Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-April this year reduced the production of total rolled steel, according to operational data, by 56% compared with the same period last year – to 1.512 million tons.
According to the association “Ukrmetallurgprom” on Tuesday, in the first four months of this year, steel production fell by 54% compared with January-April 2022 – to 1.809 million tons.
Iron smelting for this period decreased by 54% to 1.747 million tons.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced the production of general products by 72% compared to the previous year – up to 5.350 million tons, steel – by 70.7% – to 6.263 million tons, cast iron – by 69.8% – to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of cast iron (103.6% by 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), 19.079 million tons of rolled steel (103.5%).
Krivoy Rog Iron Ore Deposits Plant (KZHRK) in January-April of this year reduced the production of marketable iron ore by 31.4% as compared to the same period last year – up to 805 thousand tons.
According to the company, in April, the mine “Pokrovskaya” produced 60 thousand tons of ore, “Krivoy Rog” – 70 thousand tons, “Kozatska” – 55 thousand tons and “Ternovskaya” also 55 thousand tons, the total for the combine in April – 240 thousand tons.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in the first quarter of 2023 KZHRK reduced the production of marketable iron ore from underground mining by 36.4% y-o-y, to 565 thousand tons.
Pokrovskaya Mine produced 55 thousand tons of ore, Krivoy Rog also 55 thousand tons, Kozatska – 60 thousand tons, and Ternovskaya Mine also 60 thousand tons. The total output of the combine in March was 230 thousand tons.
In February, all four mines produced 50 thousand tons of ore each, totaling 200 thousand tons per month.
In January 2023 mine “Pokrovska” produced 25 thousand tons of ore, “Kryvorizka” – 40 thousand tons, “Kozatska” – also 40 thousand tons, and “Ternivska” – 30 thousand tons, the total output of the combine in January – 135 tons.
In 2022, KZHRK reduced the production of marketable iron ore from underground mining by 32.8% versus the previous year, to 2.888 million tons.
KZHRK specializes in underground mining of iron ore. KZHRK has four mines: “Pokrovska” (formerly “October”), mine “Krivorozhskaya” (“Rodina”), “Kozatska” (formerly “Gvardeyskaya”) and “Ternovskaya” (formerly the Ordzhonikidze mine, then named after Lenin).
Starmill Limited owns 99.88% stake in the company.
As previously reported, SCM Group owns a certain stake in KZHRK, while Metinvest Group is not related to KZHRK. At the same time, SCM Group is only an investor, while Privat Group exercises operational control over the plant.
Ostchem’s nitrogen holding plants produced 515.5 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers in the first quarter of 2023, up 36.2% year-on-year, Group DF said in a statement on Friday.
According to it, Cherkasy Azot produced 387.4 thousand tons and Rivneazot produced 128 thousand tons, while Azot produced 137.8 thousand tons in March, the maximum since the beginning of the full-scale war.
“Lower gas prices have reduced the selling prices of mineral fertilizers. As fertilizers became more affordable, we started selling more and showed very good results. This spring, the high utilization of enterprises lasts longer than usual,” a comment by Oleg Arestarhov, head of Group DF’s corporate communications department, is quoted in the report.
It is pointed out that the key products produced by Ostchem plants were urea, UAN (Urea Ammonium Nitrate Network), ammonium nitrate, and lime ammonium nitrate (LAN). Urea output in the first quarter increased 4.7 times, to 106,500 tonnes, and UAN output 2.1 times, to 108,500 tonnes.
Production of ammonium nitrate increased from 217.1 thousand tons to 255.4 thousand tons, while UAN production fell from 62.3 thousand tons to 10.6 thousand tons.
“The structure of production corresponds to the structure of demand. The further demand will determine the production load of the plants, the terms of the repair campaign,” Arestarhov pointed out.
Among the new market trends the company highlighted the active supply of fertilizers in the de-occupied territories (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernigov and Sumy regions). And among the factors constraining the growth of the fertilizer market, it noted an increase of marketing and logistics risks of agribusiness, such as the uncertainty of the prospects for a grain agreement, and restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grain, introduced in April 2023 by some EU countries.
As reported in early February, Group DF’s nitrogen holding Ostchem reported on the planned increase of its capacity utilization for the production of mineral fertilizers at Cherkasy Azot from 30% to 70%, and Rivneazot – up to 50% due to the seasonal increase in demand
Group DF earlier estimated the volume of consumption of ammonium nitrate by the Ukrainian market in 2022 at 1 million tons (import – 330 thousand tons); urea – 410 thousand tons (import – 225 thousand tons); UAN – 580 thousand tons (import – 190 thousand tons), stating that the expected increase in fertilizer consumption in 2023 by 15-20%.
“AT Market” LLC (Kiev), specializing in bottling Carpathian highland water under Voda UA trademark, has invested $600 000 to expand its product line and launched production of a beverage made from the tea mushroom – kombucha.
