PJSC Ukrainian Graphite (Ukrgraphite, Zaporizhia) intends to conclude an agreement to supply graphite products to the UK by the end of the year worth up to EUR50 million.
According to the company, the board of directors of Ukrgraphite has decided to “conclude a foreign economic contract for the supply of graphite products with CARBON CONSTRUCTION & TRADING LIMITED, Edinburgh, UK, valid until December 31, 2025, unless a longer term is agreed with the counterparty, for an amount not exceeding €50 million.” Edinburgh, United Kingdom, valid until December 31, 2025, unless a longer term is agreed with the counterparty, for an amount not exceeding EUR 50 million or its equivalent in the national currency of Ukraine or US dollars.”
It is specified that such plans were approved based on the decision of the general meeting of shareholders to give preliminary consent to the company’s board of directors to perform significant transactions regarding the conclusion of agreements, deals, and contracts with the relevant counterparty.
In accordance with the law, the market value of the property or services that are the subject of the transaction is UAH 2 billion 427.510 million.
The value of the issuer’s assets, according to the latest annual financial statements, is UAH 4 billion 384.136 million.
Eight of the nine elected members participated in the board of directors meeting and voted unanimously.
Ukrgrafit is a leading Ukrainian manufacturer of graphite electrodes for electric steel melting, ore-thermal, and other types of electric furnaces, commercial carbon masses for Soderberg electrodes, and carbon-based refractory materials for metallurgical, machine-building, chemical, and other industrial complexes.
According to the National Depository of Ukraine (NDU) for the first quarter of 2025, Intergraphite Holdings Company Limited (Malta) owns 23.9841% of the private joint-stock company, and C6 Safe Group Limited (Cyprus) owns 72.0394%.
The authorized capital of the private joint-stock company is UAH 233.959 million, and the nominal value of a share is UAH 3.35.
PJSC Zaporizhkox, one of Ukraine’s largest producers of coke and chemical products and a member of the Metinvest Group, increased its blast furnace coke production by 2.2% in January-September this year compared to the same period last year, from 655,300 tons to 669,700 tons.
According to the company, 77.1 thousand tons of coke were produced in September, compared to 79.6 thousand tons in the previous month.
As reported, in 2024, Zaporizhkox increased its production of blast furnace coke by 2.1% compared to 2023, to 874.7 thousand tons from 856.8 thousand tons.
In 2023, Zaporizhkox increased its output of blast furnace coke by 16% compared to 2022, to 856,800 tons from 737,400 tons.
Zaporizhkox has a complete technological cycle for processing coke chemical products.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of the Metinvest Group.
The Chinese authorities have decided to raise duties on US products from 34% to 84%, The Global Times reported on Wednesday, citing the Commission on Customs Tariffs under the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. The new tariffs are to come into effect on April 10 at 12:01 a.m. local time (7:01 a.m. ET).
In turn, Chinese state media reported that the Chinese authorities added 6 US firms to the list of unreliable organizations and 12 US entities to the list of legal entities subject to export controls.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump, having received no signals of concessions from Beijing, signed a decree to increase duties on goods from China. According to the decree, the additional 34% duty previously announced by Trump is being increased by 84%. Thus, taking into account the 20% duties that Trump imposed on goods from China in the first term of his presidency, the duties now amount to 104%.
Last week, the Chinese authorities decided to impose additional duties of 34% on goods from the United States starting April 10.
CNBC noted that the United States was ready to reconsider its position on raising duties on Chinese goods if China abandoned its retaliatory duties on American goods. However, Beijing stated that it was not going to make concessions.
Metinvest Group’s metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine have launched production of 25 new products in 2023, including the joint venture Zaporizhstal, which has mastered the production of 14 new products.
According to the group’s press release on Tuesday, despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has been going on for almost two years, Metinvest remains the country’s economic and industrial backbone. The Group’s enterprises have launched new products, including partially compensating for the production of assets in the temporarily occupied Mariupol.
Most of the new products were launched in the semi-finished products segment, including hot-rolled coils and long products (seven each) and cold-rolled and galvanized coils (two each). Zaporizhstal and Kametstal accounted for the lion’s share of new products. The Group’s galvanized steel producer, Unisteel, launched two new types of products.
