In 2023, the plants of Ostchem, a nitrogen holding company that unites Group DF’s nitrogen business, produced 2.1 million tons of mineral fertilizers, up 19.51% year-on-year.
According to a Group DF press release, Azot, the group’s Cherkasy-based plant, produced 1.56 million tons of mineral fertilizers in 2023, up 39.63% year-on-year, while Rivne Azot produced 528 thousand tons (-10.81%).
Urea, UAN and ammonium nitrate were the key fertilizers produced by Ostchem’s businesses, Group DF said.
According to the group, in 2023, it produced 835.9 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate, up 60.47% year-on-year, UAN – 572.7 thousand tons (+130%), and urea – 447.1 thousand tons (+145%). Production of UAN, a traditionally exported fertilizer produced by Rivne Azot, halved to 102 thousand tons.
“The fertilizer market is recovering, but imports of nitrogen fertilizers, which have increased significantly, do not allow us to fully utilize our plants. Despite the difficult situation in the agricultural sector, forced shutdowns of plants due to the hostilities, still high gas prices and abnormally high volumes of imports to Ukraine at dumping prices, Ostchem started to restore production in 2023. We fully met the demand from farmers even during peak periods,” said Sergiy Pavliuchuk, Production Director of Ostchem’s nitrogen business.
In 2023, Ostchem Holding doubled its production of UAN, the most promising fertilizer in Ukraine, to meet the demand. UAN was ranked second in terms of production, and its share in Ostchem’s product portfolio amounted to 27.3%, according to Group DF.
“It is no secret that we are negotiating with global players to develop several industrial sites. Our strategic plans include the construction of new workshops and enterprises. We are talking about investing in new, energy-efficient fertilizer production facilities and launching new products such as AdBlue, industrial gases, and petrochemicals,” added Pavliuchuk.
Commenting on the state of the domestic fertilizer market in Ukraine, Group DF said that the main feature of 2023 was the critical growth in imports imported at dumping prices. Compared to 2022, imports of mineral fertilizers to Ukraine increased 1.9 times, reaching 1.99 million tons. For example, urea imports increased 3.7 times over the year, reaching 501 thousand tons.
“A huge flow of cheap Belarusian and Russian fertilizers enters Ukraine through two channels: the first is from the former Soviet Union countries friendly to the aggressor. The second new channel is the re-export of Belarusian and Russian fertilizers from the EU. According to Eurostat, the total volume of nitrogen fertilizer imports to the EU increased by 34% in 2022-2023, while Russia accounted for about a third of these imports. Despite the sanctions and the existing embargo, a significant portion of these fertilizers is also entering Ukraine, slowly “killing” the Ukrainian producer and Ukrainian jobs,” emphasized Oleg Arestarkhov, Group DF’s Head of Corporate Communications.
In his opinion, the new trend is driven not only by Russia’s desire to expand its sales markets, but also by its strategic plan to make the EU and Ukraine dependent on its fertilizers.
Unable to compete with cheap imports, many EU companies are shutting down, and Ukrainian chemical companies such as Odesa Port and Sumykhimprom are also idle.
“The US and EU countries have already developed measures to ‘reduce dependence’ on fertilizers, grain and other food products from Russia. Formally, Ukraine has an embargo on imports of Russian and Belarusian fertilizers. However, fertilizers from these countries, as well as countries that buy cheap gas from Russia, continue to be supplied. As a result, our market is flooded with cheap imports, and Ukraine is facing critical dumping. Unfortunately, in 2023, we did not see any clear, tough economic actions by the authorities to protect the Ukrainian market and national producers. Fertilizer imports to the country are growing much faster than domestic production. Domestic production grew by about 20%, while imports grew by almost 100%,” stated Arestarkhov, adding that Ukraine needs to learn to better protect its interests.
Group DF consolidates Dmitry Firtash’s assets in the gas distribution, chemical, titanium and port industries, as well as in agriculture and media.
Ostchem is Group DF’s nitrogen holding company that unites the largest mineral fertilizer producers in Ukraine. It includes Rivne Azot, Cherkasy Azot, as well as Sievierodonetsk Azot and Stirol, which are not operating and are located in the occupied territories.
