KIEV, March 25 – Ukrainian steel companies in 2016 could increase steel smelting by 15% compared to 2015, to 26.5 million tons if the ongoing production pace is kept.

KIEV, March 24 - Ukraine in January-February increased electricity exports by 42.2% compared to the same period in 2015, to 708.637 million kWh, a source in the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, March 24 – The Ukrainian government has finished a document on a EUR 400 million credit from the European Investment Bank for ratification by parliament. The credit will provided for projects in the agricultural sector, Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Vladyslava Rutytska said in Kiev on Thursday.

KIEV, March 24 – Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has met with businessman Rinat Akhmetov as part of the monitoring of large corporations' performance, and a reduction in forex receipts by Akhmetov's companies was on the agenda of the meeting, according to Yatseniuk's press secretary Olha Lappo.

KIEV, March 25 – The International Monetary Fund is waiting for the Cabinet of Ministers to approve the price of gas extracted by Ukrgazvydobuvannia that will be sold to households for generate heat, a source in the Ukrainian government has told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, March 26 – Ukraine plans to raise a loan of around $320 million (UAH 2.72 billion) under state guarantees in 2013 for the implementation of a joint project with Brazil to build the Cyclone-4 space rocket complex at the Alcantara Launch Center in Brazil.

KIEV, March 28 – The technical state of the dams of sludge fields of Bortnychi aeration plant in Kiev is satisfactory, and there is no threat of an accident, Oleh Zhuchenko, the head of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities's water supply and sewage department said on Thursday.

KIEV, March 28 – The State Environmental Inspectorate of the Northwestern Region of the Black Sea announced it is preparing a compensation claim against the owner and operator of the ship Nikolai Bauman due to the pollution of the marine environment off the coast of Odessa region.

KIEV, March 28 - Russian aluminum giant Rusal is considering setting up a separate company on the basis of rolling production at its Ukrainian asset - Zaporizhia Aluminum Smelter (ZALK) which would only produce aluminum rods.

KIEV, March 28 - Ukrainian coke and chemical plants agreed to buy out remaining stocks of domestically produced coal as part of a plan to help the government drop an idea of restricting imports of coking coal, an industry source said Wednesday.

The government has been considering an idea of restricting the imports amid concerns that about 400,000 metric tons of domestically produced coal have accumulated at state coal mines.