The western cluster of Agro-Region agroholding will increase the area under corn by 61% in the 2025 production season compared to last year, to 3.5 thou hectares, which will be 36% of the unit’s land area, its press service reports.
The cluster’s head Yuriy Stepanchuk noted that winter wheat is expected to increase by 7% to 1.6 thou hectares (17% of the cluster’s total land bank), while winter rapeseed will be planted on 1.5 thou hectares (16%), up 9% from last year. The agroholding plans to reduce soybean plantings to 1.6 thou hectares (17%) and sunflower to 1.4 thou hectares (14%), which is 43% and 45% less than last year, respectively.
“The saturation of oilseeds in the past years, changes in agricultural prices and export opportunities return the company to the traditional structure of sown areas, which will allow us to effectively use crop rotation, available technical and human resources,” the cluster head emphasized.
Agro-Region owns a land bank of 39 thousand hectares in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies organized into four crop production clusters. It has two elevators: Boryspil with a capacity of 73 thousand tons and Myropil with a capacity of 52 thousand tons.
Agro-Region’s annual harvest of grains and oilseeds is up to 200 thousand tons.
In April 2021, the Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by the former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavičius, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to buy the Swedish Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages the Agro-Region group of companies in Ukraine.
The eurozone’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by 0.1% compared to the previous three months, according to a report by the European Union’s statistical office, which presented revised data. Previously, it was reported that GDP remained unchanged. Experts on average expected the previous estimate to be confirmed, according to Trading Economics.
In annual terms, the eurozone economy grew by 0.9%, the fastest pace since the beginning of 2023. The dynamics of this indicator coincided with the previous estimate and the consensus forecast of analysts.
In the third quarter, eurozone GDP increased by 0.4% compared to the previous three months and by 0.9% in annual terms.
In October-December, Germany’s economy declined by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, France’s by 0.1%, Spain’s by 0.8%, and Italy’s GDP remained unchanged.
In annual terms, Germany’s GDP also decreased by 0.2%, France’s by 0.7%, Spain’s by 3.5%, and Italy’s by 0.5%.
In the fourth quarter, the EU economy grew by 0.2% compared to the previous three months and by 1.1% in annual terms.
This is the second estimate of GDP dynamics for the fourth quarter out of three. The third estimate will be published on March 7. According to preliminary data, in 2024, the euro area’s GDP grew by 0.7%, and the EU’s by 0.9%.
Experts Club Analytical Center and Maksim Urakin released earlier video analysis about the economy of Ukraine and the world – https://youtu.be/LT0sE3ymMnQ?si=b_tVU8Zeg_-xZVEo.
Source: http://relocation.com.ua/vvp-yevrozony-v-iv-kvartali-zris-na-01/
The total amount of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion reached almost $170 billion as of November 2024, which is $12.6 billion more than at the beginning of 2024, the press service of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) reports.
According to analysts from KSE, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, and the Ministry of Economy, the housing stock, transport infrastructure, and energy sector suffered the greatest losses.
The housing sector remains the most affected, with direct losses estimated at $60 billion. As of November 2024, 236,000 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed, of which 209,000 were private houses, 27,000 were apartment buildings, and another 600 were dormitories. In regional terms, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kherson regions suffered the most damage, the study says.
Analysts estimate the losses of transport infrastructure at $38.5 billion. At the same time, more than 26 thousand kilometers of highways were damaged and destroyed, which is estimated at $28.3 billion. The losses of railroad transport amounted to $4.3 billion, port infrastructure – $0.85 billion, and the aviation industry – $2 billion. Direct losses to private passenger vehicles are estimated at $2.2 billion, with 260,000 cars destroyed or damaged.
Ukraine’s energy sector lost $14.6 billion. The attacks completely destroyed the Kakhovka and Dnipro hydroelectric power plants, Trypillia and Zmiiv thermal power plants, damaged or destroyed significant other generating facilities, as well as high-voltage substations and oil and gas infrastructure.
According to experts, the industry, construction, and service sectors suffered losses of $14.4 billion. Companies lost equipment, production facilities, and logistics capacities. As of November 2024, almost five hundred large and medium-sized private and state-owned enterprises were destroyed or seriously damaged.
The KSE estimated the losses of the agricultural sector at $10.3 billion. More than 130,000 units of agricultural machinery were lost, 4 million tons of grain storage facilities and 16,000 hectares of perennial crops were destroyed or damaged. The forestry fund also suffered significant losses: 298 thousand hectares of forests were damaged due to hostilities and fires, with losses estimated at $4.5 billion.
Losses to educational infrastructure are estimated at $7.3 billion. Over 4,000 educational institutions, including 229 schools, 110 kindergartens, and 97 universities, were damaged or destroyed during the full-scale invasion.
