Metinvest Group’s Central, Ingulets and Northern Mining and Processing Plants (MPPs), which were transformed into United Mining and Processing Plant (UMPP), paid UAH 5.7 billion in taxes in 2024.
According to the company’s press release on Wednesday, in 2023, YuGOK, Central GOK and InGOK transferred UAH 2.2 billion to the state and municipal budgets.
“Thus, mining and processing enterprises remain a reliable pillar of Ukraine even during the war,” the press service states.
It is specified that in 2024, the main source of budget revenues was the tax on the use of subsoil, which amounted to UAH 2.7 billion. A significant share of deductions is accounted for by a single social contribution (UAH 673 million) and personal income tax (UAH 595 million). The environmental tax and land fees also contribute to the state and local budgets.
“It is the mining and metals companies that are the largest taxpayers and support the Ukrainian economy despite the war and challenges. These funds are needed for the social sector – healthcare, education, and most importantly, they support Ukraine’s defense capability. Metinvest’s Kryvyi Rih GOKs also remain one of the main employers in the region, providing jobs for thousands of specialists, including veterans returning from the war,” said Igor Tonev, CEO of Metinvest’s United GOKs.
As a reminder, Metinvest Group, including its associates and joint ventures, increased its payment of taxes and fees to budgets of all levels by 36% in 2024 to UAH 19.8 billion compared to 2023.
As reported earlier, Metinvest has implemented a new model for the operation of its Kryvyi Rih mining and processing enterprises, bringing together mining and processing plants in Kryvyi Rih under a single management.
In 2023, the Group’s Kryvyi Rih enterprises paid a total of UAH 4.6 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels.
“Metinvest comprises mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Metinvest Group’s Kametstal plant, which was built at the facilities of Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (Kamianske, Dnipro region), increased its tax and fee payments by 30% in 2024 compared to 2023, to almost UAH 2.815 billion.
According to a press release, the plant has remained a steady support for Ukraine’s economy for the third consecutive year of war, despite all the objective difficulties.
“Almost UAH 639 million, which is 34 million more than in 2023, was received by the budget of the city of Kamianske. The regional and state budgets received almost UAH 2.176 billion,” the company says.
It is specified that the largest contributions to the budgets of different levels are the unified social tax – almost UAH 457 million (+14% by 2023), land payments to the local budget increased by UAH 21.5 million compared to 2023 and amounted to more than UAH 386 million (+6% by 2023). The personal income tax is also significant – almost UAH 394 million (+12% by 2023), and the military fee amounted to UAH 37 million (+28% by 2023).
Environmental tax increased by 17.5% compared to 2023, to UAH 181 million.
Yevgeniya Zamiashvili, CFO of the plant, noted that Kametstal, along with all the company’s enterprises, works for the country’s economy, remaining a stable producer of demanded steel products and a responsible taxpayer in the most difficult times.
“As a key enterprise in the city, we remain the largest donor to the city budget. The company’s responsible deduction of funds in full means supporting stable salary payments to employees of the city’s utilities, ensuring the operation of medical facilities and the most important city programs,” said the CFO.
The press service reminds that in 2024, Metinvest Group, including its associates and joint ventures, increased the payment of taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine by 36% compared to 2023, up to UAH 19.8 billion.
As reported earlier, in 2023, KAMETSTAL increased its payment of taxes and duties by 34.8% compared to 2022, to UAH 2.154 billion. “In 2022, KAMETSTAL paid UAH 1.598 billion in taxes and fees, which is higher than in 2021.
“Kametstal was created on the basis of PJSC Dnipro Coke Plant (DKKhZ) and CMC of PJSC Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (DMK).
According to the 2020 report of Metinvest Group’s parent company, Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands) owned 100% of the shares in DCCP.
Metinvest Group’s Central, Ingulets and Northern Mining and Processing Plants (MPPs), which were transformed into United Mining and Processing Plants (UMPP) in January-September 2024, paid UAH 4.7 billion in taxes, up twice year-on-year.
According to the company’s press release on Thursday, in the same period last year, the GOKs paid UAH 2.3 billion.
