The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, passed draft law No. 6723 in the first reading on November 9 to amend certain laws of Ukraine on the protection of economic competition, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
National Joint-Stock Company (NJSC) Naftogaz of Ukraine says it no longer has a monopoly on the Ukrainian gas market, and it has decided to ask the regulator to conduct an appropriate inspection to confirm or deny its status, according to the company's website.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says that recent price hikes on the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) market in Ukraine is sabotage and instructed respective ministries, the national anti-trust agency, the State Fiscal Service and other government agencies to propose solutions and change the situation by September 15, according to the Ukrainian government' press service.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) recognized the fact of abuse of the monopoly position in the mineral fertilizers market in 2014-2015 by the companies owned by Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem Holding: Azot, Sievierodonetsk Azot Association, Rivneazot, as well as NF Trading Ukraine, according to the ACU's investigation materials presented by the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
Russia seems to have come up with a know-how to convert excess cheap gas into foreign currency by selling nitrogen fertilizers to Ukraine, while the last four seeding campaigns saw the accelerated seizure of the Ukrainian market by Russian producers of nitrogen fertilizers, which resulted in serious losses and damage to the Ukrainian economy and industry, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly wrote.