Foreign trade flow of agricultural products and food in 2018 totaled $24.3 billion, including over $18.84 billion of exported goods, and it grew by 5% compared with 2017, Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has reported.
“According to the results of 2018, Ukrainian agricultural exports grew by more than $880 million compared to 2017 and hit a new record of $18.8 billion. During this period, exports of agricultural products to the markets of Asia and the European Union increased significantly. Ukrainian agricultural exports to Asia exceeded $8 billion, and in 2018 we exported more than $6.3 billion worth of agricultural and food products to the EU countries,” Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to her, last year, the lion’s share of Ukrainian agricultural exports was traditionally formed by grain crops, with a share of 38.4%, vegetable oils – 23.3% and oilseeds – 10.2%.
“I also want to point out the goods, thanks to which there was an increase in exports. This is corn, wheat, rapeseed, cake, meat and poultry by-products, various oils, tobacco and products from it, eggs, confectionery, and other food,” Trofimtseva said.
The deputy minister said that exports of crop products increased by $762.3 million compared to 2017 and amounted to $17.4 billion. The value of exports of livestock products also increased by $118.1 million and reached $1.4 billion.
Trofimtseva said that the largest buyers of Ukrainian agricultural and food products in 2018 were: India, where agricultural products were exported for more than $1.8 billion, China – $1.2 billion, the Netherlands – $1.2 billion, Spain – $1.04 billion and Egypt – $888.7 million
“During this period, imports of agricultural and food products also increased noticeably and amounted to almost $5.5 billion. Ukraine most actively bought the following food products: fish, crustaceans and mollusks, fruits, nuts, tobacco and products from it, cocoa beans, chocolate, butter , tea, coffee and other food,” the deputy minister said.
Large ferroalloy enterprises of Ukraine – Nikopol and Zaporizhia Ferroalloy plants – in 2018 totally increased production by 0.8% compared with 2017, to 1.035 million tonnes.
The Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloy Manufacturers told Interfax-Ukraine that over the period silicon-manganese production grew by 6%, to 859,640 tonnes, while ferromanganese output fell by 30.6%, to 79,480 tonnes.
In addition, production of ferrosilicon (45% concentrate) fell by 18.8%, to 75,440 tonnes, and manganese metal – by 2.4%, to 7,460 tonnes.
Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant also produced 13,150 tonnes of other ferroalloys, while in 2017 it was 1,410 tonnes (a 9.3-fold rise).
The country’s two manganese concentrate producers, the Pokrovsky (formerly Ordzhonikidze) and Marhanets mining and beneficiation plants, produced 1.522 million tonnes of manganese concentrate in 2018, which is 6.8% more than in2017.
Marhanets mining and beneficiation plant produced 570,440 tonnes of concentrate (a rise of 4.6%) and Pokrovsky mining and beneficiation plant made 951,460 tonnes (a rise of 8.2%). In addition, the latter produced 196,600 tonnes of manganese sinter(21.3% up year-over-year).
Kokhavynska paper factory (Lviv region), a tissue and toilet paper producer (the Kokhavynka trademark), in 2018 increased production by 27.8% compared with 2017, to UAH 538.78 million.
According to the Ukrpapir association, production of paper at the factory in kind increased 11%, to 37,050 tonnes. At the same time, production of toilet paper rose by 6.1%, to 111.07 million rolls (a total of 683.77 million rolls was made in Ukraine in 2018, a rise of 1%).
Kokhavynska paper factory has been operating since 1939. The factory producers base paper for hygienic goods, toilet paper and paper towels. The capacity of paper making machines is 19,000 tonnes per year, processing equipment 90 million rolls a year.
As reported, in 2017 the factory produced goods worth UAH 421.5 million, which is 23% more than a year earlier, paper production grew by 23.7%, to 33,350 tonnes.
In 2018 the factory planned to increase production to UAH 550 million.
The factory exports about 40% of the products. The main consumers abroad are the Czech Republic, Romania, as well as companies from Belarus, Moldova, Hungary, and the Netherlands.
PJSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kyiv) saw a 13.9% rise in net profit or by UAH 619.353 million in 2018, to UAH 5.088 billion, the bank has reported on its website. As reported, Raiffeisen Bank Aval in January-September 2018 saw a net profit of UAH 4.071 billion, which is 1% more than in the same period of 2017 (UAH 4.032 billion). The bank’s assets in January-September 2018 increased 7.5%, to UAH 71.246 billion, including loans and customer debt increased 24.3%, to UAH 45.783 billion.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval was founded in 1992. According to its data, on January 1, 2018 Raiffeisen Bank International owned 68.28% of the financial institution, while the EBRD held 30%.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval ranked fifth among 77 operating banks as of December 1, 2018 in terms of assets (UAH 70.003 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
