The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine has initiated an unscheduled internal audit of the state enterprise Ukrliktravy, the ministry reported on its website on Monday, October 26.
“On the basis of an official investigation, information about the unsatisfactory financial and economic condition of the enterprise, as well as in connection with the improper performance of his official duties, head of the state enterprise Ukrliktravy Andriy Vlasenko was dismissed,” the report says.
The total tax debt of the enterprise exceeds UAH 12 million, all accounts are blocked, the ministry added.
“As of October 26, 2020, the company has not submitted reports to the tax authorities for VAT and single social security tax,” the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture said.
The state enterprise did not submit financial plans for 2020 and 2021, which is a gross violation. In addition, there is no reporting for the second quarter and the first half of this year, the ministry said.
“Also, during the inspections, it was revealed that the company is not actually located at the legal address. There is no staff (there is no legal, financial, personnel and other services). Along with this, there is the urgent problem of harvesting maize and soybeans, which due to weather conditions remain unharvest and carrying out a complex of autumn field work,” the ministry added.
The state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt increased net profit 1.6 times, up to UAH 28.1 million, in January-September 2020 compared to the same period last year.
According to acting director of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt Serhiy Bleskun, alcohol production increased by 19.6% up to 4.72 million decaliters in the nine months this year.
“We have a great trend since 2019, but the pace in the third quarter has slowed down. This was influenced by such objective factors as demonopolization (since July 1, buyers can buy alcohol from other state-owned producers) and the rise in the price for raw materials such as maize and wheat. This led to deterioration in profitability in the third quarter,” Bleskun wrote.
He also noted that over the past two weeks, the State Property Fund (SPF) has privatized three objects of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt totaling almost UAH 160 million.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on December 11, 2019 signed a law on the abolition of state monopoly on alcohol production from July 1, 2020, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 3, 2019.
The State Property Fund expects to attract about UAH 2 billion from the privatization of alcohol producers of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt and the concern Ukrspyrt. The first auction is scheduled for October 15, 2020.
The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) has revised downward the forecast for the corn harvest this year from 32 million tonnes to 29.4-29.5 million tonnes under the optimistic scenario due to unfavorable weather conditions during July-August, and also taking into account the situation with harvesting in September and October in a number of regions of Ukraine.
According to a message from UCAB on Wednesday on Facebook, about 13 million tonnes of corn have already been harvested with an average yield of 5.18 tonnes per ha, in some regions corn has already been harvested from more than 50% of the sown area.
“Usually, farmers start harvesting first from less productive fields, so there is some hope, as well as statistical confirmation from the example of last year, when at the end of the harvest, the yield increases slightly. By the end of field work, according to optimistic forecasts, an average yield of 5.75 tonnes per ha is expected,” UCAB said.
According to the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, unfavorable conditions have developed almost throughout the entire territory of Ukraine, however, the greatest reduction in the expected yield occurred in Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Kirovohrad and a number of southern regions. As a result of dry conditions and a lack of moisture in the soil, premature drying and maturation of plants is observed. During field surveys, insufficient fullness and relatively small sizes of corn ears are often detected.
UCAB’s expectations for the sunflower harvest have been reduced to 12.2 million tonnes from the forecast of 13.6 million tonnes in early September. According to calculations, the average yield is 2.2 tonnes per ha. The largest decline was due to the southern regions, where the production of this oilseed is focused, as well as the central ones.
According to UCAB, soybeans also suffered significantly from unfavorable conditions, so its gross yield is expected to be only 2.7 million tonnes, which is 30% less than last year. This significant decrease occurred, among other things, due to a decrease in the area under crops from 1.6 to 1.3 million hectares.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of October 29
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukraine exported 15 million tonnes of grains and legumes since the beginning of the new 2020/2021 marketing year (July-June) and as of October 26, which is 2.94 million tonnes less than on the same date of the last MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, 10.11 million tonnes of wheat (less by 810,000 tonnes), 3.3 million tonnes of barley and 1.54 million tonnes of maize (less by 2.05 million tonnes) have been exported.
As of October 26 of this year, 60,000 tonnes of flour were exported as well.
As reported, Ukraine exported record 57.2 million tonnes of grains, legumes and flour in the 2019/2020 marketing year, which is 13.5% more than in the previous marketing year.
