KYIV. Feb 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Astarta agro-industrial holding exported products (grain, soybean products, sugar and heifers) tentatively worth some $120 million, Astarta CEO Viktor Ivanchyk said in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said that in January-September 2015 the exports share of total sales was 38%. Soy oil and grain are exported by over 90%. The company exported around 30,000 tonnes of sugar in 2015.
He said that currently Astarta is actively working on boosting sugar exports to the EU as there is a shortage of sugar on the European market. In 2015, Astarta exported 10,000 tonnes of sugar to the EU.
“The quota for sugar exports by Ukraine to the EU is 20,700 tonnes. The counter quota is up to 30,000 tonnes. The EU has a chance to supply more sugar to our territory than Ukraine to the EU. Ukraine produces some 1.5 million tonnes of sugar and the EU – over 15 million tonnes which is 10 times more… The huge EU market today faces a shortage. We could cover it, supplying fairly and proportionally to the size of the market. They have ten times more market – give us ten times more quota, 200,000-250,000 tonnes,” he said.
Ivanchyk said that these issues are raised before the government and parliament by nongovernmental and sector organizations, although there is no feedback.
He said that the company is also interested in the markets of the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, in particular, China, Japan and South Korea.
“India is also an interesting market for us, they did not have a good harvest, and I’m sure that wheat will go there in the near term,” he said.
Astarta does not export its products to the Middle Asia (Kirgizstan and Kazakhstan), Georgia.
“Our government does nothing for opening the markets in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. These markets could seriously expand geography of exports. We fail to develop the market with Turkey. They have large opportunities for developing public private partnership by Ukraine,” he said.
Ivanchyk said that Astarta is working with Chinese companies on signing contracts to export corn. China has distributed the quota, but the contracts will be signed after New Year holiday in China starting from February 15, 2016.