“We built a factory in Irpen before the war. During occupation of Irpen the plant suffered, but it was quickly restored”, – said the owner and founder of the company Dmitry Nikiforov to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
According to him, while making decision about investments the company was guided by the absence of real kombucha on Ukrainian market. “There are some surrogates and tea-based lemonades,” Nikiforov claims.
He noted that the company has decided to produce “the right product”, that is why the process is managed by a “super technologist” and everything is done technologically very right.
According to his information the plant may produce 2 tons of kombucha per day, which will be sold in 0.33 glass bottles under Kombucha uno trademark. It is planned to involve 800-850 HORECA outlets, as well as 5-6 retail chains. In May 2023 the producer plans to start producing flavored Kombucha with 5-6 different flavors.
Nikiforov indicated that he expects the popularity of kombucha to grow in Ukraine following the world as “a healthy alternative to various kvasses and lemonades.
In Ukraine, the market for this drink has been doubling annually since 2019. In the military year 2022, the market capacity was estimated at 120 million bottles. In 2023, consumption is expected to increase by 150%, the company expects.
Voda UA also produces waters under trademarks Goryanka and Karpatska dzherelna visokogirna.
According to opendatabot, the revenues of AT Market in 2022 decreased by 5.9% – to 26.78 million UAH, while net profit increased by 31% – to 0.58 million UAH.
Ovostar Union Agro Group, one of Ukraine’s leading egg and egg products producers, cut egg production by 2% to 362 million eggs in the first quarter of 2023, but was able to significantly boost exports of products with a significant increase in prices compared to last year, according to an operational report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
“Management has taken all steps to minimize the adverse effects on the current production situation, which made it possible to maintain production and sales at the prewar level,” Boris Belikov, the company’s CEO, said in the report.
According to him, the range of products and distribution channels have been reviewed and brought in line with current market needs, and in general, taking into account the circumstances, the results of the group in the first quarter of 2023 can be considered satisfactory.
It is pointed out that the number of laying hens decreased by 2% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to one year ago, including a 6.2% decrease to 7.12 million and 6.38 million laying hens, respectively.
Sales in the egg segment rose 4% to 241 million, including export sales jumped 3.9 times to 105 million, and their share rose from 11% to 44%.
The average price of eggs rose 56% to $0.139/egg during the reporting period, according to the report.
According to the report, the volume of processed eggs in Q1 2023 remained at the level of the previous year – 92 million eggs: 406 tons of dry and 3,073 thousand tons of liquid egg products were produced, compared to respectively 561 tons and 2,131 tons in the first quarter of last year.
Sales of dry egg products increased to 531 tons from 429 tons in the first quarter of 2022. Exports increased to 354 tons, or 67%, from 238 tons, or 55%.
Sales of liquid egg products rose to 3,063,000 tons from 2,182,000 tons, including exports of 1,291,000 tons versus 728 tons, increasing its share to 42% from 33%.
As with eggs, the average price of egg products for the year increased significantly: dry – by 32%, to $ 8.79 / kg, liquid – by 44%, to $ 2.66 / kg (all prices are excluding VAT).
Taking into account these sales figures and prices, the total revenues of the three product categories in the first quarter of this year can be estimated at $46.3 million, up 68.1% as compared to $27.6 million in the first quarter of last year.
The group’s holding company, Ovostar Union N.V. – in mid-June 2011, it floated 25% of its shares on the WSE and raised $33.2 mln. Its majority stake is owned by Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by its chief executive B. Belikov and chairman of the board Vitaliy Veresenko.
In 2022, Ovostar reportedly reduced egg production by 9% to 1.55 billion eggs and sales by 6% to 1.08 billion eggs.
Sales of dry egg products over the past year decreased by one-third to 2.13 thousand tons, liquid – by 26%, to 10.62 thousand tons.
In January-March, cardboard and paper mill Papir-Mal (Malyn, Zhytomyr region) produced UAH 105 mln worth of products, which is almost 3.5 times more than in the first quarter of 2022. According to the statistical data of UkrPapir Association, provided to Interfax-Ukraine news agency, the growth of production was caused by the increase of output of packaging board (including corrugated paper) by 3.4 times – up to 16 thousand tons.
As reported, last year the company put into operation the second cardboard machine with a capacity of 800 m / min (twice more than the first).
In addition, in January-March there was a positive dynamics in the production of base paper for sanitary products – by 12.8% (almost 1 million tons) and toilet paper rolls – by 13%, to more than 4 million pieces, whereas in January-February there was a decrease by 21.3% and 26% respectively, compared to the prewar January-February 2022.
According to statistics, which suspended operations with the beginning of a full-scale war in Ukraine, “Papir-Mal” in March 2022 did not produce cardboard and paper, while in March this year they produced 4.54 thousand tons.
The company specializes in the production of paper sanitary products, as well as containerboard (linerboard and fluting).
According to UkrPapir, the company’s output in 2022 decreased by 4.7% against 2021 – to 247 million hryvnias.
