In November 2023, Ukraine increased the soybean processing to the highest monthly volume since April 2020, which amounted to about 184 thsd tonnes, up 17% compared to October and 43% compared to November 2022, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“Despite the difficulties with the formation of the raw material base of the plants due to the fierce competition with exporters, the main incentive to increase the processing was the high demand for soybean meal on the foreign market,” the analysts said.
According to the report, Ukraine exported 160 thsd tonnes of meal in three months of 2023-2024 marketing year, up 45% compared to the same period of the previous season and the highest for September-November in the last four seasons.
The main importers of Ukrainian soybean meal were Poland with the share of 58% and Hungary with the share of 24%, according to APK-Inform.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has announced additional assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $175 million, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
The package will include air defense ammunition and artillery shells, additional ammunition for HIMARS, high-speed anti-radiation and anti-tank missiles, small arms ammunition, explosive ordnance to destroy obstacles, equipment to protect critical infrastructure, spare parts, support equipment, services, training, and transportation.
“Until Russia ends this war by halting its brutal attacks and withdrawing its troops from Ukraine, it is critical that the United States continue to lead the coalition we have built, consisting of more than 50 countries that stand firmly with Ukraine. If Congress does not act to approve the president’s request for additional national security funding, this will be one of the last security assistance packages we can provide to Ukraine,” the statement said.
The State Department emphasized that helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression and secure its future is in the interests of U.S. national security and promotes global stability around the world, “and we need Congress to act now.”
One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, Nibulon JV LLC (Mykolaiv), plans to continue the reform of agricultural production in 2024, develop a de-mining unit, modernize its agricultural machinery fleet for $20 million, logistics for $14 million, and elevators for $12 million, said Andriy Vadatursky, CEO of the agricultural holding.
“Next year is the year of implementing the strategies we have developed. We have to achieve greater efficiency in all areas and comprehensively modernize the company. This will allow our people to receive higher salaries and the company to strengthen its competitiveness – both its own and the industry’s in the global market,” he wrote on Facebook on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of Nibulon’s foundation.
According to the CEO of the agricultural holding, as part of the agricultural production reform, the company will continue to develop conservation tillage technologies, introduce automation and stabilize relations with landowners.
Mr. Vadatursky noted that the agricultural holding managed to return more than 4,000 hectares of land in Mykolaiv region to operation this year thanks to the launch of a new humanitarian demining unit. “Nibulon expects to receive four demining vehicles, which is facilitated by DEG Impulse gGmbH. The sappers trained by the agricultural holding will not only clear the land bank owned by Nibulon, but will also provide services to everyone.
According to him, the $20 million received from the Danish Export Investment Fund (EIFO) will be used to purchase Claas, Horshch, Hardi, Bednar, etc. agricultural machinery.
Almost $14 million has already been allocated to modernize the agricultural holding’s logistics, which has helped to upgrade the fleet and develop the port infrastructure.
As the war forced Nibulon to reorient its export chains due to the loss of river navigation, the grain trader increased the share of grain transportation by trucks. For this purpose, the company purchased 74 new Scania trucks, STAS trailers, as well as new fuel trucks and tanks.
The port infrastructure of the Bessarabian branch was strengthened by two new Liebherr reloaders, which allow for additional transshipment of up to 1000 tons of grain per hour and will be used in other logistics models of the company.
“Thanks to the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine project, Nibulon has expanded its railroad fleet with 50 hopper cars built at Karpaty.
“The bulk of the investments will be directed to the construction of a new elevator at the Khmelnytskyi branch, reconstruction of Vradiyivskyi and Kolosivskyi elevators. In addition, Nibulon is planning to improve the automated control system of elevator complexes,” Vadatursky said.
According to him, a new SCADA software solution will be created on the basis of the existing system to ensure a continuous, transparent and controlled technological process. This will allow receiving data in real time, saving resources, increasing staff productivity and, accordingly, their salaries.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, a one-time storage capacity of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses from Russia’s full-scale military invasion have reached $400 million. The grain trader is currently operating at 30% of capacity and has set up a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines.
ProZorro.Sale JSC became a finalist for the IAM Asset Management Excellence Awards 2023 and was named one of the world’s six best projects working with the digitalization of asset management, it was announced during the annual official award ceremony held by The Institute of Asset Management (IAM) in London on December 4.
As noted in the release of the state-owned company on Tuesday, the finalist organizations demonstrated the application of the best principles and approaches in asset management, adapted to digitalization trends, and their projects were a response to business and consumer requests.
The IAM is an international non-profit organization that has been bringing together asset management professionals since 1994. The Institute recognizes projects and innovative achievements in asset management in the face of modern challenges. The IAM Asset Management Excellence Awards annually honor projects around the world that innovate in asset management in the face of modern challenges.
It is specified that Prozorro.Sale JSC, which administers the state electronic trading system, which hosts online auctions for the sale of public assets, reached the final in the Digital Innovation category. In the final in this category, ProZorro.Sale competed with projects and companies from Spain and the United Kingdom. The winner in this category was a project to improve the efficiency of asset management by Transport Scotland.
“More than seven years ago, with the launch of public online auctions in the Prozorro.Sale electronic trading system, the state began to change the approaches and principles of public asset management. During this time, transparent and open e-auctions have become an effective tool for the state and communities, which have already brought more than UAH 80 billion to the budgets of various levels, and opened up opportunities for businesses to obtain resources for development, including during martial law,” commented First Vice Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
According to her, the inclusion of the Ukrainian IT solution – the state electronic trading system Prozorro.Sales – in the world’s best in the Digital Innovation category of the prestigious IAM Asset Management Excellence Awards is evidence that it is impossible to achieve results in asset management without digitalization.
