The biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) is limited in possibilities of increasing production of the Bioven medication (immunoglobulin) due to the lack of plasma donation culture in Ukraine and the lack of plasma, Oksana Plotnikova, director of strategic development at Biopharma, has said.
“We would like to expect an increase in Bioven production, which is why we are creating plasma centers to increase donor activity among the population. We have many blood donors, but the country does not have a culture of plasma donation for fractionation,” she said at a press conference on the completion of clinical trials of the Bioven drug in the complex therapy of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday.
Plotnikova said that as the world completes clinical trials confirming the effectiveness of drugs based on blood plasma in treatment of COVID-19, the demand for such drugs, and, therefore, plasma will grow.
“We are on the verge of the fact that many countries – Canada, Europe – will restrict imports. There will be no imported drug in the country,” she said.
Plotnikova reported that “Ukrainian donors today do not donate the amount of plasma that could meet the needs of Ukraine.”
“Today, in order to provide Ukraine, we buy plasma from the United States, Slovakia. We cannot buy Indian or Vietnamese plasma, because we do not buy plasma that is not standardized under European standards,” she said.
Plotnikova said that Biopharma actively cooperates with communal blood centers, “so that communal stations develop, reconstruct and procure not only blood components for hospitals, but also plasma for fractionators to provide Ukraine with drugs.”
“The demand for intravenous infusion of immunoglobulin G, and subsequently convalescent plasma and hyperimmune immunoglobulin, is obvious. Today we see and understand that the real effectiveness of the drug makes it possible to save lives, which means that the need is growing,” she said.
Electric steelmaking complex Interpipe Steel of the international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe (Dnipro) in January-October of this year reduced steel production, according to operational data, by 13.9% compared to the same period last year, up to 641,000 tonnes.
As the Interfax-Ukraine agency was informed in the company, 62,800 tonnes of steel were produced in October.
As reported, Interpipe in 2019 reduced steel production by 4.2% compared to the previous year to 854,500 tonnes.
Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company, a manufacturer of seamless pipes and railway wheels. The company’s products are supplied to more than 80 countries around the world through a network of sales offices located in the key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2019, Interpipe sold 823,000 tonnes of finished products, including 202,000 tonnes of railway products. Railway products are sold under the KLW brand.
Interpipe employs 11,000 people. In 2019, the company transferred UAH 3.25 billion to the budgets of all levels.
The company includes five industrial assets: Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant, Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant, LLC Interpipe Niko-Tube, Dnipropetrovsk Vtormet and Dniprostal Steel Complex under the Interpipe Steel brand.
The main pipe enterprises of Ukraine in January-October of this year reduced the production of pipes from ferrous metals, according to recent data, by 19.1% compared to the same period last year, to 704,000 tonnes, including 81,600 tonnes produced in October.
As the Interfax-Ukraine agency was informed in the Ukrtruboprom association, in particular, the enterprises of the association in the ten months of the year reduced the production of pipes by 28%, to 449,900 tonnes, including 48,200 tonnes produced in October.
At the same time, according to preliminary data, pipe production at Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant for the specified period fell by 37.2%, to 120,300 tonnes (in October 14,200 tonnes), at Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant by 27.4%, to 67,200 tonnes (8,600 tonnes). Interpipe Niko Tube cut production by 19.2%, to 245,400 tonnes (23,800 tonnes).
Director of economics and finance at Interpipe Denys Morozov told Interfax-Ukraine that the drop in production at the company’s pipe plants is due to a drop in demand for threaded pipes (OCTG) in Ukraine and the United States.
“In Ukraine, the pace and volume of new wells drilling decreased by 3-4 times compared to last year. The largest contribution to the decline was made by the state-owned company Ukrgazvydobuvannia. In addition, the market for general-purpose line pipes fell against the backdrop of a decline in the country’s GDP. The situation is similar in the United States: the rate of drilling has decreased three times. Many U.S. oil and gas companies have gone bankrupt. Therefore, the demand for pipes dropped dramatically. In addition, it is more difficult for us to compete in the market where there is a 32% duty on our products,” he said.
Dnipropetrovsk Pipe Plant (DTZ) produced 300 tonnes of pipes, while in January-October 2019 it produced 17,300 tonnes of these products. Centravis cut production by 11,5%, to 15,400 tonnes of stainless pipes (1,500 tonnes).
Trubostal plant reduced its output by 43.5%, to 1,300 tonnes of pipes (100 tonnes).
Mariupol-based Illich Metallurgical Combine, which is not part of the Ukrtruboprom association, increased its pipe production by 6%, to 127,600 tonnes (in October 16,300 tonnes), Kominmet increased by 0.8%, up to 126,400 tonnes (17,000 tonnes).
Earlier, Ukrtruboprom stated that in 2019 Ukraine reduced the production of pipes by 9.1% compared with 2018, to 1.002 million tonnes. Including the enterprises of the association reduced the production of pipes by 10.2%, to 715,100 tonnes.
JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia, part of the Naftogaz Exploration and Production division, reduced the production of marketable gas by 0.5% (by 47.8 million cubic meters) in January-September 2020, as compared to the same period last year, to 10.135 billion cubic meters.
Naftogaz noted that it will be more difficult to maintain production at last year’s level in the fourth quarter due to the cumulative effect of negative factors associated with the four months’ lack of approval of the permits required to start drilling, as well as low prices for energy with a consequent reducing of investment in production activities, and a delay of the delivery of equipment and materials due to quarantine restrictions.
In general, it was possible to maintain production volumes over the nine months due to the modernization and construction of ground infrastructure facilities, the implementation of the development program and additional exploration of existing fields, as well as work on new areas.
So, since the beginning of 2020, the divisions of Naftogaz Group have completed the drilling of 27 wells, performed 210 workovers of wells, 75 hydraulic fracturing operations, and 551 coiled tubing operations, completed the reconstruction of four gas treatment units, the construction of four gas pipelines and 66.8 km of plumes.
The fall of agricultural production in Ukraine accelerated in September 2020 from the same month in 2019 to 19.2% from 5.5% in August, the State Statistics Service reported on its website.
According to its data, in general, in January-September this year, the decline in the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex accelerated to 13.1% from 9.8% in the eight months.
As reported, in 2019 agricultural production in Ukraine increased by 1.1% after jumping by 8.1% in 2018 and falling by 2.2% in 2017.
The main pipe enterprises of Ukraine in January-August of this year reduced production of pipes from ferrous metals, according to recent data, by 27% compared to the same period last year, to 539,100 tonnes, in particular in August 69,300 tonnes were produced.
The Ukrtruboprom association told Interfax-Ukraine that the enterprises of the association, in particular, for the eight months of the year reduced production of pipes by 34.7%, to 351,400 tonnes, including 45,500 tonnes in August.
Pipe production at Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant for the indicated period decreased by 43.9%, to 95,100 tonnes (13,100 tonnes in August), at Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant by 33.3%, to 51,000 tonnes (7,600 tonnes). Interpipe Niko Tube reduced production by 26.6%, to 191,500 tonnes (23,500 tonnes).
Dnipropetrovsk Pipe Plant produced 300 tonnes of pipes, while in January-August 2019 some 15,700 tonnes of products were made, Centravis reduced production by 10.9%, to 12,300 tonnes (1,100 tonnes).
Trubostal plant reduced its output by 33.3%, to 1,200 tonnes of pipes.
