KIEV, Feb. 13 – The weakening of the hryvnia could create a favorable basis for development of domestic producers oriented on the domestic market, according to a report by Kiev-based Dragon Capital.

Analyst Andriy Bespiatov states that a jump in the price of imported goods in the light of a fall in real income of the public and the freezing of the banking crediting makes domestic products more attractive to consumers.

KIEV, Feb. 12 - Ukrtransnafta, which has a monopoly in Ukraine in oil transportation, increased oil pumping by 1.4%, or 47,000 tons, in January 2009 year over-year, to 3.424 million tons.

As Interfax-Ukraine learned from the Ukrtransnafta's press service on Wednesday, in January, Ukrtransnafta cut transit oil shipments by pipelines across Ukraine's territory by 8.8%, or by 250,000 tons, from January 2008, to 2.6 million tons.

KIEV, Feb. 13 – Temporary administrations could be introduced at some insurance companies in Ukraine by late 2009, Andriy Suprun, chairman of Kiev-based Alfa Insurance company, said.

He said that there is a legal procedure for the introduction of temporary administrations in insurance companies, although this has not yet occurred in practice.

KIEV, Feb. 15 ??“ IDS Group, Ukraine's largest bottled water producer, has completed a deal to buy one of the Ukrainian mineral water producers using the Truskavetska trademark, Aquarius Ltd. in Lviv region, IDS Group Director General Mykola Kmit said.

"Last week, the processing of Aquarius' merger into the IDS Grouð was completed," Kmit said.

KIEV, Feb. 15 - Smart Group will invest about $1 billion in the upgrade of the Makiyivka Metals Plant (MMZ) in the Donetsk region in the next three to four years in order to boost production efficiency and product quality, MMZ's reported.

KIEV, Feb. 14 - EBITDA in the pipe production segment at Interpipe in Dnipropetrovsk is expected to amount to $260 million in 2006, for wheels - $130 million and for special steels - $80 million.

KIEV, Feb. 14 ??“ Kirovohrad-based industrial group Creative, a large Ukrainian oil and fat producer, is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) with about 25% of its stocks on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in May 2007.

MOSCOW, Feb. 13 RosUkrEnergo AG, the exclusive importer of natural gas to Ukraine, ended the January-September period of 2006 with 14.239 billion rubles of losses, according to Gazprom, which owns 50% in the company.

KIEV, Feb. 15 - KIA car sales rose nine times, to 260 cars in Ukraine in January, compared to 29 cars sold in January 2005, Serhiy Krasulia, the press secretary of Bogdan Corporation, which includes KIA Motors Ukraine, said.

KIEV, Feb. 15 ??“ ABN AMRO Bank N.V., a Dutch financial group, has provided $75 mln credit to Dzerzhynsky Metallurgical Mill, the bank announced Tuesday.