“Being among the top 6 best projects in the world is a great responsibility for us, for the entire ProZorro.Sale ecosystem, which includes both ProZorro.Sale JSC and platforms, organizers and bidders. Amid the war, we are more than ever determined to continue working on improving the system and increasing the efficiency and transparency of asset sales in even more markets,” said Serhii But, CEO of ProZorro.Sale.
The company reminded that in 2022, the state electronic trading system ProZorro.Sale was recognized as the best public service by the most prestigious UN Public Service Awards. The administrator of the system, Prozorro.Sale JSC, guarantees the security of electronic auctions, the impossibility of interference in their course and equal access of each participant to participate in the auction, the release emphasizes.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (hereinafter – the VRU) is considering Draft Law #5420 “On Amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine on Criminalization of Smuggling of Goods” dated 04/23/2021 (hereinafter – Draft Law #5420). The above draft law is currently being prepared for the second reading.
Adoption of the Draft Law No. 5420 without its finalization and without taking into account the comments expressed by the business community may harm law-abiding businesses, which today face significant problems when exporting and importing goods due to the blocking of Ukraine’s borders and the inability to carry out transportation by other means than land.
During the previous stages of consideration of Draft Law #5420 in the Parliament, Chamber Member Companies’ experts repeatedly provided comments and suggestions to the text of the document. The Chamber Member Companies’ experts are grateful to MPs and members of the relevant VRU Committees for taking into account some of the proposals of the business community (in particular, removing the article on “False Declaration of Goods” from the Draft Law #5420). At the same time, the business community reiterated its proposal to supplement the sanction of the proposed article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hereinafter – the CCU) with provisions on mandatory confiscation and destruction of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products that are smuggled. In addition, the Chamber Member Companies’ experts strongly oppose the wording of Article 201-3 of the CCU “Smuggling of Goods” (regarding non-taxable goods) contained in Draft Law #5420.
The Chamber Member Companies unequivocally support the government’s intentions to combat illegal schemes in customs clearance of goods, in particular, if the subject of the offense is excisable goods. Since tax revenues from excisable goods, in particular, help to fill the State Budget during the ongoing war, it is crucial to effectively combat illegal import of such products into Ukraine. In addition, the illegal export of excisable goods from Ukraine damages the reputation of our country in relations with international partners. For example, according to a recent study by KPMG, Ukraine is the second largest supplier of illegal tobacco products to the European Union (EU) market. At the same time, criminal liability for smuggling excisable goods is enshrined in the EU legislation.
At the same time, the introduction of criminal liability for smuggling of non-excisable goods in the wording proposed by the draft law will not only not contribute to the effectiveness of combating the shadow economy, but will, on the contrary, lead to numerous corruption risks and prerequisites for abuse by regulatory and law enforcement agencies, as well as illegal pressure on legally operating businesses.
In particular, the legal construction of the objective side of the crime of “moving goods across the customs border of Ukraine outside customs control or concealed from customs control” is an outdated norm of the USSR, and is also extremely vague, in fact allowing the registration of criminal proceedings in any disputable situations arising during customs control (including in the absence of criminal intent, as the current version of the draft law does not provide for an intentional form of guilt in smuggling).
Representatives of the business community sent numerous letters to MPs and public authorities asking them to substantially revise Draft Law No. 5420 and hold thorough discussions with business and experts.
The American Chamber of Commerce calls on MPs to finalize Draft Law #5420 and remove the proposed wording of Article 201-3 of the CCU “Smuggling of Goods” or significantly change the wording of the description of the objective side of the crime, providing that criminal liability is incurred exclusively for intentional customs fraud committed with the purpose of evading customs duties or avoiding non-tariff regulation.
This year, Ukrainian agrarians grew 81 million tons of gross grain harvest, which is 5-6% of global production, said Mykola Gorbachev, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA).
“Ukraine is located on such soils that we depend on weather factors more than on technology. Although technologies in Ukraine have advanced over the past 20-30 years, and we have grown 100 million tons of grain, which we used to grow 30 million tons. This year, we were lucky with the weather – yields for all crops were above average. We got a record yield for each of the crops,” he said at the Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to the UGA president, this allowed the country to compensate for the loss of 6 million hectares of arable land that is currently under occupation and on the front line and is not cultivated by farmers.
“The world produces more than 2.5 billion tons of grain, of which Ukraine has grown more than 80 million tons this year. If we look at grain trade in absolute terms, Ukraine accounts for about 5-6%. This is a serious impact (on the global market – IF-U),” Gorbachev emphasized, adding that this share of grain production does not allow Ukraine to control the global market.
He reminded that farmers do not depend on the volume of production, but on the prices for it, and expressed hope that the 2023-2024 marketing year will allow for further equalization of world prices and Ukrainian farmers will not be at a loss.
As reported, this season winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thou hectares (-834 thou hectares compared to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thou hectares (-255 thou hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thou hectares (+110 thou hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including 57.5 mln tons of grains and 21.6 mln tons of oilseeds.
On November 3 this year, the UGA updated its estimate of the potential harvest in 2023, increasing it to 81.6 mln tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which is 10.6% more than in 2022, when 73.8 mln tonnes were harvested.