Igor Tonev, CEO of the GOKs, noted that despite the wartime situation, Metinvest’s GOKs remain not only an economic support for the region but also the largest employer.
“We continue to implement a veteran policy for defenders who are gradually returning to their jobs from the front, retrain our specialists and train new team members, adapt and create the most efficient model of mining enterprises today. In addition, mining and processing plants systematically support Kryvyi Rih and communities by implementing joint humanitarian, educational and infrastructure projects,” Tonev emphasized.
As reported earlier, Metinvest is implementing a new model for the operation of Kryvyi Rih mining enterprises, uniting the mining and processing plants in Kryvyi Rih under a single management.
“Given the current challenges, with no objective way to bring the workload of the GOKs to the optimal level, we are looking for the effect of combining their capabilities and business processes. To this end, the company sees its GOKs not as separate facilities with separate teams, but as one large production site and one large team, and tries to use the advantages of each GOK in a single technological chain. The creation of a single administrative and management center, so to speak, a consolidated GOK, will significantly simplify, speed up and increase the efficiency of these processes, as well as contribute to the creation of new synergies between the enterprises,” explained Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, earlier.
“Metinvest comprises mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Bulgaria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Georgi Takhov asked the European Commission to take safeguard measures against honey imports from Ukraine at a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, and his request was supported by a representative of Romania, the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture reported.
According to Takhov, imports of Ukrainian honey make it difficult to sell local products. The fact is that significant volumes of Ukrainian honey entering the European market at very low prices put a lot of pressure on Bulgarian honey prices.
“In addition to the many challenges facing the industry, over the past three years it has also faced competition from imports from Ukraine. The volume of honey imported from Ukraine to our country from January to October 2024 increased by more than 30% compared to the same period last year,” Takhov emphasized and added that the high level of imports from Ukraine puts Bulgarian producers in a difficult situation.
At a press conference following the meeting of EU agriculture ministers, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy explained that Bulgaria and Romania demanded safeguard measures for imports of honey from Ukraine to the European Union, as the duty-free quota set in the autonomous trade liberalization has been exhausted, and “the duty creates problems in domestic markets burdened by imports.”
“The measure – the so-called ATM regulation – has been exhausted, but the amount of honey coming from Ukraine is still subject to duty, which also creates problems in domestic markets that are burdened by imports,” the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture quoted him as saying.
Nagy emphasized that effective measures should be taken to prevent counterfeit honey from entering the EU market, for example, by labeling and separating natural and non-natural honey. He also believes that it is necessary to compensate for the “emerging competitive disadvantages” and to further support the beekeeping sector.
As reported, on August 20, the European Commission imposed tariff quotas on Ukrainian honey due to the excess of quota-free volumes of its supplies to the European market. Imports of honey from Ukraine from the beginning of 2024 to August exceeded the quota of 44.418 thousand tons. Additional imports are subject to most favored nation (MFN) duties. In particular, a new tariff quota will be introduced from January 1, 2025, until June 5, 2025, which corresponds to 5/12 of the threshold set for the emergency braking. For honey, the new quota will amount to 18,507 tons.
From June 2, 2024 to June 5, 2025, the European Commission introduced quotas for the supply of eggs and sugar to the European Union. For eggs, the new quota is set at 9,662 thousand tons, and for sugar – at 109,44 thousand tons.
On May 13, 2024, the Council of the European Union approved the extension of temporary trade liberalization measures for Ukraine for another year, until June 5, 2025. At the same time, it was envisaged to apply an emergency braking mechanism for particularly sensitive agricultural products, including sugar, eggs, poultry, oats, corn, honey, and cereals, in case imports of these products in 2024 exceed the average volumes recorded in the second half of 2021 and during 2022 and 2023. Similar emergency braking measures may be applied in 2025 if, in the period from January 1 to June 5, 2025, the volume of Ukrainian exports exceeds 5/12 of the quota set for 2024.
According to Art. 4(7) of the Regulation on autonomous trade measures applicable to Ukrainian products, Ukraine will be able to supply to the EU from June 6, 2024 to June 5, 2025 without paying any duty 57,101 thousand tons of poultry meat, 9,662 thousand tons of eggs, 109,439 thousand tons of sugar, 18,507 thousand tons of honey, 4.648 million tons of corn, 1,017 thousand tons of oats, 8,603 thousand tons of cereals.
