The Motor Sich aircraft engine manufacturer (Zaporozhe) is looking for customers in Western countries, particularly through contacts in Poland, following the closure of the Russian market to it this year because of the situation in eastern Ukraine and the deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Russia.

The Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote about this on Thursday, 27 November, noting that the company held a presentation in Warsaw (Poland) this week, the UNIAN news agency reports.

"Representatives of the Ukrainian aviation giant from Zaporozhe - Motor Sich - tried to interest Polish entrepreneurs and government in general business projects in our country at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Warsaw on Wednesday," the newspaper writes.

As UNIAN reported, Ukraine’s Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak announced during the SP Advisors company’s international investment conference “A Fresh look at Ukraine” on 28 October that Ukrainian exporters would lose about USD 5 billion by the end of 2014 as a result of the closure of the Russian market to Ukrainian goods.

Experts forecast that Ukraine’s exports to Russia may reduce by at least 35% at the end of 2014, taking the abolition of duty-free trade into account. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s trade deficit with Russia amounted to USD 2.46 billion in the first half of 2014.

In general, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is forecasting that exports from Ukraine will fall by 11.6% and imports into Ukraine by 21.1% in 2014 because of the situation in eastern Ukraine and the deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Russia.

At the same time, Ukraine’s trade representative Valerii Piatnytskyi has said that the increase of Ukraine’s exports to the European Union in the first half of the year will offset up to half of Ukrainian producers’ losses as a result of the closure of the Russian market to them. In addition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has prepared a list of restrictions on Russian imports that Ukraine may impose as part of its response to the restrictions on Ukrainian exports to the Russian market. These restrictions will affect 830 tariff lines and result in losses of about USD 2.5 billion to Russian producers.

Motor Sich is one of the largest engineering enterprises in Ukraine. It manufactures engines for the Mi-8/Mi-17 and Ka-226 helicopters, the AN-70, AN-124, AN-140, AN-148, Yak-130 airplanes and other airplanes, equipment pumping gas, and power equipment. The company produces parts for 95% of the aircraft engines operating in Russia.

Motor Sich’s net profit (based on the International Financial Reporting Standards) increased 1.5-fold from UAH 991.63 million to UAH 1.53 billion in the period of January-September 2014, compared with the corresponding period of last year.

The company’s net profit (based on the International Financial Reporting Standards) reduced by 31.2% to UAH 1.375 billion in 2013.