Ovostar Union Agro Group, one of Ukraine’s leading egg and egg products producers, cut egg production by 2% to 362 million eggs in the first quarter of 2023, but was able to significantly boost exports of products with a significant increase in prices compared to last year, according to an operational report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.
“Management has taken all steps to minimize the adverse effects on the current production situation, which made it possible to maintain production and sales at the prewar level,” Boris Belikov, the company’s CEO, said in the report.
According to him, the range of products and distribution channels have been reviewed and brought in line with current market needs, and in general, taking into account the circumstances, the results of the group in the first quarter of 2023 can be considered satisfactory.
It is pointed out that the number of laying hens decreased by 2% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to one year ago, including a 6.2% decrease to 7.12 million and 6.38 million laying hens, respectively.
Sales in the egg segment rose 4% to 241 million, including export sales jumped 3.9 times to 105 million, and their share rose from 11% to 44%.
The average price of eggs rose 56% to $0.139/egg during the reporting period, according to the report.
According to the report, the volume of processed eggs in Q1 2023 remained at the level of the previous year – 92 million eggs: 406 tons of dry and 3,073 thousand tons of liquid egg products were produced, compared to respectively 561 tons and 2,131 tons in the first quarter of last year.
Sales of dry egg products increased to 531 tons from 429 tons in the first quarter of 2022. Exports increased to 354 tons, or 67%, from 238 tons, or 55%.
Sales of liquid egg products rose to 3,063,000 tons from 2,182,000 tons, including exports of 1,291,000 tons versus 728 tons, increasing its share to 42% from 33%.
As with eggs, the average price of egg products for the year increased significantly: dry – by 32%, to $ 8.79 / kg, liquid – by 44%, to $ 2.66 / kg (all prices are excluding VAT).
Taking into account these sales figures and prices, the total revenues of the three product categories in the first quarter of this year can be estimated at $46.3 million, up 68.1% as compared to $27.6 million in the first quarter of last year.
The group’s holding company, Ovostar Union N.V. – in mid-June 2011, it floated 25% of its shares on the WSE and raised $33.2 mln. Its majority stake is owned by Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by its chief executive B. Belikov and chairman of the board Vitaliy Veresenko.
In 2022, Ovostar reportedly reduced egg production by 9% to 1.55 billion eggs and sales by 6% to 1.08 billion eggs.
Sales of dry egg products over the past year decreased by one-third to 2.13 thousand tons, liquid – by 26%, to 10.62 thousand tons.
