On Wednesday in Istanbul, at the negotiations on navigation in the Black Sea, a meeting of Ukrainian and Turkish representatives will first take place, and then an expanded meeting between Ukraine, Turkey, the UN and Russia. This was announced by Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak in a Telegram channel.
“Unblocking Ukrainian ports is one of the key components of global food security. We need to do this as soon as possible. We believe that the issue of unblocking Ukrainian grain exports should be resolved under the auspices of the UN. Secretary General António Guterres is involved in this process, we are grateful to him for this,” Yermak said.
He said “the strong position of our military in the Black Sea will allow the return of safe navigation of ships, which is also important for ensuring the protection of national and regional security. This is a priority for Ukraine. This will restore the export of Ukrainian grain and ensure the food security of the world.”
According to him, a round of negotiations on navigation in the Black Sea will be held tomorrow in Istanbul. “A meeting of Ukrainian and Turkish representatives is planned there. After that, an expanded meeting will be held between Ukraine, Turkey, the UN and Russia, at which the issues of the functioning of sea corridors for grain exports should be discussed. For Ukraine, the issue of security is a key one. I will tell you the details in due course,” the head of the President’s Office said.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-June this year reduced production of general rolled products, according to recent data, by 58.4% compared to the same period last year, to 4.018 million tonnes.
According to the Ukrmetalurgprom association, for the first six months of the year, steel production decreased by 58.2%, to 4.539 million tonnes, and cast iron by 57.9%, to 4.538 million tonnes.
Earlier, Ukrmetalurgprom reported that Ukraine in January-May of this year reduced production of general rolled products by 52.7%, to 3.789 million tonnes, steel by 52.8%, to 4.244 million tonnes, and cast iron by 53.3%, to 4.154 million tonnes.
In the first quarter of this year, the country reduced production of general rolled products by 34.2%, to 3.116 million tonnes, steel by 31.2%, to 3.641 million tonnes, and cast iron by 34.1%, to 3.499 million tonnes.
It was also reported that Ukraine, as of February 24, 2022 (the beginning of Russian military aggression), over less than two months of this year, reduced production of general rolled products by 9.2% compared to the same period last year, to 2.859 million tonnes, steel 8.2%, to 3.225 million tonnes, and cast iron by 10.7%, to 3.132 million tonnes.
Then it was explained that in connection with Russian military aggression, all the country’s metal enterprises were stopped and transferred to the “hot conservation” mode.
The French company Matiere will hand over 36 lightweight bridges to Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
“Together with the French government and the federation of French industrialists MEDEF, we have agreed to transfer to Ukraine 36 easily assembled bridges from 23 to 46 meters long from the Matiere campaign. These structures can quickly replace the destroyed Ukrainian bridges, and subsequently replace them on a permanent basis,” Kuleba said on online briefing on Wednesday.
According to him, the French company Matiere has many years of experience in the rapid deployment of bridge crossings for road and rail transport, especially in countries where the war has destroyed infrastructure.
“Already on July 25, the company’s engineers will arrive in Ukraine and conduct a joint assessment mission with the engineers of Ukravtodor. Potentially, the company is considering the possibility of deploying the production of these bridge crossings in Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
Farmers of Bila Tserkva and Fastiv districts of Kyiv region have started harvesting grain crops this year, according to the website of Kyiv Regional Military Administration.
According to it, by July 12, some 6,800 tonnes of grain and leguminous crops have already been harvested in the region from an area of 2,420 hectares with an average yield of 28.1 centners per hectare. As for crops of winter barley, 4,600 tonnes have been threshed, peas – 2,200 tonnes.
In addition, the harvesting of winter rapeseed has begun, of which 7,200 tonnes have already been harvested with an average yield of 24 centners per hectare.
The local authorities clarified that in 2022 it is planned to harvest early cereals and legumes on a total area of 271,300 hectares, including winter and spring wheat – 203,300 hectares, barley – 50,300 hectares, rye – 10,800 hectares, oat – 2,900 ha and peas – 4,000 ha.
Foreign exchange earnings from the export of agricultural products from Ukraine from March to May, during the three months of the war with the Russian Federation, are approximately comparable to the export figures for one pre-war month, Minister of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine Mykola Solsky said in an interview with AgroPolit.
According to him, in January 2022, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $3.14 billion, in February – $2.54 billion, in March – $0.84 billion, in April – $0.9 billion, and in May – $1.21 billion.
“We see that foreign exchange earnings from the agro-industrial complex during the war fell threefold … That is, in March-May, agricultural exports amounted to $ 2.95 billion, while this was the traditional amount for one month (before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – IF-U)”, Solsky emphasized.
As reported with reference to the Deputy Minister of Economy – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Ukraine in the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY) exported 61.52 million tons of grain and oilseeds worth $22.2 billion.
According to him, wheat exports amounted to 18.7 million tons worth $4.8 billion, corn – 23.54 million tons worth $5.8 billion, barley – 5.74 million tons worth $1.3 billion.
Kachka added that the export of 4.3 million tons of sunflower oil brought $5.8 billion, 3.4 million tons of sunflower meal – $960 million tons and 421 thousand tons of soybean meal – $230 million.
According to him, 1.1 million tons of soybeans for $641 million, 2.7 million tons of rapeseed for $1.7 billion and 1.09 million tons of sunflower seeds for $616 million were also exported.
AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, EARNINGS, EXPORT, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, PRODUCTS
Agro-industrial group of companies “Ovostar Union”, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, intends to refuse accrual and payment of dividends for 2021, and direct retained earnings for this period in the amount of $1.65 million to replenish working capital funds.
The company’s shareholders are invited to approve such a distribution of profits at the annual meeting on August 3, according to Ovostar’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
In addition, shareholders of the agro-industrial group are invited not to pay remuneration to members of its board of directors for 2021, as well as to call a tender to select an audit company for the preparation of the company’s financial statements for 2022.
The Ovostar Union group of companies is a vertically integrated public holding company, one of the leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products in Europe. The manufacturer has been a certified exporter to EU countries since 2015.
The holding company of the group is Ovostar Union N.V. in mid-June 2011, it held an IPO of 25% of the shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and raised $33.2 million. The majority stake in the company is owned by Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by its CEO Boris Belikov and chairman of the board of directors Vitaly Veresenko.
At the end of 2021, Ovostar received $1.65 million in net profit, which is 38% less compared to 2020. Its EBITDA fell 29% to $5.7 million, while revenue increased 35% to $133.3 million.
