Construction

According to data released by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, cement production fell by 18.6% to 957,000 metric tons in November 2008, compared with the production level achieved in November 2007. In the same period, slate production in Ukraine dropped by 15.4% to roughly 49 mln tiles. For the purposes of this calculation, slate includes corrugated plates, slate and other asbestos cement products.

On Friday, Ukraine’s Parliament passed the law “About reducing the influence of the world financial crisis on the construction sector in Ukraine” during its first reading.

Shareholders of the Kramatorsk “Pushka” Cement Plant [KRCS UZ, U/R] have added another issue – to not increase the company’s statutory fund – to the agenda for the upcoming EGM.

Cement output in November constituted 957 thsd metric tons, which is 18.6% less that in November 2007 and 26% less that in October 2008. The 11-month aggregated output constitutes 14.5 mln metric tons, while the 10-month growth rate was 5.2% YoY.

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved procedures for allocating money from the Stabilization Fund as loans for completing the construction of housing financed through mortgage loans.

The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated UAH 30 mln to the Executive Committee of the Zaporizhya City Council from the 2008 national budget for the construction of bridges as part of a highway across the Dnieper River.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Construction is planning to implement mandatory protection for cement producers from gas and electricity price increases. This mandatory protection is made in order to protect the real estate market from an increase in the prices of construction materials.

On October 23, shareholders of the Eurocement Group Ukraine (Kyiv) will gather for an Extraordinary General Meeting, at which participants will consider the sale of more than 50% of the company’s property.

The financial results for the first ten months of 2008 have been released for the Open Joint-Stock Company Balcem, a subsidiary of the Eurocement Group Ukraine. Its output was 2.587 mln metric tons of cement, compared to roughly 2.477 mln metric tons for the same period in 2007 – this represents a 104.4 % increase YoY. The volume of clinker production experienced 122% growth YoY, at 2.246 mln metric tons for January-October 2008, while it was roughly 1.848 mln metric tons for the same period in 2007.

The State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (Goskomstat) revealed that, in October 2008, the production of slate cement increased 2.2% to reach 63.8 mln tiles, compared with output in October 2007. For the purposes of this calculation, slate includes corrugated plates, slate and other asbestos cement products.