Cherkasy Azot PrJSC (Cherkasy, Ukraine) is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical companies and has been part of Group DF’s nitrogen business since 2011. The design production capacity of Cherkassy Azot is 962.7 thousand tons of ammonia, 970 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate, 891.6 thousand tons of urea, and 1 million tons of UAN per year.
Rivne Azot is one of the largest Ukrainian chemical companies in Western Ukraine and has been a part of Group DF’s Ostchem nitrogen holding since 2011. Since its acquisition, Firtash has invested over UAH 1.3 billion in Rivne Azot.
Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. is considering the possibility of building an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Canada, the Nikkei newspaper reports.
Investments in the project could reach 2 trillion yen ($14 billion).
Honda is considering several sites for the construction of the plant, including a site near the company’s existing facility in Ontario. The project may include the creation of facilities for the production of electric vehicle batteries, Nikkei notes.
The automaker intends to make a decision on the site for the construction of the Canadian plant by the end of 2024. The plant is expected to start operating in early 2028.
Honda is preparing to start production of electric vehicles and batteries in the US state of Ohio in 2026, and the Canadian plant will become the second largest Japanese company in North America.
This region accounts for about 40% of all Honda sales.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that German construction materials company Fixit has received investment insurance from the German government to build a second plant in Ukraine.
“We want German business to invest in Ukraine, to invest in recovery, and within the framework of the forum we are signing important documents… The building materials company Fixit will build a second plant in Ukraine and will receive investment insurance from the German government for this purpose, which will be signed here on the sidelines of the business conference,” Shmyhal said at a press conference at the sixth German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in Berlin on Tuesday.
According to the prime minister, Fixit will also receive a EUR12 million loan from the German bank KfW. “This is a very important and significant project,” he emphasized.
BUILD, CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL, Fixit, GERMANY, INSURANCE, PLANT
Investment company Concorde Capital, which acquired the plant “Kuznya na Rybalskogo” at the end of 2022, is developing the concept of a new development project on the territory of the plant, said the head of Concorde Capital Igor Mazepa in a commentary to the publication “Economic Pravda”.
According to Mazepa, the concept is being developed jointly with foreign architectural agencies. The businessman expects to start construction after the completion of legal proceedings around the bankruptcy of “Kuzna na Rybalskogo”.
He also indicated that Concorde Capital is considering participation in joint investment in the project.
“Our initial plan was to attract an investor to resell the project. Now the situation has changed, so we do not rule out participation in joint investment,” Mazepa said.
He did not disclose the amount of the deal to acquire the plant “Kuznya na Rybalskogo”, previously owned by Sergei Tihipko, but indicated that the deal included assets encumbered by debts of the owner company Ewins Limited.
As reported, in the fall of 2018, co-owner of the TAS Group, businessman Sergei Tihipko acquired from Petro Poroshenko, at that time the President of Ukraine, PJSC “Plant “Kuznya na Rybalskoe” (formerly – PJSC “Leninskaya Kuznya”) – one of the well-known in the market of shipbuilding enterprises of Ukraine.
Until mid-November 2018, the main shareholder of PJSC “ZNKIF “Prime Assets Capital” (formerly – “Petro Poroshenko Fund”, Kiev) was the main shareholder with a 73.9067% stake in the shipyard privatized in 1995, the second largest shareholder with a 20.1280% stake was PJSC “ZNKIF “VIK”, which concentrated the assets of MP Igor Kononenko.
In December 2022, the Economic Court of Kyiv opened a bankruptcy case against PJSC “Plant “Kuznya na Rybalskogo” (Kyiv).
As reported, the TAS group planned to realize on the unused territory of the plant the Lipki Island City Resort project in partnership with the developer City One Development.
According to the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market, as of the second quarter of 2023, the main shareholder of Zavod Kuznya na Rybalskoe is Ewins Limited (94.0347%).
Biopharma is exploring the possibility of building a new plant by 2027, the company’s president Konstantin Efimenko said.