Metinvest Group’s Zaporizhzhia-based steel and mining enterprises, Zaporizhstal, Zaporozhogneupor, Zaporozhkoks and Zaporizhzhia Foundry and Mechanical Plant (ZLMZ), increased their payments to budgets of all levels by 35% year-on-year in January-September this year, totaling more than UAH 2.1 billion in taxes and fees.
According to the group’s press release on Friday, the most significant payments in terms of volume are the unified social tax and the single personal income tax. A significant share of deductions is also accounted for by the payment of environmental and land taxes and military fees.
“Metinvest Group’s enterprises remain among the largest taxpayers in Zaporizhzhia. In the first nine months of this year, Metinvest’s steelmakers paid almost UAH 700 million to the local budget, a quarter more than last year. Taxes are the basis of the public sector and the foundation for sustainable development of the frontline region. That is why, despite all the difficulties of wartime, our enterprises remain a reliable pillar of Zaporizhzhia,” said Taras Shevchenko, acting CEO of Zaporizhstal.
At the same time, the company’s enterprises in the region systematically implement socially important projects to reintegrate war veterans and support their families, help vulnerable groups of the population, assist in eliminating the consequences of shelling and restore destroyed infrastructure.
As reported earlier, including associates and joint ventures, Metinvest Group increased its tax payments to the Ukrainian budget by 38% to over UAH 15 billion in the first nine months of 2024. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Metinvest has allocated UAH 7.5 billion to help Ukraine and its citizens, including UAH 4 billion for the needs of the army as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative. The Group remains a reliable support for the country in its fight against the enemy.
In 2023, Metinvest’s Zaporizhzhia enterprises paid more than UAH 2.1 billion to the budgets of all levels, including more than UAH 818 million to local budgets. At the same time, under martial law, they waived tax benefits worth more than UAH 350 million in favor of the state.
Taking into account its associated companies and joint ventures, Metinvest paid UAH 14.6 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels in Ukraine in 2023. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Group has allocated UAH 4.8 billion to help Ukraine and its citizens, including more than UAH 2.5 billion for the needs of the army.
In 2022, Metinvest’s Zaporizhzhia enterprises paid about UAH 3.4 billion to budgets of all levels, including almost UAH 820 million to local budgets last year.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are widely known and in demand in the domestic market and in many countries around the world. “Zaporizhstal is in the process of being integrated into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Ukraine’s largest home appliance and electronics retailer Comfy paid UAH 1.2 billion to the state budget in January-September 2024, the same amount as the company paid last year in total.
According to the company’s press service, revenue for this period increased by 30%, the dynamics of the company’s performance was influenced by the expansion of the network, updating store formats and product range, and improving customer experience.
This year, the retailer opened seven new stores, in particular in Oleksandria, Berdychiv, Khodosivka, Mohyliv-Podilskyi, restored stores damaged by Russian missiles (in the Dnipro shopping center Apollo and the shopping center “Sun Gallery” in Kryvyi Rih), and renovated the flagship store (1000+ sq. m.) in the capital’s Ocean Plaza shopping center. In addition, Comfy has reformed 80% of its existing stores to meet changing demand and assortment.
Thanks to the active development, Comfy created about 500 jobs across Ukraine.
By the end of the year, the retailer plans to open four more new stores and 100% upgrade its network according to the new standards.
The company’s sales growth was driven by the renewal and expansion of its assortment. The largest growth is traditionally observed in the categories of large appliances, small appliances and accessories. Prolonged power outages caused a boom in demand for alternative power sources, with an increase of over 1300%.
The retailer has also joined the National Cashback program, and since the start of the project, more than 100 manufacturers with whom the company cooperates have joined the program, offering more than 3.3 thousand units of goods.
In total, as of November 2024, the COMFY offline network has 109 stores.
The chain is owned by Comfy Trade LLC (Dnipro). According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the owner of Comfy Trade is Comfy Holdings Limited (Cyprus), with Svitlana Gutsul and Stanislav Ronis as the ultimate beneficiaries.
