Daily monitor

The gas price for Ukraine in the first quarter of 2010 may reach USD 300-310 per 1000 cbm, according to a statement made yesterday by Gazprom Vice Chairman Vladimir Scherbakov. He also noted that the tariff for gas transport by Ukrainian pipelines for Gazprom will increase from its current USD 1.7 per thsd cbm/km to USD 2.8-3.0 per thsd cbm/100 km. Earlier, Gazprom remarked that Ukraine will have an average gas price of USD 280 per thsd cbm in 2010.

The Mariupol Illich Steel Mill [MMKI UZ] has announced that the Company plans to modernize its sinter plant and oxygen unit. It also became known that the Company has completed 80% of the installation of a pulverized coal injection unit and that, to finish the work MMKI needs an estimated UAH 200 mln.

The NBU has prolonged the moratorium on satisfying the requirements of creditors of Rodovid Bank to March, 15 2010. According to the temporary administrator of Ukrprombank, the reason for the extension of the moratorium is that Ukrprombank assets, which are supposed to be transferred to Rodovid Bank according to the government’s decision, have still not been transferred. Nevertheless, the repayment of Ukrprombank deposits by Rodovid Bank is being carried out as planned.

The National Bank of Ukraine has taken a decision whereby it is allowing commercial banks to buy foreign currency from it by way of interventions on the Interbank FX Market, but only in order to fulfill its obligations, at the discretion of the National Bank. In that case, if a given commercial bank purchases foreign currency from the NBU under such conditions, but does not proceed to use it completely for this expressed purpose, then the respective bank will be therefore obliged to return the hard currency to the NBU within a period of three working days.

Yesterday, Ukrenergo conducted an auction for electricity exports for the year 2010. Although Ukrenergo announced the auction for a 1.5thsd MW export capacity for all interconnections, the amount actually turned out to be less, as only those that are connected to the UCTE were sold. Zakhidenergo [ZAEN UZ] acquired access to a 100 MW electricity export capacity at a price of UAH 56 mln, while DTEK Vostokenergo acquired a 150 MW export capacity for UAH 83 mln and the last available lot for 25 MW was acquired by Ukrinterenergo for UAH 2 mln.

Azovmash is scheduled to supply equipment for the blast-furnace of the U. S. Steel Serbia plant, the delivery of which is to be performed by April 2010. According to this contract, Azovmash should supply the equipment for one of the plants owned by U.S. Steel Serbia. At this point, Azovmash has not disclosed the monetary value of the agreement.

VAB Bank has announced an increase to its authorized capital by UAH 150 mln or by 38.2%. Now the total sum of its capital is UAH 542.38 mln.

The Ukrainian Antitrust Committee has permitted the company Glencore International AG to buy more than a 50% stake in 17 separate agricultural companies. The total land area held by the respective companies is about 80 thsd ha. Glencore is one of the largest grain traders in Ukraine and owns a grain elevator with a 120 thsd tonnes storage capacity at the Ilychevck Port. The Company plans to increase its capacity to 200 thsd tonnes in 2010. In Ukraine, the Holding is presented by its subsidiary, the “Serna” company.

Ukraine’s agricultural producers have completed harvesting of sugar beets, having collected at total of 10.3 mln tonnes from a territory of 324.2 thsd ha. The average yield amounted to 31.8 tonnes per ha. In the previous season, the sugar beet crop was 14.5 mln tonnes, and the average yield was 37.3 tonnes per ha. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy forecasts that sugar production in the current season will be at 1.37 mln tonnes

The auction for Ukrainian electricity exports, which was blocked by a court decision, may be held today. There are two court rulings against holding electricity auctions, both of which were initiated by the current power export monopoly, Ukrinterenergo, and its affiliates.