The production seed complex of the international agricultural company Corteva Agriscience, which is located in the village of Stasi (Poltava region), has carried out the first export of seeds directly to Agrodairy, one of the largest agricultural companies in Azerbaijan.
According to a company press release, exporting finished products directly to a foreign producer is the first experience and, in the future, a new direction for the seed complex in Ukraine, which since its founding in 2013 has been focused on meeting the local needs of Ukrainian producers and the internal needs of the company.
“Until that time, seeds were exported internally to Corteva Agriscience European production sites, mainly to Romania and Italy, for further processing, packaging and sales by local teams,” the company explained.
Corteva plans to expand exports from Ukraine to other countries. In the future, the company also plans to export seeds to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and after introducing Ukraine in the list of countries from which it is allowed to import seeds to the European Union, to supply seeds to Europe.
Corteva Agriscience is a global agricultural company that offers farmers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields. The company has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active substances in the portfolio.
Corteva Agriscience in 2019 completed the separation from DowDuPont. Corteva Agriscience has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since June 2019 under the symbol CTVA.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 24
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia is interested in deepening its local content policy and plans to revise its investment program to support Ukrainian manufacturers.
The press service of Ukrzaliznytsia said that such plans were disclosed by member of the company’s board Frantisek Bures.
According to him, the company intends to reduce excess costs and non-core assets for this purpose. “This will free the required sources of funding and turn blocked assets into liquid ones. At the same time, the company’s investment program will be maximally refocused on cooperation with internal producers. Thus, the Ukrainian economy will receive not only the benefits of reliable logistics services provided by Ukrzaliznytsia, but also additional support,” the press service said in the statement, citing Bures.
Ukrzaliznytsia expressed the hope that as a result, the share of production of new locomotives, spare parts, key components, repair services and modernization projects on the basis of Ukrainian enterprises will increase. Deepening the level of the local content policy for investments will support the Ukrainian economy through employment growth, technological development and the introduction of innovative know-how.
Bures said that at present, the company makes extensive use of industrial products from internal manufacturers, in particular, welding structures, transformers, electric motors and equipment, gear structures and systems, axial pins and wheel sets, construction equipment, power electronics, control systems and radio engineering, traffic safety systems, airborne alarm and security systems, light and sound systems, fire protection systems, sensors, video and communication systems, cables and conditioning systems, accumulators and batteries, installation and commissioning works. The company also uses the testing and certification, warranty and after-sales services, and other services.
“Based on my long experience working with international and domestic manufacturers of rolling stock, I am absolutely convinced that Ukrainian manufacturers are able to meet the highest quality requirements,” he said.
Bures also said that in order to fulfill the order of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky regarding the promotion of investment and strengthening the protection of foreign investment in the country, the industry needs to get government’s strong support and clear rules of the game on the market. “It is necessary to adopt the national local content strategy for large national investment projects with transparent rules, calculations and a monitoring methodology. This will involve more foreign partners in investing in Ukraine, contributing to the creation of new jobs and the development of the national economy,” he said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 24/04/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups, in the third quarter of FY2020 (started in July 2019) cut sunflower oil sales by 2% year-over-year, to 380,900 tonnes.
According to an operations update posted on the website of the company, the share of bottled oil of total sales in January-March 2020 was 10% (39,000 tonnes).
Oilseeds crushing in Q3 FY2020 grew by 4%, to 940,650 tonnes, running crushing plants at full capacity.
The holding said that grain exports from Ukraine in January-March 2020 grew by 41%, to 2.15 million, including 35% of grain produced by company’s farming division, and the remaining was originated from external suppliers.
Export terminal throughput volumes in Ukraine reached 1.9 million tonnes in the reporting period, up 66% year-over-year, on the back of strong grain export volumes from Ukraine and increased contribution from new TransGrainTerminal. Grain and oilseeds received in inland silos fell by 65%, to 124,540 tonnes.
Kernel cut sunflower sails by 12% year-over-year, to 1 million tonnes. Sunflower crushing grew by 115, to 2.52 million tonnes. The company is progressing on the guidance to process 3.3 million tonnes of sunflower seeds for the whole FY2020.
In 9M of FY2020 grain exports from Ukraine grew by 30%, to 6 million tonnes.
According to the document, export terminal throughput volumes in Ukraine in 9M of FY2020 grew by 41%, to 4.82 million tonnes. Grain and oilseeds received in inland silos fell by 2%, to 4.12 million tonnes.
According to the pessimistic forecasts, the market for pet food may fall to 20% by the end of 2020, CEO of Kormotech Rostyslav Vovk said. “The experience of previous crises shows that according to the pessimistic scenario, the market for finished food in Ukraine can go down to 20%,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Vovk, in the field of animal care, the crisis becomes considerable in one and a half or two years after its beginning. He said that over the past five years, the food market for cats and dogs has grown by 15% annually. The market volume amounted to 122,000 tonnes in 2019.
“This year it will not grow in full size, but it will not go down significantly either, as feed is a product that is difficult to quickly replace (with another feed or food from the table). At the same time, we are predicting, based on the results of previous crises, that demand for keeping expensive pedigreed dogs and cats will decrease slightly. This means that kennels will become less involved in breeding and this will certainly lead to a decrease in feed consumption,” the CEO of Kormotech said.
According to him, the population will have significantly less money by the autumn, and if product prices begin to rise, pet owners can not only buy less, but also look for a cheaper alternative.
“Customers who generally preferred products of the economy segment are more likely to start buying less, adding water to dry and cereal to a wet diet,” Vovk said.
The CEO of Kormotech said that the demand for the company’s products grew by 30% in the second half of March, and as of the second week of April began to return to normal range.
“We assume that the owners of the animals made feed stocks in the same way as other products. In small retail outlets, usually located near residential buildings, sales grew by 30% (the share of this sales channel for our products was 15%), online stores by 45% (the share of this channel is 5%). Pet stores are key point of sale, showed an increase of 32% (the share of this channel is 55%),” Vovk said.
Kormotech exports products to about 20 countries, including France, Estonia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Poland. The facilities of the company include two plants for the manufacture of dry and wet pet food. The company produces products for cats and dogs under its own brands Optimeal, Club 4 Paws (Meow! and Woof! trademarks) and in private label.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