The healthcare sector lost $4.3 billion. Hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities were hit. A total of 1,554 medical facilities were damaged, including 515 hospitals and 465 outpatient clinics.
Cultural heritage, sports and tourist facilities were damaged to the tune of $4 billion. 3,921 cultural facilities, 399 religious buildings, and 343 sports complexes were damaged.
The housing and utilities sector lost $3.5 billion. 925 boiler houses, 214 central heating stations, and more than 354 kilometers of heating networks were severely damaged.
The digital infrastructure and telecommunications sector suffered direct losses of $1.2 billion. Internet networks, mobile radio networks and trunk communication lines were damaged. In the de-occupied territories, the destruction of networks sometimes reached 100%, and thousands of mobile base stations were destroyed, analysts summarized.
Saudi Arabia is interested in developing cooperation with Ukraine in the agricultural sector, according to Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval, who is on a working visit to the country as part of a Ukrainian government delegation.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on its website, representatives of the Ukrainian delegation held a meeting with Saudi businessmen, which was attended by more than 80 representatives of various business sectors interested in cooperation with Ukraine.
“I thanked them for their support of our country and for believing in its future despite everything. For example, Continental Farmers Group is a company with Saudi capital that already cultivates 200 thousand hectares of Ukrainian land. They are one of the top 10 largest taxpayers in the agricultural sector, having paid more than UAH 1.6 billion in taxes at various levels last year. And they are planning to expand their capacities. In particular, they plan to grow grain and potatoes in the western regions,” the Minister said.
Another example, according to him, is the Saudi company SALIC, which invested in one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings, MHP, acquiring 12.6% of their shares. In particular, the Minister discussed possible expansion of cooperation with the CEO of SALIC.
“I am pleased that the Saudi side sees the prospects for development in Ukraine. We discussed with them the possibility of cooperation in growing crops, veterinary medicine, and feed production. The business also expressed interest in jointly developing beef cattle breeding and organic products. We will continue to work,” the minister summarized.
President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with businesses in Rivne region on Thursday instructed the government to develop a program to compensate for the construction of dairy farms, according to the President’s website.
“During the meeting they discussed regulation of the timber market, efficient use of land and development of dairy farming. The President instructed officials to elaborate and solve these issues, as well as to develop a program of compensation for the construction of dairy farms,” – noted on the website of the Office of the President.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on February 3 approved the concept of the state targeted economic program for the development of livestock farming for the period up to 2033. According to the concept, the state targeted economic program of livestock development should meet the needs of the domestic market in safe and quality food products of animal origin; create progressive forms of entrepreneurial activity and organizational and economic conditions for the motivated development of the livestock industry.
It will, in particular, promote the development of farming, which will ensure further integration into the infrastructure of the agrarian market (increasing the share of livestock products production from farms in the category of enterprises up to 10%). In addition, the program will stimulate the development of capacities for processing of livestock products by increasing the volume of dairy raw materials for industrial processing up to 6 million tons.
It is expected that the set of measures proposed by the government will contribute to the stabilization and increase in the number of farm animals, in particular, by providing the livestock industry with pedigree (genetic) resources of Ukrainian origin: cattle – up to 50%, pigs – up to 50%, horses – up to 70%, sheep – up to 80%, goats – up to 50%, poultry – up to 50%, bees – up to 100%).
The concept of the state program is aimed at ensuring stable veterinary and sanitary condition, biological, infectious and invasive safety of livestock facilities and prevention of negative environmental consequences of production activities of livestock enterprises for handling animal by-products not intended for human consumption.
It also provides for the promotion of exports of livestock food products and the opening of new markets.
The concept envisages support for small and medium-sized producers, stimulating the consolidation and development on cooperative basis of farms and personal peasant farms, which can be the main ones for handicraft processing activities and organic production of products using direct channels of product sales.
As of February 14, Ukraine exported 27.275 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of 2024-2025 marketing year, of which 1.585 mln tonnes were shipped since the beginning of the current month, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of the same date last year, the total shipments amounted to 26.269 million tons, including 2.393 million tons in February.
In particular, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 11.464 mln tonnes of wheat (10.14 mln tonnes in 2023/24 MY), 2.106 mln tonnes of barley (1.507 mln tonnes), 10.8 thsd tonnes of rye (1 thsd tonnes), and 13.27 mln tonnes of corn (14.355 mln tonnes).
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of February 14 is estimated at 45.5 thsd tonnes (in 2023/24 MY – 70.6 thsd tonnes), including wheat – 42 thsd tonnes (66.9 thsd tonnes).