It is specified that Zaporizhstal started producing slabs of various sizes from steel grades S235, S275, and S355 as semi-finished products. These products are supplied to Metinvest’s European assets, where they are used to make hot-rolled plates and coils. For its part, Kametstal has mastered the production of two types of square billets – continuously cast and hot-rolled – from new steel grades and with increased requirements for structure and properties. The plant now uses these semi-finished products for its own production of long products and wire rod and supplies them to customers in Ukraine and Europe.
As part of its hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized coils and sheets product range, Zaporizhstal has started producing seven types of rolled products for the construction and machine-building industries in accordance with European, American and Ukrainian standards. In particular, the plant has launched the production of S355J2 coils in accordance with the European standard EN 10025-2 and its Ukrainian counterpart DSTU EN 10025-2. The products have been tested and received confirmation of conformity from an international certification center. Hot-rolled steel products made of S355J2 steel produced in Zaporizhzhia are already successfully supplied to Poland, Romania and other European countries.
In addition, this year Zaporizhstal has mastered the production of cold-rolled coils from structural steel grades S320GD and S350GD for galvanizing. Previously, this semi-finished product was supplied by Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol for protective coating. The launch of this product at Zaporizhstal allowed Unisteel to resume production and supply of structural galvanized coils used in the manufacture of steel structures.
The press release emphasizes that cooperation between Zaporizhstal and Unisteel has also been strengthened through other areas of cooperation. In 2023, the plant’s cold rolling shop completed the process of mastering the technology of cutting galvanized coils into sheets, which made it possible to significantly increase the sales of such products in the domestic market.
In terms of long products, Kametstal mastered new technologies and started production of steel grinding balls with diameters of 25 and 100 mm, as well as SVP27 profiles for the mining and metallurgical sector. The plant also produced two types of wire rod – 7.5 mm in diameter from SAE 1008 grade according to the American standard and 8 mm in diameter from European C80D2 steel. The products are used for wire drawing, rope manufacturing and hardware production.
“KAMETSTAL also started production of A500C rebar with a diameter of 36 mm. Such rolled products are in demand for critical construction and infrastructure projects and are used to build bridges, shelters and multi-storey buildings. For the machine-building industry, the plant has launched mass production of hot-rolled rounds with a diameter of 42 mm, which are used to create parts and structural elements for machinery and equipment.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are mainly located in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
SAP (Germany), a software and cloud services developer, plans to invest EUR2 million in the localization of its products in Ukraine in 2024, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported on Facebook.
“Since the beginning of 2022, the company (SAP) has been supporting Ukraine by providing services and software licenses free of charge – now it has decided to continue doing so until the end of the first quarter of 2024,” Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Facebook on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the company’s technological support provided to Ukraine in 2023-2024 is estimated at EUR65 million.
Fedorov recalled that in 2023, the Defense Ministry introduced a system from SAP that helps manage some of the resources, in particular, it accelerated the processing of applications from brigades for the supply of items. As of today, 44 countries use SAP products in the defense sector, including 28 out of 31 NATO member states, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
According to him, SAP products also help in the field of medical procurement. “A cloud-based solution has been implemented in this area to quickly find and engage suppliers who can deliver critical goods. The company also helped to set up catalogs for searching and comparing prices for specific medical products, which made it possible to purchase them at lower prices,” Fedorov said.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation also reminded that SAP has recently launched an ERP solution for medium-sized businesses called GROW with SAP, and joining the SAP Business Network makes it easier for Ukrainian goods to enter international markets.
Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is implementing an automated defense resource management system based on System Analysis Program Development (SAP), which is one of the leading logistics systems in the world.
The European Dairy Association (EDA) expressed dissatisfaction with the European Commission over the unilateral imposition by several EU member states of restrictions on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, in particular dairy products, and demands support for the extension of suspension of all tariffs and quotas, the EDA said.
“As EDA, we have clearly stated our support for the continuation of the European Commission’s zero quota, zero tariff approach when it comes to Ukrainian dairy exports to the EU. These exceptional times ask for unity rather than solo flying member states putting the internal market at risk. Today we cannot see a market impact that would justify any restrictions on the import of Ukrainian dairy imports, and we therefore called upon the European Commission to defend the integrity of the single market and to uphold the special suspension for all tariffs and quotas,” it said.
“Our special EU-Ukrainian dairy relationship was recently underlined with the attendance of the CEO of the Ukrainian Dairy Federation at our latest EDA Dairy Policy Conference in March 2023,” it added.
