In a December report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) increased its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 2 million tons from November data to 17.5 million tons from 15.5 million tons, while its harvest forecast was reduced by 4.5 million tons, to 27 million tons from 31.5 million tons.
“Corn production in Ukraine has fallen sharply with a reduction in both the area under the crop and its yield, as the ongoing war and record fall precipitation have delayed the harvest in key producing regions: Poltava, Sumy and Cherkassy oblasts,” according to the report, which was released on the Agriculture Department’s Web site Friday.
In this case, an estimate of domestic corn consumption in Ukraine in 2022/2023 MY was reduced by 3 million tons, from 9.5 million tons to 6.5 million tons.
Also in the December report, the agency increased the forecast of food wheat exports in Ukraine in 2022/2023 MY by 1.5 million tons, to 12.5 million tons from 11 million tons, and an estimate of its yield saved at 20.5 million tons, and domestic consumption decreased by 1 million tons, to 4.5 million tons from 5.5 million tons.
In turn, the forecast of feed grain exports in Ukraine in 2022/23 MY is increased by 2 million tons, to 19.93 million tons, and its production is reduced by 4 million tons, to 34.96 million tons.
As was reported, Ukrainian agrarians harvested 68.52 million tons of the main crops from the total area of 16.75 million hectares by December 9, with 2.2 million tons harvested from 0.47 million hectares, including corn – 17.2 million tons from 2.8 million hectares (66% of cultivated area).
Since the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until December 2, Ukraine exported 18.08 million tons of cereals, including 9.66 million tons of corn (53.4% of total supplies), 6.87 million tons of wheat (38%) and 1.48 million tons of barley (8.1%).
Since the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until December 2, 2022, Ukraine exported 6.87 million tons of wheat (2.12 times less than the same period a year earlier), 1.48 million tons of barley (3.35 times less), 12 thousand tons of rye (6.9 times less). At the same time, the rate of corn exports was higher than last year: 9.66 million tons were exported, which is 1.62 times more than in 2021/2022 MY on the same date, while the export of flour amounted to 53.2 thousand tons (+2.1%).
Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agro-industrial groups, earned $161.59m in net profit in Q1 FY2023 (FY, July-September 2022), down 23.4% from the same period of the previous FY.
According to a financial report on the company’s Web site Saturday night, the agriholding’s revenue for the period fell 51.1 percent to $654.56 million.
Gross profit fell 47.6% to $173.34 million, operating income fell 42.5% to $142.47 million and EBITDA fell 40.1% to $168.38 million.
“Kernel attributed the decline in revenues to the low volume of grain exports, as well as the negative impact of lower sales of sunflower meal and oil.
In addition, the net loss from changes in fair value of biological assets was $2 million compared to a profit of $85 million in the first quarter of FY 2022.
“Shipping and handling costs accounted for 28% of cost of sales in July-September 2022, up 47% year-over-year and three times the previous quarter, reflecting sharply higher logistics costs in exporting goods from Ukraine,” the report states.
“Kernel clarified that the Oilseeds Processing segment’s contribution to EBITDA was $45 million, reflecting strong processing margins, while the Infrastructure & Trade segment’s EBITDA declined 35% year-over-year to $60 million. Agriculture EBITDA in Q1 2023FY was $82 million, down 61% from a year ago.
Net finance costs in the first quarter of 2023FY increased 31% YoY to $35 million, driven by higher debt on the group’s balance sheet: “Kernel has postponed repayment of principal due to the difficult liquidity situation caused by the war in Ukraine, the report says.
According to it, the net foreign exchange gain in the reporting period amounted to $58 million due to the depreciation of the hryvnia and the revaluation of intragroup balances.
Kernel net debt, according to the report, grew during the year by 48% – to $1.496 billion, while the ratio of net debt to EBITDA increased 12.7 times – to 13.9.
As reported, Kernel ended FY2022 with a net loss of $41 million compared to $506 million net profit in the previous fiscal year, while revenues decreased by 5% to $5.332 billion.
Four dry cargo ships carrying corn, wheat and sunflower meal left Ukrainian ports on Saturday, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reported.
