Agriculture

Tetyana Adamenko, head of the agro weather department of Ukraine’s Hydrometeorological Center, told Interfax-Ukraine yesterday. “The situation is very good, the soil is an excellent source of moisture,” she said, citing a key factor for crops. “There are almost no areas threatened by drought, which is unusual for Ukraine in the last decade.”

, Prime Minister Shmygal announced yesterday at a Cabinet meeting. Growth picked up speed from a 12% increase registered for January-March, compared to the same period last year, In 2020, 41% of Ukraine’s foreign trade was with the EU bloc of 28 countries.

reported the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. After a 5% jump in May over April, the FAO Food Price index increased by 121.7 points, just short of a record high hit a decade ago. In Ukraine in April, prices of eggs increased by 90% yoy, vegetable oil increased by 63%, and the price for sugar increased by 65% yoy.

“The recent growth of global food prices is mostly attributed to increasing demand driven by a massive throwing of public money for pandemic fighting around the world. The recent acceleration of consumer inflation in Ukraine was mostly the result of food prices growth, and the global growth of food prices was definitely a factor.”

growing demand for vegetable oil for biodiesel, and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic were cited last week by the Financial Times as reasons for rising food prices. “The drought in Brazil turned out to be worse than everyone expected,” FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian tells the FT. “Therefore, it remains to pray that the weather in the United States is good.”

Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko told the Ukraine 30 Ecology forum yesterday. “Climate change is taking place and in fact two thirds of our territory is becoming a zone of risky agriculture,” he said. “Especially critical points are July-August.” Farmers should shift to low till, low chemical techniques that use harvesters that shred crop residues, returning them to the soil. Six million hectares, largely in southern Ukraine, urgently need conservation, he said.

according to an explanatory note accompanying a Rada bill to allow farmers to create water cooperatives. In 1990, the last year of the Soviet Union, “hydraulic reclamation” was carried out on 23 million hectares of farmland in Ukraine. Last year, the figure was 551,000 hectares.

The bill’s note says18.7 million hectares need constant irrigation and 4.8 million need periodic irrigation. Expected to pass this year, the bill would break the state monopoly on setting water rates, but retain state ownership of major canals. The bill would protect the investments made by farmers in leased land.

 the Agriculture Ministry is launching a pilot project to restore irrigation systems in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions. Minister Leshchenko writes on Facebook: “We will rebuild and expand reclamation systems with private and public capital.” Two weeks ago, land reclamation responsibilities were returned to the Ministry of Agriculture.

. If the Rada passes the irrigation bill, Leshchenko tells the Kyiv Post he expects the EBRD and the World Bank to loan Ukraine $2 billion to rebuild its irrigation systems.

 Prime Minister Shmygal, told the Ukraine 30 land forum yesterday. In addition, local governments should see rents more than double on their farm land, from 7% of estimated value to 18%, he predicted. A pilot project to lease state-owned farm land through electronic auctions is resulting in higher rents, he said.

 reports the Association of Agrarians of Ukraine. Lease payments on these tax-dodging schemes total as much as $2.5 billion, the group’s chairman, Alexander Vasilivsky, complained to Roman Leschchenko, the new Agriculture Minister.

President Zelenskiy said yesterday at Ukraine 30, a land forum. About 5 million hectares of state land moved illegally into private hands, he said. Crimea’s territory is 2.7 million hectares. During the land sale moratorium, 7 million rural residents were deprived of full ownership rights, and 1 million died, often in poverty, unable to sell their land, he said.

In advance of this modest opening, farm land rents increased 6.5% yoy in 2020 to an average of 3,380 hryvnia/hectare, Ellina Yurchenko, a farmland expert for the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club said in a press release Friday. At the Forum, Timofei Milovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, said that by allowing farmers to borrow against their land, the market will result in higher yields, greater productivity and an extra $2 billion in tax revenues.

, Kristina A. Kvien, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, told the forum. Kvien and Matti Maasikas, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, both stressed the need for Ukraine’s media to inform the public about the new farm land market in a factual manner.

Katarina Maternova, deputy director general of the European Commission’s Directorate for Neighborhood and Enlargement, told the government’s Ukraine 30 forum on Monday.

 Xinhua reports from an online forum held Tuesday: “Ukraine-China: The Future of Trade, Pulses, Grains, Oilseeds.” Fan notes that Ukraine’s food exports to China jumped 84% yoy, accounting for 45% of Ukraine’s total exports to China. Due to exports of food and metals, China is Ukraine’s largest trading partner.

