Vitagro Group will raise EUR110 million in additional investments to develop its biomethane plant in Khmelnytsky region and increase its capacity by 5 million cubic meters by the time biomethane production starts, said Serhiy Savchuk, Vitagro Group’s Director of Development and Investments, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on Wednesday.
“We understand that by 2030, 35 million cubic meters of biomethane will be consumed in the EU. That is why we have invested EUR6 million in our first biomethane plant in Ukraine. Yesterday I spoke with our customers in Europe who sell our product to the EU. I sent them a memorandum for additional investments in our biomethane plant,” he said.
According to Savchuk, it is an investment of EUR110 million, which will allow Vitagro to increase biomethane production by 5 million cubic meters per year.
Vitagro’s Director of Development and Investment also said that the group of companies has launched five projects at its own expense since the beginning of the full-scale war. Fertilizer production projects and a corn pellet ethanol plant have now been fully completed.
The VITAGRO group of companies was founded in 1999. In 2021, it employed 5 thousand people, its revenue amounted to $211.3 million, and EBITDA was $101 million.
The group’s land bank is 85 thousand hectares. The group also owns a seed and crop protection plant, as well as sunflower oil production facilities and one of the five largest orchards in Ukraine. VITAGRO also owns 5,000 heads of cattle and 110,000 heads of pigs, elevator capacity of 400,000 tons, as well as three brick factories and nine asphalt plants, and four solar power plants with a total capacity of 16 MW.
VITAGRO’s first pilot biomethane project was presented in June 2023 in Dobrohorscha village in Khmelnytskyi district of Khmelnytskyi region, where a biomethane plant with a capacity of 2.9 million cubic meters per year was built on the basis of a farm and a biogas plant, with investments in the project estimated at EUR 7.6 million. Manure, silage, and straw from the group’s pig and cattle farms will be used for methane production.
VITAGRO also planned to launch two more such plants: “Zorya in Rivne region for 3 million cubic meters and 52 thousand tons of fertilizers with an investment of EUR 7 million and in the former Volochysk district (now Khmelnytsky district) for 2.5 million cubic meters and 100 thousand tons of fertilizers with an investment of EUR 6.8 million.
According to the state register, the main beneficiary of VITAGRO is MP Serhiy Labaziuk, and the CEO is Petro Labaziuk.
For the first time, Ukraine will send 2,453.26 tons of sunflower oil to five African countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Djibouti, Mauritania, and Palestine – as part of the humanitarian food initiative Grain from Ukraine, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
“We are fulfilling the mission of our country, ensuring food security in the world. And we are expanding humanitarian supplies, as announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the second Grain from Ukraine summit. We supply not only grain, but also corn, peas, and now sunflower oil. This oil will be shipped in containers from the ports of Greater Odesa,” said Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Markiyan Dmytrasevych.
Marianne Ward, Acting Director of the UN World Food Program in Ukraine, said that more than 200 thousand tons of agricultural products will be shipped under Grain from Ukraine. Many donor countries have already joined the initiative, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Luxembourg.
Mr. Dmytrasevych emphasized the important role of the UN World Food Program in supporting Ukrainians from the frontline areas and internally displaced persons. According to him, in the near future Ukraine will transfer grain for processing to the World Food Program for the production of pasta and bread. These goods will be sent to residents of the frontline areas.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food together with the World Food Program (WFP) are sending humanitarian goods under the Grain from Ukraine program.
As reported, a total of 10 ships with more than 200 thousand tons of agricultural products were sent within the initiative to Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Yemen, Nigeria, Sudan, Palestine, and Yemen.
The Grain from Ukraine initiative was launched by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in partnership with the UN World Food Program (WFP) to minimize the damage caused to the global food system by Russian aggression and the attempted blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that EUR 500 thousand was raised for the creation of a prosthetics center in the capital during a charity fundraiser in Berlin.
“For our prosthetics center, which we are creating in Kyiv with the help of Berlin, we raised a total of EUR 500 thousand yesterday,” he wrote in his telegram channel on Thursday.
According to him, almost EUR305 thousand were donations in cash. “In addition, German business will provide, among other things, equipment to the prosthetics workshop for five additional employees,” he added.
