KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Maglis IT platform for agriculture could be launched by Germany’s BASF chemical concern in Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Brazil in 2017.
“In Europe, we are preparing to launch the platform only in Ukraine and in the Czech Republic. In addition, it will also be launched in Brazil,” Jeff Spencer, an expert on strategic IT solutions for marketing from the BASF plant protection division in the global market said at a BASF global conference in Ludwigshafen (Germany).
According to him, the platform will be free for all market participants. The Maglis platform will provide analytical information to farmers and could be used as support in decision-making to improve the management of crop production, using data for a particular farm and cultivated crop.
The platform has already been in operation in the United States and Canada, it can be utilized both by large and small farms.
“Why have we chosen the Czech Republic and Ukraine in Europe? We are looking at two or three factors. The first one is the structure of the market, the second is the readiness of market participants to adopt new technologies, and the third is the size of farms,” Spencer said.
At the beginning, the Maglis platform will be represented by three products: the Maglis Customer Navigator, Maglis Crop Plan, and Maglis Sustainability.
KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) and American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine have urged the government to urgently solve the problem of restoring registration of new plant protection agents.
“We call to urgently resume the public registration of new plant protection agents and quickly remove systemic problems in this sector that is strategically important for Ukrainian agriculture,” UCAB said in a Monday press release, referring to the address to the government.
The UCAB said that in 2015-2016 regular breaks and large delays in the public registration of plant protection agents were seen, and at present the process has been completely stopped.
According to the report, the above-mentioned problems mainly appear at the stage of approving sanitary requirements and pesticide and agricultural chemicals safe application regulations.
“The procedure for approving sanitary requirements and regulations is not clearly described and regulated. In practice it suddenly was significantly changed in late 2015, which resulted in ambiguous interpretation of the procedure for approving the above-mentioned documents, extra red tape, vagueness in distribution of powers and responsibility between the public agencies, violation of the terms and the full hindering of the process,” the UCAB said.
The association said the situation involving plant protection agents registration is not in line with the deregulation policy announced by the government.
KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The attraction of new cargo flows and opportunities of investing into port infrastructure have been discussed by representatives of large South Korean companies POSCO and POSCO Daewoo and top managers of Chornomorsk port (earlier Illichivsk seaport, Odesa region).
The port’s press service reported that at a meeting on September 8 Port Director Serhiy Kryzhanovsky pointed out a unique geographic location of the port, its developed infrastructure and transport hubs, availability of 28 berths and skilled specialists and experience in handling large-capacity fleet.
“Chornomorsk port is one of the largest stevedoring companies in Ukraine. We are ready to expand our cooperation,” he said.
The press service said that representatives of South Korean companies visited the port’s terminals and studied the production facilities. The visitors showed large interest in the port’s experience in handling large-tonnage vessels of capsize type.
POSCO (Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It is a large global steel producer. Its subsidiary POSCO Daewoo is a leader in trading with grain, coal, materials, steel products, chemical materials and fertilizers.
KYIV. Sept 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain harvest in Ukraine in 2016 could be 62.3 million tonnes, Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Taras Kutoviy said in parliament on Friday.
“Growth [of harvest] compared to the previous year is 2 million tonnes. We predict 62.3 million tonnes of gross grain output, but according to assessments of various associations, this figure could be considerably higher,” he said.
Earlier the ministry anticipated that grain harvest would be 61 million tonnes.
Kutoviy added that global grain prices continued falling compared to the previous agricultural year.
He said that now the government is discussing mechanisms for supporting farmers with land banks of up to 500 ha.
“I think that we would reach a formula per 1 ha. We will support those farmers who are involved in cattle breeding, niche crops planting and invest money in Ukrainian engineering,” he said.
The minister added that the annulment of the special regime for cattle breeders would have negative consequences. The government is seeking for options how to compensate all these losses to farmers.
KYIV. Sept 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Metinvest, Ukrainian mining and metal holding, ranks first among Ukrainian companies that were included into Central and Eastern Europe Top 500 list, the company has said in a press release.
The companies were ranked by the international audit company Deloitte based on their 2015 consolidated revenues.
According to the survey, the majority of CE countries saw economic growth, and the only country whose economy shrank in 2015 was Ukraine. Namely, industrial companies were affected by the military conflict in the east of Ukraine, the loss of the Russian market and the fall of steel and iron ore prices.
However, Metinvest entered the Top 10 largest industrial companies of Central and Eastern Europe in 2015. The company takes 13th place among other five hundred companies in terms of revenue.
In 2013-2015, industrial production in the country saw a decline, whereas in Q1 2016 (for the first time in the last three years) the indicators began to improve, Deloitte said.
In total, 29 Ukrainian companies, of which six are industrial companies, made it into the ranking.
KYIV. Sept 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – International audit company Deloitte has published Central Europe Top 500 ranking of largest companies, including 29 Ukrainian companies.
According to a presentation posted on Deloitte’s website, the companies were ranked based on their FY2015 consolidated revenues.
Metinvest entered Top 100 with annual revenues of EUR 6.926 being 13th (a year ago it was sixth). Naftogaz Ukrainy with revenue of EUR 5.376 billion is 15th (17th), Energomarket with EUR 4.481 billion – 23rd (14th), DTEK with EUR 3.907 billion – 29th (13th), Ukrzaliznytsia with EUR 2.463 billion – 54th (was not in ranking in 2015), Kernel with EUR 1.949 billion climbed from 89th to 78th, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih with EUR 1.895 billion descended from 59th to 82nd and Fozzy Group with EUR 1.662 billion from 73rd to 95th.
ATB-market with EUR 1.581 billion and Tedis Ukraine with EUR 1.545 billion were 101st and 102nd.
WOG with EUR 1.4 billion is 124th, Energoatom with EUR 1.348 billion is 130th, Zaporizhstal with EUR 1.293 billion is 138th, Ukrnafta with EUR 1.178 billion is 159th, MHP with EUR 1.058 billion is 189th, Ukrtatnafta with EUR 1.05 billion is 190th, Galnaftogaz with EUR 927 million is 225th, Bunge Ukraine with EUR 882.3 million is 241st, Ferrexpo with EUR 859 million is 247th, Ukrlandfarming with EUR 838 million is 257th and Epicenter K with EUR 775 million is 280th.
Nibulon with EUR 733 million is 301st, BaDM with EUR 729 million is 305th, Motor Sich with EUR 566.5 million is 403rd, Interpipe with EUR 560 million is 409th, Kyivstar with EUR 552 million is 415th, UIA with EUR 538 million is 427th, Optima Pharm with EUR 533million is 434th and State Food-Grain Corporation with EUR 508 million is 461st.
Deloitte said that the results of the 2015 ranking of the 500 largest companies demonstrate that the majority of countries in CE saw an increase in the rate of their economic growth. The only country whose economy declined in 2015 was Ukraine.
