KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – About 600 hectares have already been sown with spring crops in the southern regions of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food has said.
According to a press release, about 500 ha are sown with peas, 60 ha with barley and 40 ha with oats. All the regions are feeding winter crops.
According to preliminary data from the ministry, all the areas under agricultural crops for the 2017 harvest are 26.8 million hectares, which corresponds to the figure of 2016.
Grain crops in all categories of farms are to be sown on 14.4 million hectares. Spring crops are to be sown on 7.2 million hectares, in particular early spring cereals on 2.4 million hectares.
The ministry reported agricultural enterprises had already purchased 800,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (83% of the demand), 298,000 tonnes of diesel fuel and 70,000 tonnes of petrol, which is 74% of the demand for the period of the spring field work. The technical park of agricultural machinery includes 309,000 tractors and more than 50,000 harvesters. In the first month of 2017 agrarians acquired 341 units of machinery worth about UAH 320.5 million.
According to the information of the agrarian agency, administrative barriers that arose in part of seed certification have been completely eliminated.
KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Carlsberg Ukraine’s plants were loaded by 70% in 2016, Director General Yevhen Shevchenko said at a press conference in Kyiv.
“The loading last year was around 70%. This means that 30% of facilities of our three breweries in Lviv, Kyiv and Zaporizhia are idle,” he said.
Shevchenko said that this is linked to the reduction of the beer market in Ukraine.
“Production is falling. Yes, our market share grew by 0.3 percentage points in 2016 compared to the previous year, while the market fell by 7%. Loading could have been worse. In 2015, it was around 65%. We improved it thanks to cider and kvass. We see that the beer market is narrowing. We are trying to load production facilities of other market segments,” he said.
In addition, he hopes that after the indexation of the beer excise duty by inflation in 2016 (12%) the market would stop falling.
“It [market] is being stabilized at the level of the previous year. Thanks to the expected growth of non-beer brands the situation with loading could even improve. With loading of 70% there are no plans to shut down production,” he said.
Carlsberg Ukraine said that the company has three clients in China. Ukrainian beer is shipped there. Negotiations are being held with two more clients.
“Last year we shipped 30% of all our exported goods to China. We hope to increase the share thanks to attraction of new partners. We have been supplying [beer] to China for two years. Last year the shipments stirred up: 95% of beer bought in China is Lvivske 1715,” Shevchenko said.
The key exports markets for Carlsberg Ukraine is Moldova, Vietnam, India, Brazil and Canada.
“I can say that Africa has not yet been studied well,” he said.
According to the company, investment of Carlsberg Ukraine in 2016 grew by 21.8%, to UAH 245.4 million. The money were mainly invested into environment-friendly technologies, energy saving and retail equipment for selling beer.
“In 2017, we are looking for a breakthrough. Investment will be significantly larger than in 2016,” he said.
He said that the company does not plan to expand the imported products line. However, the company announced the launch of several new products both on the beer and non-beer markets.
According to AC Nielsen, the share of Carlsberg Ukraine of the cider market in kind was 59%, the kvass market – 43.9% and the beer market – 29.9%.
Carlsberg Ukraine is part of Carlsberg Group, one of the leading brewing groups in the world, whose products are sold in more than 150 countries.
KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Poland’s LPP Group, a large retail operator the RESERVED, Cropp, House, MOHITO and SiNSAY clothing brands, intends to lease at least 8,000 square meters of new space for new own stores in Ukraine in 2017.
“After crisis on the Ukrainian market we have a careful approach to our development. We stake on the development of our chain on the market conditions and flexible rental conditions. We plan to lease around 8,000 square meters of new space in Ukraine. We are holding talks about our presence in the following projects: Lavina Mall in Kyiv and Victoria Gardens Lviv,” LPP Group Spokesperson Marta Chlewicka told Interfax-Ukraine.
She said that at present Ukraine is fourth in the number of stores of LPP brands in the world (72 stores).
The company said that it has decided to strengthen its positions in Ukraine via development of an online shop.
