On April 12, 2024, Group DF and South Korean Hyundai Engineering signed an agreement to build a chemical hub in Rivne. The project envisages the construction of green ammonia and hydrogen plants based on renewable energy sources; new enterprises and production sites for nitrogen fertilizers and chemical derivatives.
German unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer Quantum-Systems has opened an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plant in Ukraine, the press service of Quantum-Systems reports.
“The new plant will be the company’s second facility in Ukraine and is expected to employ about 100 people by the end of the year,” the company said in a statement.
According to the information, it will be able to produce up to 1 thousand UAVs per year.
“The new plant is expected to increase production capacity to 1,000 drones per year, including the production of spare parts,” Quantum-Systems said.
It is also indicated that the company will invest up to EUR6 million over the next two years in the production of UAVs in Ukraine.
As reported, Quantum-Systems’ Vector medium-range drones have been in operation in Ukraine since May 2022. So far, 212 systems have been provided with funding from the German government. The company said that 500 UAVs are expected to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year.
Quantum-Systems has been operating a service, support, training, and logistics center in Ukraine since last year, employing 25 Ukrainian employees. They train drone pilots and implement technological advances in reconnaissance systems on-site.
Quantum Systems is a dual-purpose company with about 250 employees. The production facility in Ukraine is the fourth of the company’s seven plants located around the world.
Ukrainian ice cream and frozen semi-finished products producer Three Bears has acquired Nordis, which owns a plant for the production of semi-finished products and ice cream in Poland, the company’s founder Dmytro Ushmayev told the Ukrainian edition of Forbes.
“We have indeed acquired the Nordis plant in Poland. Nordis is similar in potential to Three Bears,” Ushmayev said.
The owner of the company refused to disclose the amount of the deal and clarified that the Ukrainian company plans to invest in the development of production in Poland.
According to the Ministry of Justice of Poland, in September 2023, the management of the Polish plant for the production of semi-finished products and ice cream Nordis changed. Dmitry Ushmayev, founder of Three Bears, became the new owner of the company. Andriy Tyshchenko, director of the Ukrainian manufacturer, has also joined Nordis’ supervisory board.
Nordis owns a plant in western Poland and warehouses. The company produces more than 100 types of ice cream and semi-finished products. Nordis also has a distribution network in 19 cities in Poland. The previous owner and CEO of Nordis was Slawomir Jankowski.
According to preliminary data, Eurocar JSC (Solomonovo, Zakarpattia region), which produces Skoda cars and is part of the Atoll Holding group of companies, ended 2023 with a net profit of UAH 37.25 million, which is almost 2.2 times less than in 2022.
According to the announcement of the annual shareholders’ meeting on April 30, as a result, retained earnings as of the beginning of 2024 increased by 16.5% to UAH 262.95 million.
The shareholders plan to use the net profit, as in the previous year, to replenish working capital, and not to accrue or pay dividends.
According to the publication, last year Eurocar increased its current liabilities by 85.4% to UAH 290.21 million, while its long-term liabilities increased slightly (by 3.2%) to UAH 1 billion 460 million.
Total accounts receivable amounted to UAH 707 million, down 22.7% over the year, while assets increased by 10.5% to UAH 2 billion 278 million due to a 2.5-fold increase in inventories to UAH 767.12 million and a 19.2% increase in cash to UAH 82.05 million.
“Eurocar has been producing passenger cars since December 2001. In June 2022, the plant resumed large-scale assembly (SKD) of Škoda cars, which was stopped with the start of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, but does not publish production statistics.
According to Auto-Consulting, in 2023, as in the previous year, Skoda cars took the fourth place in the rating of new passenger car sales in Ukraine, with an increase of 74.7% to 4.95 thousand units, while the market share increased to 7.61% compared to 7.08%.
According to the NSSMC, as of the third quarter of 2022, more than 68.84% of Eurocar’s shares are owned by Atoll Holding, whose beneficial owner is Oleg Boyarin, another 20% is owned by Prostir Capital LLC, and 10% by Iberia Motor Company of Poland.
According to Clarity-project, in 2023, the plant increased its net income by 73.6% year-on-year to UAH 4 billion 226 million.
Businessman Igor Liski has announced the construction of a $240 million window glass plant in Kyiv region.
“I can now officially announce our new super-ambitious project, which we have been developing for over a year,” Liski wrote on Facebook.
Liski told The Wall Street Journal that he plans to invest about $80 million in the project. According to him, raising project financing is the main challenge when launching a project.
Liski is the owner of the investment holding EFI Group (Effective Investments). His investment areas include healthcare and medtech, paper, food, and woodworking industries, and agricultural supplies.
The company’s businesses include Feednova, an animal fats and feed additives producer, Medical Star healthcare network, Zhytomyr Cardboard Mill, Sam Ecopack, a cardboard packaging manufacturer, Forest Technology, an agricultural products supplier, Efi Agro, and Doc.ua, an online medical hub.
Turkish defense company Baykar has begun construction of a plant near Kyiv that will employ about 500 people and produce TB2 or TB3 drone models, the company’s CEO told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Turkish-made Bayraktar drones gained widespread popularity worldwide after the Ukrainian military began using them to counter Russian forces, destroying armored vehicles and artillery systems.
Baykar said it has signed export agreements for its TB2 drone with 30 countries. Among them are Ukraine, Ethiopia, Libya and Azerbaijan since 2018, according to the SIPRI think tank.
“Our plant is under construction… we need about 12 months to finish the construction, and then we will move on to the internal machinery, equipment and organizational structure,” Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar said on the sidelines of the Riyadh World Defense Exhibition.
“The plant in Ukraine is large, we plan to employ about 500 people,” he said. Bayraktar noted that the production capacity will be about 120 units per year, but said it is not yet clear whether production at the Ukrainian plant will focus on the TB2 or TB3 drone model.
Asked if security issues related to the ongoing conflict would be a concern for the plant, he said that plans are “fully progressing” and “nothing” can stop them.
As reported earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Turkish company Baykar Makina signed an agreement to build a service center for the repair and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine.