Klitschko thanked the German benefactors, as well as the Life bridge Ukraine organization and its head Janine von Wolfersdorf, who, together with the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists, organized a charity evening to raise funds for the prosthetics center.
“I am also grateful to the mayor of Kyiv’s sister city, Berlin, Kai Wegner, with whom we convinced Berlin businessmen of the importance of a joint project to create a prosthetics center in Kyiv,” Klitschko said.
Global grain production in the 2024-2025 marketing year (MY, July-June) will increase by 1% compared to the previous season and amount to 2312 million tons due to higher yields of wheat, barley and sorghum, which will compensate for the decline in corn production, the International Grains Council (IGC) said in a report on Thursday.
At the same time, grain consumption will increase, and end-of-season stocks are expected to fall to a ten-year low, including in major exporters.
According to the forecasts, the volume of contracted grain trade in 2024/25 MY will increase by 4% and reach 416 mln tonnes. At the same time, the demand for global consumption will amount to 2320 mln tonnes, and carry-over stocks will be 580 mln tonnes.
In 2024/25, the global soybean production is expected to reach the maximum of 414 mln tonnes. The main demand for soybean products in the upcoming season will come from the world’s leading buyers – the USA, Brazil and Argentina. At the same time, carry-over stocks continue to accumulate. The trade in soybeans in October-September will intensify and increase by 2%, reaching a new high, according to IGC.
Speaking about other oilseeds, IGC drew attention to the expected significant global production of rapeseed/canola against the background of almost unchanged sunflower production, which will be similar to last year’s volume.
According to IGC forecasts, global rice production in 2024/25 MY will reach a record peak and grow by 2%, driven by increased production in major exporting countries, particularly in South Asia. Rice consumption will increase due to population growth, while stocks may increase due to accumulation in India. Trade is likely to decline in January-December 2025 amid rising supplies to Africa and lower demand from Asian importers, particularly Indonesia.
The IGC forecasts a 5% decline in demand for lentils and beans in January-December 2024 to 21.2 mln tons.
The International Grains Council also drew attention to the temporary abolition of tariffs on imports of raw rice, brown and white rice to Brazil until the end of 2024, which aims to mitigate the effects of recent rains and floods in southern Brazil. In addition, IMG members noted recent changes in India’s pulses import policy.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide an additional EUR300 million loan to Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) for the purchase of 80 modern electric freight locomotives, the UZ press service said on Wednesday.
The agreement, which the company announced in late May, was backed by a memorandum between Ukrzaliznytsia, the EBRD and the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure, which was signed in Berlin on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024).
“The issue of renewing the locomotive fleet for Ukrzaliznytsia is critical and crucial (…) Obtaining new and high-tech electric locomotives will significantly increase the efficiency of freight transportation,” said Yevhen Lyashchenko, chairman of the board of UZ.
At the end of May, the company announced the allocation of a $190 million grant from the United States through the World Bank Trust Fund as part of the Restoration of Critical Logistics Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (RELINC) project.
The proposal for the purchase of 80 electric locomotives with a total value of about $400 million has already been published on the EBRD tender portal. The tender requirements stipulate that the winner, in addition to supplying the locomotives, must create conditions for their maintenance and warranty repair in Ukraine.
Almost every fifth fraud case goes to court this year
More than 38,000 cases were opened under Article 190 “Fraud” in the first five months of 2024, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO). This is 1.6 times more than in all of 2021. Almost one in five fraud cases went to court this year.
A record 38,204 criminal proceedings on fraud were opened in Ukraine in the first five months of 2024. This is already 1.6 times more than in all of 2021, when 23,847 cases were opened. Criminal proceedings for fraud increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.
Just over 7 thousand or 18% of all registered cases in 2024 went to court. More than 4.5 thousand cases were closed.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, social engineering and phishing have traditionally remained the most popular methods of payment card fraud in Ukraine. To reduce the fraud pandemic and help citizens protect themselves from thieves, the NBU, together with the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, has launched an All-Ukrainian Payment Security Information Campaign. You can find out what rules you need to follow to protect yourself from thieves on a special project page.