, Oleh Sytnyk, the President of the Ukrainian-Chinese Friendship Society, said yesterday at another China-Ukraine food conference. Due to urbanization and growing incomes, “more and more Chinese families can afford quality European products,” he said, Ukrinform reports from the forum which was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine.

under a bill adopted yesterday by the Rada. “Anyone with a computer and Internet access will be able to take part in the auction,” (Interfax-Ukraine). “According to the ministry, the winners of the bidding will be those who offer the highest price per lot.” Plot sizes are limited to 20 hectares and buyers are limited to Ukrainians.

 according to a new poll by the Rating Sociological Group. Of the 2,000 respondents, 79% oppose allowing foreigners to buy farmland and 77% say the issue should be decided by a national referendum. Of respondents who said they would vote in a referendum, 64% told pollsters late last month that they would vote for the foreigner ban.

 the company has revealed. Its revenue increased to $67.55 million, while gross profit was up 3.2 times, to $ 32.91 million. The assets of “Agroton” last year increased by 5.1% – up to $ 120.34 million.

63 commodity items were registered in eleven countries and several international economic organizations, Interfax-Ukraine reports citing the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

. Domestic producers were able to supply eggs to Ethiopia, animal protein to Serbia, and cattle to the UAE. The Lithuanian market is now open for the export of insects used in crop protection.

The first being exports to CIS countries which are now subject to new trade rules that come in force from April 13, 2021 in the field of veterinary medicine.  This has replaced an agreement between CIS countries which was signed back in 1993. Also, due to changes in the terms of trade, new agreements were  renegotiated with Singapore and South Korea,” said a government spokesperson.

the State Consumer Service in a recent announcement of the continuation of work to expand existing markets across continents.

“ said the Export Chief, Vladislava Magaletskaya.

the Ukrainian Grain Association predicted yesterday. In reality, this would return Ukraine to the bumper year of 2019/2020. Looking ahead, corn exports are to jump 27% in the coming marketing year, to 30 million tons. Wheat exports are to increase by 37%, to 21 million tons. The sunflower harvest is to increase by 28%, to 16.5 million tons, slightly more than the 2019/2020 level.

 Taras Kachka, Ukraine’s Trade Representative, said after meeting with China’s ambassador Fan Xiangong. Overall, Ukraine’s trade rose 18%, to $2.5 billion, with China, the nation’s largest trading partner. One focus of the meeting was to expand the access of Ukrainian food product to the Chinese market. Food accounts for 53% of Ukraine’s exports to China, reports Ukraine’s Economy Ministry.

, said Tetyana Adamanko, the Head of Agrometeorology at the Hydrometeorological Center at a farm associations meeting yesterday. Due to the late spring, seedlings can easily withstand the air temperatures that fell to -3C, she said, (Ukrinform). By contrast, the wet cool spring has resulted in one of the best moisture penetrations of the soil in 20 years. Ukrinform concludes: “The situation with winter cereals looks extremely optimistic.”

, the State Property Fund reports. Often called ‘bakeries’ these Soviet-era complexes mill wheat and corn into flour and animal feed. Located alongside railroad tracks, the seven ‘kombinats’ have elevators with a total storage capacity of 634,000 tons, about 1% of the nation’s total. Of the seven going up for sale, four are working and three are nonworking. The first auction will be of a working one, Dunayevets Bakery in Khmelnitsky Region. The starting price is $6.7 million.

said Mykola Gorbachev, the President of the Ukrainian Grain Association after signing a cooperation agreement with China’s Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Noting that Ukraine already has exported 10 million tons of grain to China since June, he said: “Today, the lion’s share of grain exports to China is corn and barley.” The next step is to sign bilateral sanitary agreements with China for “wheat, sorghum, peas and other crops,” he said. The two groups agreed to establish a Sino-Ukrainian Council

as predicted on the China’s Global Times news website. In the first two months of this year, China’s corn imports increased by 414% yoy, to 4.8 million tons. The US pulled ahead of Ukraine, largely due to the Trump-era US-China trade accord. With the marketing year ending June 30, the US Department of Agriculture has predicted that China will import a record 24 million tons of corn.

according to data provided by the Economy Ministry. Drought depressed harvests, lead to the export drop. High food prices worldwide have ensured that Ukraine’s agricultural earnings have taken a smaller hit. Agriculture is Ukraine’s largest source of exports, generating 9% of the country’s gross domestic product in 2019, according to the International Trade Administration, (USA).

predicted APK-Inform, the agriculture consultancy. Ukraine could export: 29.50 million tons of corn; 20 million tons of wheat; and 4.3 million tons of barley. In the last decade, Ukraine more than quadrupled its wheat exports, reaching a volume of 17.5 million tons last year. Today, Ukraine accounts for almost one tenth of global wheat exports.

