KYIV. Nov 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – HarvEast agroholding plans to double investment in 2018.
“In 2017, we invested near $4 million. Next year it will be twice more. We will invest in a seed plant, irrigation and upgrade of fleet,” HarvEast CEO Dmytro Skorniakov said at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Forum in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that investment in the launch of the seed plant in Donetsk region would reach $4 million. The plant could be launched in August or September 2018.
In addition, the agroholding plans to expand irrigated areas to 5,000 ha in three or four years.
As reported, in 2017, the agroholding installed irrigation systems on 400 ha and in 2018 plans to install them on 700 more ha.
HarvEast Holding is building a seed plant with a capacity of 10 tonnes per hour. The plant will post-processing of seeds of leguminous and grain crops. Earlier the company had a seed plant, but it lost control over the enterprise due to hostilities in eastern Ukraine.
In 2017, HarvEast signed a cooperation agreement with Maisadour, the seed company.
Maisadour would provide parent sunflower lines for planting seeds to HarvEast. Then Maisadour will assign the number to the batch and process the seeds at own plant in Dnipropetrovsk region and then the seeds will be returned to HarvEast.
HarvEast’s core business is crop farming (growing wheat, sunflower, barley, perennial grasses, and corn) and dairy farming.
The holding was founded in 2011 on the basis of agricultural assets of Mariupol Illich Steel Works (Donetsk region).
Shareholders in HarvEast Holding are SCM and Smart-holding Group.
KYIV. Nov 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) has announced the launch of U.Ventures, a new fund focusing on investing in early-stage technology startups from Ukraine and Moldova.
U.Ventures will invest in early stage companies, from Seed to Series A, with investments ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.
WNISEF told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that at the first stage the fund will manage $5 million, although it is planned to expand it to $10 million.
“We founded U.Ventures to help ambitious startup teams navigate through the complex entrepreneurial journey from concept to significant shareholder value creation, working in a supportive and respectful manner as full lifecycle partners,” WNISEF President and CEO Jaroslawa Z. Johnson said.
According to the document, U.Ventures will back start-ups from Ukraine and Moldova that typically have a product with first traction, targeting large addressable markets, with a technology edge, driven by motivated teams with proven track record, and reputable co-investors.
To date U.Ventures has invested just over $2.3 million in 6 companies which are emerging leaders in their segments, quickly expanding into global markets.
Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) is a $150 million regional fund, a pioneer in Ukraine and Moldova. WNISEF was funded by the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Since its inception, WNISEF’s cumulative investments total over $168 million to 118 companies in Ukraine and Moldova.
In 2015, WNISEF has launched a $35 million legacy program focused on export promotion, local economic development, impact investing and economic leadership.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Antares launch vehicle (LV) designed and created in Ukraine used in the implementation of a NASA CRS-8 Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully launched from a launch pad in the United States.
The successful launch of the Antares LV with the Cygnus spacecraft, which was broadcasted on the NASA website, was carried out from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island (Virginia, the United States) at 14:14 Kyiv time. Initially, the launch was scheduled for Saturday, but was scrubbed at the last moment due to a plane in the hazard area.
The Cygnus spacecraft, which was launched into a near-earth orbit, will deliver about 3 tonnes of payload, supplies of food, scientific equipment to the ISS, and will also recycle waste from the ISS.
The basic structure of the first phase of the Antares rocket was designed by Pivdenne Design Bureau and made by Pivdenmash (both based in Dnipro). Ukraine’s Hartron-Arkos, Hartron-Ucom, Chezara (Chernihiv Plant of Radio Equipment), and Rapid are also involved in cooperation on the project.
This is the second launch of the upgraded Antares LV – Antares-230 with replaced engines of the first stage.
In October 2014, the launch to the International Space Station of a private cargo spacecraft, Cygnus, atop an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops flight facility in the state of Virginia ended in failure: the rocket exploded just seconds after the liftoff. The failure was traced to a fault in the first stage engines. After this, Orbital ATK decided to replace the first stage engine.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has begun a two-day visit to Ukraine and is set to meet with representatives of the Finance Ministry and agrarian business to discuss reforms in Ukraine.
“Right now we are starting with breakfast with representatives of agribusiness to discuss ways to increase productivity in the agricultural sector and the role of our country in global food security,” Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the president of the World Bank has many important meetings in the agenda, in particular, with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, as well as with Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy and the leaders of the parliamentary factions.
As reported, the World Bank in the announcement of the visit called one of the purposes of his visit confirmation of the World Bank’s support in order to accelerate economic growth. The bank said that meetings with representatives of civil society, private sector leaders, as well as parliamentarians to discuss ways to accelerate reforms in the areas of agriculture, health, pensions, energy, the banking sector and fighting corruption in Ukraine are also planned.
Together with Prime Minister Groysman Jim Yong Kim will take part in the special event titled “Ukraine: Innovations and Opportunities.”
The World Bank has recently approved the concept of partnership with Ukraine for 2017-2021, which should support the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable economic recovery.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in November downgraded its forecast for sunflower harvest in Ukraine in 2017 by 500,000 tonnes compared with the forecast in October, to 13 million tonnes.
According to a report on the website of the U.S. department, the forecast for sunflower oil production in the 2017/2018 marketing year (MY, September-August) was reduced by 194,000 tonnes, to 5.59 million tonnes, exports by 150,000 tonnes, to 5 million tonnes.
According to USDA forecasts, production of sunflower meal in Ukraine in the current season will amount to 5.369 million tonnes, its exports will stand at 4.5 million tonnes.
According to the estimates of the U.S. agency, in the 2016/2017 MY Ukraine supplied 5.85 million tonnes of sunflower oil to foreign markets with production being 6.35 million tonnes.
According to the State Statistics Service, Ukraine in 2016 increased sunflower harvest by 21.7% compared to 2015, to 13.6 million tonnes.
Ukraine is the world’s leader in production and export of sunflower oil.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Euroformat LLC plant (Kyiv), a large Ukrainian elevator manufacturer, has signed a contract with Trakcja PRKiI S.A. (Poland), a general contractor for the modernization of Polish Railway, the company has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“This contract is interesting, first of all, by the customer’s significance and coverage throughout the country. Elevators will be operated in difficult conditions, often outside the premises, which will actually allow testing their strength and emphasizing the reliability of equipment. We’ve started the first delivery of Euroformat lifts to the several stations of the E30 Zabrze-Katowice-Krakow track with the prospect of delivery to all platforms along this railway line, as well as in the E20 Warsaw-Poznan direction,” head of the commercial department of the plant Oleksiy Kramarenko said.
Today Poland for the company is the main export market. A representative office was created in this country in 2015, and this direction is actively developing.
Euroformat group of companies has been operating in the Ukrainian market for more than 15 years. It specializes in production of goods and services for residential and commercial construction. The structure is represented by its own research and development center, factories, assembly companies.