“We have already processed almost 300 thousand liters of plasma, the company’s turnover is slightly more than $100 million, and we need to triple the company’s turnover in four years. But it will not be possible to increase capacity further, we need to build a new plant. The new plant should be ready by 2027. To make it ready by 2027, we need to start tomorrow,” he said during the forum “Dialogues on Sustainability. How Business Develops in Times of War” forum in Kyiv on Thursday.
Efymenko also said that Biopharma plans to build a plant in Romania, but this is not a strategy to reduce dependence on Ukraine, but a way to “increase turnover.”
At the same time, Efimenko noted that attracting investments to Ukraine is currently hampered, in particular, by the issues of war risk insurance and the withdrawal of dividends.
“Biopharma is concerned about this issue, but not so much, because we are here with the foundation of the White Church, with the land. We are already here and will be here. But I am worried about other investors coming here, because the question will arise who needs our country,” he said.
As reported, Biopharma plans to triple the number of its plasma centers to 30 by 2027.
UBC Group (Kharkiv), a commercial and industrial holding company operating in the field of refrigeration equipment and promotional products, has started construction of the second stage of a 5,000 sq m refrigeration equipment plant in Vinnytsia, according to Andriy Ocheretnyi, deputy mayor of Vinnytsia.
“This will create about 200 new jobs in Vinnytsia. The main work is scheduled for 2024. Currently, the project documentation is being finalized and preparations for the expert review are underway,” he wrote on Facebook.
In addition, a solar power plant with a capacity of 600 kW has been launched at the Green Cool plant. The solar panels were built in two stages. The first was completed in August and the second in September. In total, the company has installed 1080 solar panels.
“They will ensure the consumption of our own electrical installations and minimize the load on the power grid of the whole country. We are already talking about 100% replacement of our own consumption of electricity generated by renewable energy sources between April and September,” said Ocheretyanyi, adding that Green Cool sets “a great example of working towards green energy.”
The deputy mayor of Vinnytsia reminded that Green Cool, which operates on the basis of the Vinnytsia Refrigeration Engineering Cluster Industrial Park, produces refrigeration equipment that is exported to more than 20 countries. In 2023, the manufacturer expanded its sales geography and launched exports to North Africa and Latin America.
“This enterprise is one of the most powerful in the machine-building industry in the Vinnytsia community. More than 800 people work here and the staff will continue to expand,” the official added.
As reported, UBC Group’s business in 2022 decreased by about 43% due to the war. The group moved one of its plants from Kharkiv to Vinnytsia, which took about 400 vehicles. It was launched in May last year, but the number of employees there was about 300, compared to 1,000 in Kharkiv. The second plant in Kharkiv is gradually starting to operate, but the number of employees there has also decreased significantly.
For relocation, UBC Group built the first phase of its refrigeration equipment plant in Vinnytsia on an area of 20,000 square meters. Investments in its construction amounted to EUR 18 million. The first phase of the plant’s capacity to produce refrigerators with glass doors and ice cream chests was 60 thousand units per year.
During the construction phase, UBC Group announced a further expansion of the production building to 35 thousand square meters. The second stage will produce refrigerated cabinets, and with it, the group will reach a capacity of 150 thousand units per year. Capital investments in the second stage will amount to about EUR 10-12 million.
Prior to the Russian military invasion, UBC Group, which has been operating in the market for over 20 years and supplies products to 120 countries, had several divisions.
UBC Cool was engaged in the development and production of refrigeration equipment for beverages and food at the UBC Cool plant in Dergachi and the UBC Green Cool plant in Vinnytsia.
UBC Promo specialized in the development and production of promotional materials under the Promo brand at its plants in Kharkiv and Dergachi.
UBC Engineering was engaged in providing installation and commissioning services in the food and processing industry, UBC Service in providing maintenance and refurbishment services, UBC Distribution in selling products and services of the group of companies, UBC Armature in designing and installing equipment and processes, and distributing industrial valves and consumables.
UBC Group also owns the Ukrainian Beer Company (Kharkiv) and the Stargorod brewery restaurant chain in the CIS and Baltic countries.
The owner of UBC Group is Igor Humennyi.