This would be 15% over last year’s output. State weather forecasters said last month around 98% of Ukrainian winter wheat crops and 100% of winter barley were in good condition.

The USDA attributes this to a change in tax laws that make soybean production more profitable. Exports in the upcoming marketing year are expected to reach 2 million tons, up 20% over last year. This would make Ukraine the world’s six largest soy exporter, after Canada.

With cooking oil price hikes pushing up Ukraine’s March inflation, the Economy Ministry and the Ukroliyaprom Trade Association agreed Monday to limit sunflower oil exports to 5.38 million tons in the marketing year that ends August 31. Due to high cooking oil prices worldwide, Ukraine’s sunflower oil sales in calendar year 2020 were $5.3 billion, a 24% increase over 2019 sales.

, Ukraine’s leading pay-TV and cable broadband service, the bank announced yesterday in a press release. With a majority of shares owned by the fund, Horizon Capital, Datagroup calls itself a leading provider of fiber-optic infrastructure and digital services in Ukraine. Matteo Patrone, EBRD’s Regional Managing Director, sad: “The merged entity will invest in better infrastructure, innovation and excellent customer service.”

, the bank reported in a press release. The loan is part of a $200 million syndication arranged by French investment bank Natixis for Kernel, the world’s leading producer and exporter of sunflower oil. The EBRD announced: “The new financing will help the group enter the new harvest season with sufficient working capital to buy crops and prepare them for export, making full use of its newly expanded infrastructure.”

The terminal will be capable of handling 9 million tons of grain a year, which equates to 20% of Ukraine’s current exports.  The terminal is expected to be completed by 2024, said UMG CEO, Andrey Gorokhov, during Strategy Council’s Ukrainian Transport Infrastructure Week. Gorokhov said: “The land has been bought. The project has been completed. The only thing left is to build it.” UMG is part of Rinat Akhmetov’s System Capital Management or SCM.

compared to the same period in 2020. Imports only increased by 0.5% to $8.73 billion. As a result, the $256 million trade deficit was slightly less than half the level of last year, reports the State Statistic Service.

The company increased its sugar EBITDA 9-fold, to €80.2 million, by selling one unprofitable sugar mill and by cutting sugar exports by 29%. Sugar prices were higher in Ukraine, where the company has a 20% share of the market. Astarta has five sugar factories, a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, seven elevators, a biogas complex, and a soybean processing plant.

“The company’s EBITDA and net leverage are the best in the last three years, making it one of the least risky farming and food companies in the Ukrainian universe.”

has halved egg production over the last 18 months, to 170 million eggs a month. He has blamed the criminal prosecution by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, saying it has cut him off from bank loans needed to run his Ukrlandfarming agribusiness.

said Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Presidential Chief of staff, (Ukrinform). Reviewing President Zelenskiy’s one day visit to Doha Monday, Zhovkva said: “During the talks, the leaders discussed the possibility of using Qatar’s logistics network to supply Ukrainian food to other countries in the region.” Doha’s Hamad Port and Hamad International Airport are amongst the busiest in the Gulf. President Zelenskiy also encouraged expanding flight connections beyond the current lone flight — Qatar Airways between Doha and Kyiv Boryspil.

 reported APK-Inform. Of the 15.9 million tons exported so far, the top markets were: China – 6 million tons; EU – 5 million tons; and Egypt – 1.7 million tons. This year, Ukraine is expected to export 23 million tons of its 30-million-ton crop. Poor weather and reduced plantings depressed the harvest.

with Qatar’s Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister, Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko told Ukrinform. In advance, talks have already taken place with Hassad Food, the agricultural investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority. From its base in Doha, Hassan has invested $500 million in India for the production of rice and coffee and $500 million in Australia for the production of wheat and sheep.

 writes Oleksiy Blinov, Alfa’s research head. “Sunflower volume exports are up only 1.5% yoy in March, but the export price has more than doubled.” Similarly, higher grain export prices have compensated for a 23% yoy drop in grain export volumes.

Vladyslava Magaletskaya, Ukraine’s Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service, wrote on Facebook after meeting with China’s Ambassador Fan Xiangzhong. The list includes: honey, cherries, apple, peas, fish products, wheat, barley and animal feed.