The Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding in 2017 reduced the land bank by 5.8%, to 570,000 hectares, Oleh Bakhmatiuk, the owner of the company, has told Interfax-Ukraine. “The land bank is being reduced by natural and unnatural ways. Now it is at the level of 570,000 hectares. We objectively refuse some plots, and a tough competition is for some of them. This is a rental market, not a land market. I have 220,000 contracts and 500 people, who work with them every day. Rent rates have recently risen on average by 2.5 times in Ukraine,” he said.
He said Ukrlandfarming changed its strategy and began to sell more grain in the domestic market, plans to sell 500,000-700,000 tonnes in Ukraine in the 2017/2018 marketing year.
The company also plans to keep the cattle stock at the level of 56,000 animals and, possibly, increase the number of birds.
“I am confident that as soon as I achieve restructuring, I will attract investors. If I were not sure in this, I would not be doing this most of my time,” the businessman said.
He noted that the negotiations on restructuring did not stop, but did not specify details, referring to legal restrictions.
“There are more constructive proposals in these negotiations than in the territory of Ukraine,” Bakhmatiuk, who had been unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with the National Bank of Ukraine and the Individuals’ Deposit Guarantee Fund on restructuring the debts of his VAB Bank and Bank Financial Initiative for several years, said.
