Editor’s Note: In this feature, the Kyiv Post brings together the most relevant news from the morning’s headline.
Ukraine's government-owned ethanol producer Ukrspyrt and several smaller private producers announced on Oct. 29 that they're prepared to produce enough bioethanol to meet the need for biofuel as of next year. In 2014, a new law comes into effect that makes it a requirement to add bioethanol to car fuel. By 2017, its share in the total volume of fuel must be no less than 7 percent, writes Kommersant.ua.
Ethanol producers said they have enough production facilities to sell $350 million worth of bioethanol per year. According to the newspaper’s estimate, each fuel tank will contain Hr 30-50 worth of biofuel in 2016, at the current prices.
Ukrainian chocolates will continue to be outlawed in Russia for an indefinite period of time because of a negative report by Russia’s consumer protection agency released on Oct. 29. Roshen, Ukraine’s biggest confectionery, whose products have been banned in Russia since July, is planning to appeal the trade ban in international organizations, including through WTO, according to Kommersant daily.
“Inspections of Ukrainian production facilities of Roshen uncovered major violation,” the Russian consumer protection inspector wrote. They said candy is produced on the basis of old standards and does not meet many modern Russian microbiological standards. Inspectors said that the 1989 Soviet standards which are used as guidelines for production, were canceled in 1996.
Rospotrebnadzor, the inspecting agency, also said that Roshen fails to test the quality of supplies, such as powered milk. Inspectors also pointed out that they were poorly treated during their inspections. “The works of experts of Rorpotrebnadzor was conducted in non-business-like and unfriendly environment created by Ministry of Agriculture, which issued statements directed at discrediting the experts,” the report said.
But Roshen is just one of the victims of trade wars. Russia also banned import of railway carriages of four producers whose output accounts to 80 percent of the total production of carriages in Ukraine. The state Russian company in charge of certification banned Ukraine’s Azovobshchemash, Dniprovagonmash and Kryukiv carriage plant from supplying their products, according to Forbes.ua. The losses of the Ukrainian side are estimated to hit at least $50 million per month. Ukraine sold $2.3 billion worth of carriages to Russia last year, which accounted for 13 percent of Ukraine’s export to Russia.
The U.S. authorities may have a tapping facility in Kyiv, according to a document leaked by WikiLeaks, an international whistle-blower site. The document lists Kyiv as one of 74 cities of the world where such facilities operate, according to Segodnya daily. Former head of the SBU Oleksandr Skypalskiy told the newspaper that the American tapping facility might not necessarily be stationary. He said American secret services also use mobile tapping facilities the size of a briefcase that are capable of tapping 100 phones at the same time.
There are 170 houses that remain without heat and hot water as of Oct. 29 due to ruptures of worn-out pipes, city administrator Oleksandr Popov is quoted by Delo.ua as saying. He said that 80 percent of the pipes in Kyiv an in dire condition and need urgent replacement, but the nearly bankrupt city cannot afford the expensive work.
