Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has completed the autumn sowing campaign for the 2025 harvest, for which it has allocated 65 thousand hectares, the company’s press service reports on Facebook.
“According to operational data, the structure of winter crops is as follows: winter wheat – more than 46 thou hectares, winter rapeseed – more than 17 thou hectares, winter peas – 2 thou hectares,” the agroholding said.
At the same time, Astarta’s structural units continue the sugar beet harvesting campaign, the total area under which is 38 thousand hectares.
As reported earlier, the sugar production season in the agricultural holding started on August 24 at the plant in Vinnytsia region. At the end of August, two plants were launched in Poltava region, and in September – two more.
In 2023, the agricultural holding grew 39 thousand tons of sugar beet, up 20% from a year earlier, thanks to a record yield of 58 tons/ha, compared to 56 tons/ha in 2022, the company’s annual report said Wednesday evening.
According to the agricultural holding, the record high sugar beet harvest extended the processing period until the end of January 2024. In total, the sugar production campaign in 2023 lasted 130 days, compared to 111 days a year earlier.
“In the 2023-2024 marketing year, Astarta increased sugar production by 34% year-on-year to 377 thousand tons. At the same time, the volume of sugar beet processing in 2023 increased by 37% compared to the same period last year and reached 2.7 million tons. The market share remained unchanged at 21% in 2023.
In 2023, Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
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TAS Agro Agro Agro Holding has announced its intention to acquire the seed plant of Dmytrivske Grain Processing Enterprise (Chernihiv region).
According to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, as of November 12, 2024, TAS Agro LLC did not own ordinary registered shares of Dmitrievske Grain Processing Enterprise PJSC and had no affiliates.
The report specifies that TAS Agro LLC intends to purchase 135,440 ordinary registered shares, which is 100% of the company’s authorized capital.
As reported, the founder of the TAS Group of Companies (GC), Sergiy Tigipko, announced new business directions for the group: the purchase of a seed plant and an elevator with a storage capacity of 40 thousand tons, the construction of an apple processing plant and a railcar building plant.
Dmytrivske Grain Processing Enterprise was established in 2003, and its core business is warehousing, with a focus on growing grain crops, seed production, wholesale of grain, seeds and animal feed, and trucking.
According to Opendatabot, the company’s revenue in 2023 amounted to UAH 24.66 million, net profit – UAH 1.497 million, debt – UAH 53.458 million, assets were estimated at UAH 75.4 million, and the number of employees – 40. The authorized capital is UAH 13.544 million. Its beneficiaries in equal shares (50:50) are Vitaliy and Oleg Malysh.
TAS Agro was established in 2014. Its land bank includes 88 thousand hectares in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv regions. The holding specializes in crop production, with elevators with a capacity of about 250 thousand tons. The livestock business is represented by a cattle herd of 5.5 thousand heads, of which 2.5 thousand heads are dairy cattle.
According to the Opendatabot resource, the company’s revenue in 2023 amounted to UAH 2.588 billion, net profit – UAH 155.842 million, debt – UAH 1.2 billion, assets were estimated at UAH 1.8653 billion, and the number of employees – 129. The authorized capital is UAH 8 thousand.
The agricultural holding is part of the TAS group, which was founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
The founder of TAS and the beneficiary of TAS Agro is Sergiy Tigipko.
Sunflower prices increased last week and fluctuated in the range of 25-27.5 thsd UAH/t CPT, due to the activity of purchases and the amount of supply of raw materials on the market, according to the analytical cooperative “Start”, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. “A number of companies reported fairly good receipts of the oilseed, while some small enterprises suspended operations until the price situation on the market improved,” the analysts said. According to their information, prices for sunflower oil in the domestic market continued to grow, while prices for sunflower meal continued to decline significantly. Processors, trying to balance in such a situation, in some cases refused to sell the meal on the domestic market, while oil was offered at rather high prices, but left the market, they stated.
