IVANO-FRANKIVSK, June 20 - Italy's Antonio Merloni is interested in producing parts for the Ardo washing machines assembled by Ivano-Frankivsk Ukrainian Household Appliances Ltd., a company with 100% foreign capital.

KIEV, June 20 - Ukraine's biggest poultry producer, Mironovskiy HleboProduct, or MHP, posted a fivefold rise in first-quarter net profit and said on Friday revenue soared thanks to production growth and higher selling prices, Reuters reported.

KIEV, June 20 – The difference between the official and market hryvnia exchange rate is not to exceed 1%, according to Oleksandr Savchenko, deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine.

KIEV, June 21 ??“ A Russian-Ukrainian consortium defeated Mittal Steel, the world??™s largest steel maker, by winning a preliminary tender to invest in an unfinished Ukrainian iron ore producer whose reserves are enough for 200 years.

BAIKONUR, June 21 - Sea Launch, an international satellite launching consortium that launches Ukrainian space rockets from sea-based platform, said it had been recently successfully promoting its land-based sister venture.

KIEV, June 21 ??“ The Kiev city government will create a special commission that will speed up allocation of land plot for IKEA, the world??™s largest furniture producer and retailer, to build its $400 million store.

BRUSSELS, June 22 ??“ Stockholders of the Industrial Metallurgical Union (IMU) have sued the Ukrainian government again in the European Court of Human Rights for violations of their rights during the repeat privatization of Kryvorizhstal, the IMU reports in its bulletin.

KIEV, June 22 ??“ Ukraine, Russia, and Poland have set up a joint venture to run the Izov (Ukraine)/Hrubieszów (Poland) - Slawkow (Poland) broad-gauge railway line, Ukrainian Transport Minister Yevhen Chervonenko says.

KIEV, June 22 ??“Lutsk Car Works (LuAZ) is planning to assemble up to 28,000 VAZ cars This year, up from an initially planned 22,000, the chairman of its supervisory board, Volodymyr Hunchyk told journalists on Tuesday, June 21.

KIEV, June 22 ??“ Russia's Severstal Group, one of the world's top-10 steel making companies, considers the Ukrainian market promising and one of the company??™s priorities, but has not decided to buy any Ukrainian steel enterprise, Deputy CEO Aleksey Pertin disclosed this during the first Ukraine-Russia investment forum held in Kiev June 21-22.