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Firtash blamed Odesa Portside Plant failed sale

Fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who is awaiting the U.S. appeal on a failed extradition request in Vienna, has been blamed for yet another failed attempt on Dec. 7 to privatize the Odesa Portside Plant, a large chemical plant.

Ihor Bilous, the head of the State Property Fund, the government agency in charge of the privatization, made a point of naming Firtash as a reason for the lack of bidders in the latest privatization auction. He said that potential investors had been scared off by the plant’s disputed debt for gas from Firtash’s Ostchem Holding, a gas supply company.

During the first attempt to sell the plant, the bidding started at $521 million but on Dec. 7, it was cut to $200 million. The port was originally valued at $1 billion.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in turn blamed the State Property Fund, for the failure to sell the plant, calling i the state agency “incapable.”

PrivatBank insists it will not be nationalized

The press service of Ukraine’s largest private bank PrivatBank has hit back at reports that it will be nationalized. Long discussed rumors about the financial state of PrivatBank reached a peak this week with some reports that the nationalization of the bank would happen over the New Year.

Oleh Gorokhovskiy, first deputy chairman of the bank, said in a press release that the rumors were an “informational attack” intended to hurt its clients and destabilize the economy. Gorokhovskiy said that the bank is stable and is conducting its planned recapitalization.

“If the government wanted to nationalize the bank, it would have acted without much publicity. Here everything is different: using a misunderstanding by citizens essentially nationalization disperse panic,” Gorokhovskiy said.

The bank’s owner Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky has not personally commented on the rumors about his bank.

Ukraine boosts EU trade

After losing the Russian market because of being embargoed, Ukraine’s agricultural companies are converting their technical processes to meet European Union standards in the hope of winning a share of the free trade zone.

Since Jan. 10, dairy manufacturers have been licensed to supply the European markets. One of them, Milk Alliance, a group of dairy companies, is delivering butter to Bulgaria and The Netherlands. In December, the company supplied The Netherlands with 140,000 tons of butter and they plan to buy 200,000 more in 2017.

The export of honey, one of the top Ukrainian agricultural products selling abroad, has increased by a third since the start of 2016. As of December, honey manufacturers exported 47,800 tons of their products in 2016, while in 2015, they exported a total of 36,000 tons. Among the biggest buyers are Germany, who consumed one third of Ukrainian honey, and the United States, which buys around 15 percent of Ukraine’s produce.

Japanese open cable plant in western Ukraine

Japanese wiring systems producer Sumitomo Electric Bordnetze has opened a cable factory in western Ukraine. The plant, which produces cables for Germany’s Volkswagen, started operating in the city Chortkiv in Ternopil Oblast on Dec. 14. By 2018, the plant plans to increase its production and hire up to 3,000 workers.

The first joint German and Japanese investment project was launched in Ternopil Oblast in 2006 which makes cables for Audi and Volkswagen. Successful cooperation later led to another plant being opened in Chernivtsi city, western Ukraine.

Among other Japan’s investments in Ukraine this year, Fujikura opened a car parts factory in Lviv in April. It currently employs 550 people in the city, and plans to expand to 3,000 employees. n