“Products will be delivered from our logistics center in Poland, Pruszcz Gdanski,” she said, adding that the company wants to launch the online shop in H2 2017.
The shop would have products of all LPP brands – RESERVED, Cropp, House, MOHITO and SiNSAY.
LPP Group said that its revenue from sales in Ukraine in 2016 totaled PLN 255.55 million (around $55.19 million under current exchange rate).
According to its financial report, in 2015 sales revenue in Ukraine was PLN 188.363 million. Thus, the company saw an almost 20% rise in revenue in 2016.
Chlewicka also said that the share of revenue in Ukraine was 3.7% of total revenue in 2016.
According to a financial report of the company for Q4 2016, LPP Group wants to lease 107,800 square meters of new space, boosting its store space by 11.7%.
Earlier LPP Group said that the company intends to launch online sales of all own brands in Ukraine in 2017.
Online sales revenue in 2016 grew by 118% compared to 2015, and sales per square meter increased by 8%.
Total revenue grew by 18% in 2016, to PLN 2 billion.
LPP S.A. was founded in 1995. Its first store (Reserved) was opened in 2000.
As of February 2017, the company has over 1,700 stores in 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Investment of private joint-stock company Lantmannen Axa Ukraine in modernization of a breakfast cereal plant in Boryspil has reached $15 million since 2000.
“Since 2000 we have invested $15 million in modernization of our enterprise,” Lantmannen Axa Ukraine Director General Ihor Chervak told Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that Lantmannen Axa Ukraine acquired a porridge packaging line for the plant, and a new packaging line in 2014. The AXA crisp muesli line and the START flakes line were installed.
Lantmannen Axa Ukraine bought Boryspil Foodstuff Plant in 2000. Its annual breakfast cereal production capacity is around 7,000 tonnes.
The company’s share of the breakfast cereal market in Ukraine exceeds 50%.
“The [breakfast cereal] market is narrowing. According to Nielsen research company, last year it declined 9%. Competition on the market has increased. Retail chains started selling product under private label,” Chervak said.
He said that in 2014 Russian products were removed from Ukrainian shelves, while Polish and Turkish food occupied the share of the Russian products. In addition, duties on products from the EU are falling after the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement took effect. If before the Association Agreement the duties on breakfast cereal reached 20%, now they are 4-6%.
He said that the company could invest in bread business in Ukraine in the medium term outlook.
“The Ukrainian bread market is a hot-button issue. We looked at several bread businesses here earlier that we could buy, but we took a pause now,” he said.
The company has a wide range of foodstuff. Imported products of total sales in Ukraine are less than 10%.
Lantmannen Axa Ukraine is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Lantmannen with four business divisions: food, machinery, grain trading and energy division. The key facilities of Lantmannen are located in the EU. The company sells flakes and muesli under the AXA and START brands, AXA bars, Masha and Bear ready to eat breakfasts and Finn Crisp bread.
KYIV. March 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Insurance companies in Ukraine in 2016 increased OSAGO premium collection by 14.7% compared to 2015, to UAH 3.407 billion.
According to the website of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU), the number of OSAGO contracts for the past year increased by 3.3%, to 7.049 million.
According to the MTIBU, the total volume of insurance claim fee payments under internal insurance contracts for the year increased by 29%, to UAH 1.405 billion. Of these, UAH 151.688 million was paid using Europrotocols, which is 2.09 times more than in 2015.
The bureau also recorded an increase in the number of regulated claims for insurance compensation – by 20.6%, to 119,186, of which 20,487 using Europrotocols.
The Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine is the only association of insurers, conducting compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners for harm caused to third parties. The bureau members are 54 insurance companies.
KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Norway’s Scatec Solar is mulling construction of two solar power plants with the installed capacity of 60 MW in Ukraine, the press service of Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has reported.
The press service said that Deputy Energy and Coal Industry Minister Natalia Boiko and representatives of Scatec Solar discussed construction of solar power plants at a meeting on Tuesday.
Scatec Solar operates solar power plants with a capacity of 322 MW in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ruanda, Honduras and Jordan.
