Daily Insight-In the spotlight: Real GDP up estimated 6% YoY in January; Astarta expands business activity

According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) estimates, Ukraine\'s real GDP grew 6% YoY in January. External demand stimulated 9.7% YoY growth in industrial output in January, in particular, 28.5% in chemical production (fertilizer output was fuelled by growing demand for agricultural commodities in the world), 27.8% in machine-building (mainly due to trucks and agricultural machinery), and 13.3% in metallurgy (due to a 25% YoY hike in steel prices in January and increased world demand to replenish steel stocks). Car production hiked up 92% in January YoY, predominantly on the back of external demand, according to the data from Ukravtoprom, a Ukrainian association of car producers.