The reduction of the starting price of Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant to $150 million would help to increase competition at a privatization tender and finally have the best price, Head of Ukraine's State Property Fund (SPF) Ihor Bilous has said.

"I believe that the plant could be sold at the price more than $300-400 million," he told reporters.

The necessity to cut the starting price compared to the previous tender where it was UAH 13.175 billion (around $527 million) is explained by the worsening of the situation on the global fertilizer market and the plant's debt of $251 million to Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem Holding Ltd confirmed by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the necessity of injecting around $100 million of working capital for stable operation of the idle plant.

Bilous said that the final decision on the starting price would be made by the government. A working group created by the government will hold the meeting in the afternoon on Tuesday. He said that the price would be set in the range of up to $260 million, as this is the highest value set for the plant without current debts.

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers will make the final decision, he said.

Bilous also said that the fund seeks to resume operation of the plant from October 1. He proposed that the government at the closest meeting decides on supplies of gas by Naftogaz Ukrainy to the plant as a special liability. This would help to avoid advance payment for gas and restore sales of the plant's products and gradually pay out current debts (UAH 839 million as of September 1, 2016), leaving only the debt to Naftogaz Ukrainy and Ostchem.

Bilous addd that the plant's supervisory board could be fully reshuffled at a meeting of shareholders scheduled for September 15.