The portfolio of loan agreements concluded by state-owned Oschadbank with agricultural, food and processing companies in the large corporate business segment has tripled during the war and as of October 1, 2024, reached UAH 9.9 billion compared to UAH 3.3 billion in 2021, Yuriy Katsiyon, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the bank in charge of corporate business, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, the volume of agreements concluded to support enterprises in these segments among Oschad’s corporate business clients in 2024 amounted to UAH 1.4 billion, or 20% of the total volume of agreements concluded during this period.
“We finance companies that have suffered from military aggression, such as Nibulon. We financed the first military sowing season, setting an example for all other banks to start lending. As a result, we more than doubled our corporate loan portfolio among agricultural, food and processing companies in the year from 2022 to 2023, from UAH 4 billion to UAH 8.8 billion. As of October 1, 2024, this corporate business portfolio reached UAH 9.9 billion,” he said.
Mr. Katsion also said that Oschad’s share in financing businesses in all industries has reached 14% of the total market, which is the second place among Ukrainian banks. In addition, Oschad ranks second among all legal entities in financing in the agricultural business segment and food production. These loans account for UAH 23.7 billion, or more than 15% of the financial institution’s portfolio.
The Deputy Chairman of the Board added that the volume of concluded loan agreements in the agrarian, food and processing industries, food trade in the segment of large corporate business in 2021 amounted to UAH 0.87 billion, in 2022 – UAH 4.6 billion, in 2023 – UAH 11 billion, and in 2024 – UAH 4 billion. In total, during the war, Oschad provided almost UAH 20 billion in loan agreements for corporate business.
The number of Oschad’s clients in this segment reached 15 business groups or 30 companies. At the same time, more than 80% of them started borrowing from the bank for the first time during the war.
“Since the beginning of 2023, we have increased our market share by 1.5 times. This year alone, the growth is 4%,” summarized the Oschadbank’s corporate business manager.
According to the financial institution, the top five banks in agricultural financing are as follows: Raiffeisen, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, FUIB, and Credit Agricole Bank.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2024, Oschadbank ranked 2nd (UAH 425.75 billion) in terms of total assets among 62 banks in the country. The financial institution’s net profit for the first eight months of this year amounted to UAH 11.18 billion.
In January-October this year, Ukrainian enterprises reduced their consumption of rolled steel by 9.93% year-on-year to 2 million 617.7 thousand tons.
According to a press release from Ukrmetallurgprom, 1 million 35.7 thousand tons, or 39.25% of the domestic rolled steel market, were imported during this period.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in January-October 2014, steel companies produced 5.264 million tons of rolled steel (120.6% compared to the same period in 2023). According to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 3.682 million tons, or 69.9%, were exported. During this period, the share of exports amounted to 54.9% (2.398 million tons with a total rolled steel production of 4.365 million tons).
The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-October 2024 amounted to 46.31%, slightly higher than in January-October 2023 (44.87%). The share of flat products in exports is slightly higher than last year (39.35% and 37.07%, respectively). The share of long products is much lower – 14.34% versus 18.06%.
“In 10 months of 2024, the domestic market capacity amounted to 2 million 617.7 thousand tons of rolled steel, of which 1 million 35.7 thousand tons, or 39.25%, were imported. In January-October 2023, the domestic market capacity amounted to 2 million 906.4 thousand tons, of which 939.4 thousand tons, or 32.42%, were imported. Thus, for 10 months of 2024, there was a decrease in the domestic market capacity by 9.93% compared to 10 months of 2023, while the share of the import component increased by 6.83%,” the press release states.
The structure of imports for 10 months of 2024 is still characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products (79.50% and 18.93%, respectively). In January-October 2023, the dominance of flat products over long products was also significant (80.51% and 18.62%, respectively).
According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled steel products in January-October 2024 were the European Union (70.1%), Africa (11.1%) and the rest of Europe (7.6%).
Other European countries ranked first among metallurgical importers for the period under review (49.6%), followed by the EU-27 (28.2%), and Asian countries (20.4%).
As reported, Ukraine’s rolled steel market increased 2.19 times in 2023 compared to 2022, to 3 million 505.6 thousand tons. The company imported 1 million 118.6 thousand tons, or 31.91% of the domestic market for these products.
