Daily monitor

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine, domestic nitrogen fertilizer producers may soon be able to import natural gas directly, bypassing Naftohaz of Ukraine.

As of April 1, 2009, Ukraine’s grain exports reached 21.5 mln mt. This is a record amount for Ukraine. According to Mr. Yuriy Melnik, the Minister of Agriculture, Ukraine is able to export a total 25-25.5 mln mt of grain in the 2008/09 marketing year.

According to an official press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ukrainian agrarians have sown 1.4 mln ha with spring crops. In particular, spring wheat was sown on 55 thsd ha (17% of the expected area), spring barley was sown on 1120 thsd ha (32% respectively), oats on 76 thsd ha (16%), and peas on 115 thsd ha (44%).

Sumy Frunze Machine Building [SMASH UZ, N/R] - one of largest European producers of equipment for the oil, gas, and chemical industries – has secured a deal with Russian gas monopoly ‘Gazprom’, whereby it will supply compressor equipment for the Ivanovskaya and Lukoyanovskaya compressor plants.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the amount of deposits declined by UAH 6.5 bln (2.04% MoM) in March, whereas, in February, the outflow had reached UAH 19 bln (5.6% MoM). In particular, UAH-denominated deposits fell by UAH 2 bln (-1.1% MoM or -12.8% YtD), FX deposits dropped by UAH 4.5 bln (-3.1% MoM or -11.5% YtD). Total deposits fell by 12.3% or 43.8 bln YtD and, as of April 1, equaled UAH 313.9 bln.

According to a note from the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine’s direct external debt fell 0.8% MoM in February to USD 10.916 bln. At the same time, domestic direct debt grew 1.7% to UAH 45.620 bln (USD 5.925 bln).

According to the company’s own information, Luhanskteplovoz [LTPL UZ, N/R] increased output by 6.8% in March 2009.

As of the end of March, the Ukrainian car market recorded a 75% drop compared to the same period in 2008, according to UGMK.info.

In March 2009, the number of Internet users in Ukraine rose 9.4% MoM to reach 11.969 mln unique users, according to a report by the Bigmir-Internet Company, the Internet branch of the Ukrainian KP Media holding.

According to a note from the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, CPI growth in March reached 5.9% YTD. The MoM figure was somewhat lowered to 1.4% in March, compared to 1.5% in February and 2.9% in January. The YoY inflation, therefore, reached 18.1% in March.