KYIV. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in June 2017 improved its forecast for corn yield in Ukraine in the 2017/2018 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 500,000 tonnes compared to the May forecast, to 28.5 million tonnes.
According to a report on the website of the U.S. department, the forecast for corn exports was also raised by 500,000 tonnes, to 20.5 million tonnes.
The USDA maintained the forecast for wheat exports from Ukraine in the 2017/2018 MY at the level of 14.5 million tonnes with the yield being 25 million tonnes, which corresponds to the figures published in May.
In general, the U.S. agency improved the forecast for grain production in Ukraine by 500,000 tonnes, to 62.29 million tonnes, exports by 500,000 tonnes, to 38.81 million tonnes due to the growth of corn figures.
As reported, Ukraine since the beginning of the 2016/2017 MY and as of June 8, 2017 had exported 41.667 million tonnes of grain.
Grain harvest in Ukraine in 2016, according to the State Statistics Service, amounted to about 66 million tonnes.
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Canada’s Earth Alive Clean Technologies has gained registration in Ukraine for the sale of its organic and patent-pending biofertilizer, Soil Activator®.
“The registration process was challenging, but Ukraine is a strategic starting point for Earth Alive in Eastern Europe. It has enormous potential for agricultural growth, and actively seeks to expand its productivity in sustainable ways,” the company said in a press release citing Director of Business Affairs for Earth Alive Miguel Monroy.
According to the report, Ukraine has 32.5 million hectares in arable crops, which benefit from the country’s rich soil resources. The main crops are wheat, sunflower and corn, and a significant 800,000 hectares are dedicated to fruit and vegetable production.
Earth Alive’s Chief Agronomist Simon Neufeld said that Soil Activator® has a proven track record of increasing production and economic returns in a broad range of field and horticultural crops, including corn. Ukraine is perfectly positioned to benefit from Soil Activator® as the country seeks to expand its agricultural output while protecting its soil and water resources, he said.
Initial commercialization and distribution in Ukraine is underway, and product has been shipped to the region. Farm applications have already begun for the current growing season, including on-farm commercial tests in corn by a very large Ukrainian agroindustrial company.
“Registration in Ukraine gives Earth Alive new visibility in the European market, and begins the company’s expansion in this dynamic region,” Chief Executive Officer Michael K. Warren said.
Earth Alive aims to be a key player in world markets of environmentally sustainable industrial solutions. The company works with the latest innovations in microbial technology to formulate and patent innovative products that can tackle the most difficult industrial challenges, once only reserved to environmentally harmful chemicals and additives.
ASTANA. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kazakhstan is holding talks with Ukraine’s Fuhrlaender Windtechnology (FWT, Kramatorsk, Donetsk region) to arrange expansion of a wind farm project in Ereymentau to 300 MW, charge d’affaires of Ukraine ad interim in Kazakhstan Volodymyr Dzhydzhora has said.
“They [Fuhrlaender Windtechnology] are holding talks with Kazakh partners to expand this project to 300MW production… There is the decision. It should be put on paper,” he told reporters last week in Astana.
The diplomat said that during the first business project the Ukrainian company installed a wind farm with a capacity of 45 MW in Ereymentau. A total of 22 WTU2.0 wind turbines with a capacity of 2.05 MW each were installed.
Fuhrlaender Windtechnology is the only Ukrainian producer of modern wind turbines. It is engaged in construction of wind farms. The company produces turbines at the site of Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant. During the period from 2010 to the present time Fuhrlaender Windtechnology has built (using its own equipment) seven wind farms in Ukraine and one wind farm in Kazakhstan.
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sugar exports from Ukraine since early 2016/17 agricultural year (September-August) totaled 732,000 tonnes, the Ukrtsukor national association of sugar producers has reported.
The association said in a press release that in May Ukrainian companies exported 48,400 tonnes of sugar (33% down on April).
“In May sugar exports almost halved compared to April, as the global price fell. According to our estimates, further supplies of sugar this agri-year will be small,” Head of the analytical department of the association Ruslana Butylo.
Largest batches in May were shipped to Togo (15,000 tonnes), Turkey (8,800 tonnes) and Gambia (8,000).
The association said that sugar beets were sowed on 310,000 ha in 2017 (6% more than a year ago).
Ukrtsukor anticipates that sugar production in 2017/18 agri-year will be left unchanged compared to the previous year, being some 2 million tonnes. Bad weather in April and May could affect the sugar beets yield.
Exports of sugar in the new season could be some 500 tonnes with the domestic market consumption of 1.5 million tonnes.
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The project on construction of a breakwater pier for a container terminal at the Quarantine Mole of the Odesa seaport will be completed by 2021.
According to a report of subsidiary Container Terminal Odesa of Germany’s HHLA International GmbH, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany Rainer Bomba said at the conference entitled “Development of German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Southern Ukraine” last week.
He also said that the German government decided to provide some EUR 50-60 million to Ukraine to implement the project and important political decisions are to be made to finish the project by no later than 2021.
President of International Federation of Consulting Engineers VBI Cornelius Volker said that the German government in the person of Bomba asked the association to help to settle the issue of restoring the breakwater pier at the Quarantine Mole of the Odesa seaport.
“We are seeking to do our best to have the pier completed by 2021,” he said.
Director General of Container Terminal Odesa Anastas Kokkin said that thanks to support of Germany the project that had been frozen for two and a half years has made a new start.
Head of Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Raivis Veckagans also pointed out the important of finishing this project.
“At the end of May we signed supplementary contracts to the investment contract on construction of the pier. The completion of the Quarantine Mole project would boost capacities for handling containers, create new jobs and increase payments to the country’s budget. Ukrainian Sea Port Authority as a state-owned company is ready to join the search for funds to develop the sector and implement not only this but also other projects,” he said.
Container Terminal Odesa is a subsidiary of HHLA International GmbH. It is part of HHLA AG (Hamburg).
Since 2010 the company has been building a new container terminal jointly with Ukrainian Sea Port Authority.
The Quarantine Mole project would expand the handling capacity of the port by 600,000 TEU a year. It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the Ukrainian marine transport sector. Investment exceeds UAH 5 billion. Construction was started in April 2010. In September 2014 first two container vessels were handled in the test mode. In 2016, around 40% of all container flows were handled by Container Terminal Odesa at new berths of the Quarantine Mole.
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, plans in 2017 to attract about $250 million for projects in Ukraine, which is significantly higher than the figure of 2016, Jason Pellmar, who from June 1, 2017 was appointed head of the IFC regional office in Belarus and Ukraine, has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We plan in June and over the next two or three months to invest and raise funds in the amount of about $150 million to support new projects and new customers. I think in general over 2017 we will reach a figure of about $250 million,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Pellmar noted Ukraine is an important country for the IFC in the region. Now its economy is starting to recover and more projects appear the corporation would like to support as they are important for the long-term growth and the development of the country. As an example, he cited the agreement signed in March this year to provide $37 million for building the MV Cargo grain terminal.
According to him, the volume and specifics of IFC projects, as a rule, depend on the demand in the market, therefore in the previous several years the corporation focused on supporting the existing customers, for example, prolonged partial loan guarantees for Raiffeisen Bank Aval and Bayer, issued credit lines to replenish working capital to Astarta and Nyva Pereyaslavschyny.