“The four ships left Ukrainian ports on December 10, carrying a total of 143,480 tons of grain and other food under the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the report said.
Two dry-cargo vessels Patricia V (60 965 tons of corn) and Agios Nikolaos (33 thousand tons of wheat) are bound for Belgium.
Vessel Tina S will carry 30 015 tons of corn to Portugal. Vessel Inase will deliver 19.5 thousand tons of sunflower meal to Italy.
SKC noted that “the grain received at the destination can be processed and then transported to other countries.
Five dry cargo ships, which on Saturday passed through the maritime humanitarian corridor, are also on their way to Ukrainian ports.
“As of December 10, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 13,494,463 tons. A total of 1,079 vessels have been allowed to move so far: 540 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 539 to leave them,” the JCC reported.
About 3 thousand generators are already working in the medical system of Ukraine, said Deputy Minister of Health Alexei Yaremenko.
“We understand that there are mass outages. About 3 thousand generators are already working in the medical system now,” he said on the air of the National Telethon on Thursday.
At the same time, Yaremenko noted that “a huge amount of fuel, at least 1,600 tons per day,” is needed to provide the generators.
“Providing fuel is the responsibility of the hospital and local administrations. However, given that hospitals are classified as critical infrastructure, they are the first to be included (in the grid – IF-U) and it is done so that hospitals can be led as much as possible on a fixed power grid. If there is no light in the hospital, generators are turned on automatically or manually,” he said.
Yaremenko reminded that equipping surgical clinics with generators has been an obligatory condition for several years, in order to be contracted by the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) to participate in the Medical Assistance Program.
At the same time, Yaremenko specified that in the case of power outages, therapeutic patients who are not life-threatening will be advised to continue treatment at home.
At the meeting on December 9 the Government allocated additional 657 million UAH for grants under the project “eRabota”, including 398.5 million UAH – to create or develop processing enterprises and 203.7 million UAH – micro grants to create or develop own business under the program “Own business”.
“The development of processing is our strategic goal, we invest in this direction to produce and export more finished products with a greater share of added value”, – as quoted in the message of the Ministry of Economy on Saturday the words of First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko.
In addition another 54.8 million UAH in the specified amount are grants for the establishment or development of business for horticulture, viticulture and berry growing.
According to the estimates of the Ministry of Economy, as a result of the implementation of the grantees of their projects as a whole more than 2.5 thousand new jobs will be created.
As it has been reported, project “eRabota” includes 6 grant programs aimed at stimulating entrepreneurial activity. In particular, these are grant programs for starting or developing own business, grants for creating and developing processing enterprises, planting orchards and viticulture, greenhouse farming, support for IT start-ups and start-ups in IT sphere.
Both current entrepreneurs and people with no business experience can apply for a grant. Applications are accepted through the Diya Portal.
The Norwegian government has signed an agreement with the World Bank’s Eastern Europe Regional Office to allocate NOK 1 billion to the World Bank’s Trust Fund for the Revival, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reform of Ukraine, the Norwegian government press office said.
“There is an urgent need to repair the electricity system and other infrastructure in Ukraine after the Russian bombing of civilian facilities. I am glad that today we have signed an agreement to allocate 1 billion Norwegian kroner to carry out repairs quickly,” Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said.
It is noted that the World Bank is using the fund to further mobilize crisis support to the Ukrainian authorities along with support for critical infrastructure repairs and longer-term reconstruction.
“The World Bank is an organization that has proven to be effective and has quickly mobilized significant funds to help Ukraine. Channeling funding through the World Bank ensures that it will be used effectively and for the agreed purposes. It also guarantees that our efforts will be coordinated with those of other donors and the support we provide will have maximum impact,” said the Minister.
Norwegian funding will be used to provide grants from the World Bank offering flexible support for repair, rehabilitation and preparation for reconstruction of critical infrastructure facilities.
Earlier, Norway provided the government of Ukraine through the World Bank with a budget support of NOK 300 million. These funds were used to pay the salaries of medical personnel, teachers and public sector employees, as well as pensions and social benefits.
