PrJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has taken over management of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipro region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), has started selling titanium raw materials to Italy, Spain, Germany and is systematically expanding its exports.
According to the company, despite the difficulties and risks of wartime, it shipped more than 102 thousand tons of products in 2023. The planned supply volumes for 2024 are 200 thousand tons.
Yegor Perelygin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of UMCC, quoted in the information, noted that due to effective approaches and communication with potential buyers, the company signed contracts for the supply of approximately 80 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
“We were able to attract a series of subscriptions for finished products from stable market players and open new ways to supply world-class end users. We have integrated the coordination and logistics management functions in the commercial unit, become more flexible and focused on an individual approach to strategic customers. As a result, we have opened the UMCC brand to well-known end users in Italy, Spain and Germany,” he explained.
Mr. Perelygin added that by the end of the second quarter of this year, UMCC’s rutile and zircon may become absolutely regular and key components in the raw material portfolios of major processors in Italy, Spain and Germany.
At the same time, companies in the United States and the Czech Republic remain strategic partners for UMCC’s ilmenite concentrate. We are also launching export deliveries of Irshansky GOK’s ilmenite to one of the largest end users in North America. The company plans to sell about 60 thousand tons in the near future. The company emphasizes that the supply chain and end users of these products are strictly controlled by the company and law enforcement agencies.
“Our success is due to our large team. These are more than 4,000 professionals who work in the NONstop mode. Together, we have made a good start for 2024 and are moving step by step towards our strategic goal of producing value-added products and significantly curtailing the aggressor’s influence in the markets of critical minerals and strategic materials,” summarized Perelygin.
The United Mining and Chemical Company started its actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovska oblast) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyrska oblast) to its management. Previously, these plants were leased to Firtash’s structures. Then the company was transformed into a PJSC and then into a PrJSC.
In August 2016, the government included UMCC in the list of companies to be privatized in 2017. Its deadline was postponed several times, and the tender was disrupted twice.
UMCC used to sell its products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world’s largest producers of titanium raw materials, accounting for 4% of the global market. The company mines titanium ore.
On Friday, February 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.
“During our meeting, I thanked Jose Manuel Albares for Spain’s support and solidarity with Ukraine. Spain will prepare a new package of military assistance to Ukraine, which will include ammunition. We also discussed President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland,” Kuleba wrote on social network X.
“We agreed that Ukraine’s accession to the EU is on the right track,” the Foreign Minister added.
In December 2023, KSG Agro agricultural holding exported 4600 tons of wheat to Spain, the company’s press service reports.
According to the report, the wheat was purchased by grain trading companies.
“In wartime, any export delivery is always a task with many unknowns. However, despite numerous difficulties, we continue to export grain to international markets. In the current most difficult period of Ukraine’s history, the food security of many countries depends on us, agricultural producers and exporters,” said Sergiy Kasyanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KSG Agro, as quoted in the report.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2023, KSG Agro exported 4,200 tons of grain crops mainly to Asia and Africa. Deliveries were made as part of the “grain corridor” through the ports of Odesa and Odesa region.
KSG Agro, a vertically integrated holding company, is engaged in pig breeding, as well as the production, storage, processing and sale of grains and oilseeds. Its land bank is about 21 thousand hectares in Dnipropetrovska and Kherson regions.
According to the agricultural holding, it is one of the top 5 pork producers in Ukraine.
In January-September 2023, KSG Agro received $1,336 million in net profit, which is almost 14 times more than in the same period in 2022. Its EBITDA for the three quarters of this year increased by 67% to $4.5 million, and sales revenue increased by 16% to $11.9 million.
Spain is ready to promote Ukrainian agricultural exports and is interested in importing Ukrainian agricultural products, in particular corn and sunflower, Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Luis Planas Puigades said at an online meeting with Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky on Monday.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, during the online meeting, the parties discussed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products and food security. In particular, the extension of Ukraine’s duty-free and quota-free trade regime with the European Union.
“Spain fully supports Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprecedented and illegal aggression. This includes both military and humanitarian assistance. The Spanish Minister of Agriculture emphasized that support for Ukraine also means promoting Ukrainian exports, which is a key factor for the economy to continue to function,” the Ministry of Agriculture said, adding that Spain is interested in importing Ukrainian agricultural products, in particular corn and sunflower.
“I reaffirmed Spain’s support for the continuation of trade measures to support Ukraine during a video conference with the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine. Ukrainian farmers have managed to maintain production despite the difficulties,” Puigadez wrote on the social network X after the talks.
For his part, Solsky thanked his Spanish colleague for his understanding and support.
Spain will donate two medical armored vehicles to Ukraine to provide medical assistance and evacuate patients, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) reports.
“Spain’s humanitarian aid to Ukraine over the past two years has exceeded 466 million euros, the largest emergency response for a single country,” AECID said in a statement.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares inspected the armored ambulances that will be transferred to Ukraine.
“Spain will continue to support Ukraine in its defense of peace and freedom for as long as it takes,” the foreign minister wrote in a statement.
At the 17th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine (Ramstein), Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles reported on the recent shipment of aid to Ukraine, including medicines and surgical instruments.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Robles informed about the recent shipment of 15 pallets of medicines and surgical instruments to Ukraine, which will ensure the operation of the field hospital transferred by Spain a few months ago.
“The minister also reported on the cooperation of Spanish industry in supplying equipment and ammunition to Ukraine and spoke in detail about the program to support the reception of families of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action in military recreation centers on the Spanish coast,” the statement said.
Robles noted good progress in the training of the Ukrainian military in Spain, where more than 3,000 servicemen have been trained to date. She added that it is planned to teach training courses on the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law for representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
