The analysis of weather information and gardeners’ reports on the situation in the gardens make it possible to hope for a record high apple harvest, as well as the yield of many other types of fruits and berries in Ukraine in 2018, the Ukrainian Horticultural Association has said. According to a preliminary forecast of the association, the anomalously cold and snowy March of the current year with a high probability will delay the flowering of the gardens, which will allow reducing the likelihood of losses from spring frosts, while the relatively stable climatic conditions of the winter allowed gardeners to almost completely prevent damage and depletion of trees.
The experts expect the total harvest in 2018 to increase, as a significant number of young gardens will begin to bear fruit.
The union said the EU expects a record high apple harvest after last year’s frosts sharply reduced productivity in the gardens. Accordingly, competition in the European apple market will intensify, which will affect prices.
“It’s worth expecting a sharp decline in prices in the apple market in Ukraine. Especially it will be difficult for producers who grow apples of not very popular varieties and low quality. It is likely that such apples will be sold at the same price as industrial ones. At the same time, quality apples of prospective varieties will be actively exported, so exporting producers can even increase their revenue compared to the 2017/2018 season. Quality apples will be sold in the domestic market at a 30-50% lower price than in the previous season,” the association notes.
State-owned enterprise (SOE) SpetsTechnoExport performed foreign-economic defense contracts worth $120 million in 2017, and 80% of the deals were related to the export of modern weapons and equipment, the company’s press service has reported.
According to the report, 10% of export contracts relate to R&D in Ukraine in order to create innovative defense technologies for foreign partners purposes.
The press service said that in the past years the half of export turnover of the SpetsTechnoExport is the export of defense products to India. The company fulfilled export contracts with India for the total amount of $65 million, and a year earlier it completed the implementation of the bulk of the multi-year contract for upgrading An-32 aircraft for Indian Air Force worth $400 million.
During 2017, SpetsTechnoExport significantly intensified cooperation with Indonesia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia, the company said.
The press service said that in 2017 SpetsTechnoExport was registered at the NATO Suppliers Base (NSPA) that opened up new opportunities for expanding cooperation with Western partners. The company became the first Ukrainian company to win an international public tender under the GPA rules, according to which SpetsTechnoExport will supply components to T-72 tanks to one of the EU countries.
The company said that Import contracts for the needs of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies continue to be deployed in priority regime. Supply of small arms and ammunition, sights and night vision devices, radio communication systems, systems of individual protection were the main areas of import activity of SpetsTechnoExport in 2017.
The press service told Interfax-Ukraine that at present, the SpetsTechnoExport’s portfolio of orders is estimated at some $500 million. Today the enterprise is involved in defense cooperation with customers from over 30 countries.
SpetsTechnoExport is among Ukraine’s leading exporters of weapons and special purpose equipment. Since December 2010, it has been part of the Ukroboronprom state concern.
Public joint-stock company Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill in Luhansk region, one of Ukraine’s largest cardboard packaging producers, tentatively saw UAH 322.35 million in net profit in 2017, which is a 2.2-fold rise year-over-year.
According to an announcement on holding a general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 26, undistributed profit as of early 2017 was UAH 711.52 million (UAH 350.48 million a year ago).
As reported, in 2016, the mill saw UAH 147.44 million of net profit compared with UAH 284.84 million of loss a year ago.
The mill said that its current liabilities fell by 34%, to UAH 626.94 million, while noncurrent liabilities soared 2.4-fold, to UAH 487.26 million.
Total bills receivable grew by 23.7%, to UAH 641.2 million, and assets rose by 13.6%, to UAH 2.253 billion.
Net worth as of early 2018 totaled UAH 1.139 billion, including UAH 16.75 million of the charter capital.
The Rubizhne cardboard packaging mill has worked on the packaging market since 1991, and specializes in the production of components for corrugated cardboard (cardboard and fluting) and corrugated cardboard boxes.
Its most important customers are large confectioneries, juice and tobacco producers.
Kyivsky cardboard paper mill (Obukhiv, Kyiv region), a leader in Ukraine’s pulp and paper industry in terms of production and sales, saw UAH 348.7 million in net profit in 2017, which is 49.6% up on 2016. According to an announcement on holding a general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 25, undistributed profit early this year reached UAH 1.156 billion (UAH 807.09 million a year ago).
According to a draft decision of the shareholders it is planned not to pay dividends for 2017.
As reported, in 2016, the mill saw an 89% rise in net profit, to UAH 233.13 million.
According to the report, current liabilities of the mill grew by 15% in 2017, to UAH 1.863 billion and noncurrent liabilities fell by 23.5%, to UAH 146.45 million.
Total bills receivable as of January 1, 2018 totaled UAH 790.22 million, increasing by 31.5%. Assets grew by 19.7%, to UAH 3.326 billion.
Net worth as of early 2018 was UAH 1.317 billion, including UAH 10 million of the charter capital.
Kyivsky cardboard paper mill is one of the largest cardboard and paper producers in Europe. It employs almost 2,200 people. It sells produce to almost 700 companies in Ukraine, some CIS member states and the rest of the world. In 2017, the mill saw a 14.8% rise in production from 2016, to UAH 4.224 85 million.
Kusto Agro plans to spend $800,000 on purchase of new agricultural equipment by July 2018. According to information on the group’s website, in particular, it plans to buy two Case Tiger Mate cultivators, two John Deere tractors, a Kinze seeder with additional equipment, trailers, sunflower harvesters.
“Every year we update and expand our machinery. The enterprise is not small, therefore we cannot completely renew the entire fleet of vehicles in one season. But we are gradually expanding it,” Director of Kusto Agro Farming Volodymyr Sery said.
“Kusto Agro is part of Kusto Group international holding (Singapore), which develops business in oil, energy, agricultural, construction and other industries. Kusto Group implements projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, Turkey, and Georgia.In Ukraine, the land bank of the company is 12,000 hectares and is located in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky regions. In addition, Kusto Agro owns three elevators with a total capacity of 90,000 tonnes.
