• Radekhiv Sugar, the Ukrainian subsidiary of German company Pfeifer & Langen, is buying six sugar factories, Novoe Vremya reported. The facilities are in the Ternopol region and formerly belonged to the bankrupt Ukrainian farming company Mriya.

• One American company and one from the United Arab Emirates entered the competition to obtain the Odessa portside plant, multiple news outlets reported. IBE Trade Corp., whose main office is in New York, and Dubai-based Amjad Investments are the latest entrants in the field.

• Robust sales growth in the market for new automobiles is carrying over to used vehicles. Sales of used autos in November rose almost threefold, a report in Ekonomicheskaya Pravda stated.

• With more cars on the road, a major Ukrainian automotive fuel outfit plans to spend $3.4 million on a rebranding effort and expansion of its gas station network. Ukrgazdobycha plans to develop its network of fueling stations in the Kharkov, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

• Ukraine is on pace to produce 5.5 million tons of sunflower oil in 2016-17, which would be a record, multiple sources reported.

• Britain's Crown Agents signed a deal with the Health Ministry for 10 medicine procurement programs, Interfax Ukraine reported. Crown Agents will procure medicines and medical products worth $35.5 million for the ministry.

• Antonov, the country's only designer and manufacturer of cargo and passenger aircraft, needs to raise $700 million to launch full-scale production, Liga.net reported.

• The Business Association is demanding that the government adopt changes to the tax code contained in Bill No. 5368, Interfax Ukraine reported. Numerous members of the association signed the appeal, which states that the «changes in VAT administration … are significant for the current business in Ukraine.»

• Ukrainian local budgets' general fund receipts for the January-November period were estimated to be equivalent to $5 billion, which is up 50 percent year on year.

For comments and news tips, please email UBJ AM editor David Edwards atdavid.edwards@theubj.com.