State-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has launched a preferential lending program for agrarians for the 2023 sowing season to purchase seeds, plant protection products, microfertilizers and machinery from Spectrum-Agro LLC (Obukhiv, Kyiv region).
According to the press service of Oschadbank, farmers will be able to purchase agricultural machinery on credit at 5% and 9% per annum for working capital replenishment of up to UAH 90 million under the government program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%”.
Microfertilizers, plant protection products and soybean seeds produced by Spectrum-Agro can be purchased at a rate of 0.01% per annum for up to UAH 20 million with a seasonally adapted repayment schedule, the release said.
According to Oschadbank, to obtain such a loan, it is enough to provide a simplified package of documents to obtain a decision on it. In addition to priority consideration of applications, all those who have taken advantage of the loan will be able to quickly receive a preliminary decision to replenish working capital through the online platform Agroapp.
The State Bank also reported that since February 24, 2022, it has provided about UAH 10 billion to agricultural enterprises under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program. The share of agricultural loans in the total portfolio of this program issued by Oschadbank during the war is 72%. The second place is occupied by trade enterprises, to which the bank issued 16% of loans under the affordable loan program.
“Spectr-Agro is a distributor of plant protection products, fertilizers and agricultural machinery from leading global and Ukrainian manufacturers (Deutz-Fahr, HARDI, Kockerling, Dieci, SOLA).
According to opendatabot, Spectrum-Agro increased its revenue by 1.2% to UAH 6 billion 262.6 million in 2022, while its net profit decreased by 20% to UAH 209.84 million.
State-owned Oschadbank, according to the National Bank, ranked 2nd in terms of total assets (UAH 311.19 billion) among 65 banks in the country as of March 1, 2023.
Ukrainian agrarians harvested 75.03 million tons of major crops from the total area of 17.96 million hectares by January 6, 2023, 700 thousand tons of corn was harvested from 0.1 million hectares last week, the harvesting of which was previously stopped due to adverse weather conditions.
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the total area of agricultural land, from which the harvested, increased at the expense of harvested corn by 1 percentage point (p.p.) – to 93% of the previously planned areas.
In terms of crops harvesting of wheat, barley, peas, rapeseed and sugar beets was completed. During the week the area of harvested corn increased by 3 p.p. – to 81% of the planned indicators, while the area of harvested buckwheat (98%), as well as millet, sunflower and soybeans (99%) remained unchanged.
According to Minagropolitiki, the final yield of wheat in the current season amounted to 20.2 million tons from 5 million hectares, barley – 5.8 million tons from 1.7 million hectares, rape – 3.2 million tons from 1.1 million hectares, pea – 269 tons from 118 thousand hectares, sugar beet – 9 million tons from 180 thousand hectares.
In addition, January 6, 22.1 million tons of corn (+0.7 million tons per week) from 3.4 million hectares (+0.1 million hectares), 10.5 million tons of sunflower from 4.8 million hectares, 3.7 million tons of soy from 1.5 million hectares, 158 tons of buckwheat from 116 thousand hectares, and 102 tons of millet from 44.7 thousand hectares were gathered in total.
According to the Ministry, the average yield on all crops in the current season was 46.4 c/ha, including corn – 64.8 c/ha, wheat – 40.5 c/ha, of barley – 34.7 centners/ha, rape – 28.6 centners/ha, soy – 24.3 centners/ha, pea – 22.8 centners/ha, millet – 22.8 centners/ha, sunflower – 21.7 centners/ha, buckwheat – 13.7 centners/ha, sugar beet – 501 centners/ha.
It is reported that farmers of Nikolaev, Odessa, Chernivtsi and Vinnytsia regions have completed the harvesting of all crops. Most cereals and leguminous crops were threshed in Vinnitsa region – 4 million tons, and their highest yield was recorded in Khmelnytsky region – 70.9 c/ha.
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 harvested a record since the independence of cereals, legumes and oilseeds in the amount of 106 million tons: UAH 84 million of cereals and legumes, and 22.6 million tons of oilseeds.
A total of 32.4 million tons of wheat, 40 million tons of corn, 10 million tons of barley, 581.5 thousand tons of peas, 191 thousand tons of millet and 110 tons of buckwheat were harvested last year. Sunflower harvest amounted to 16.3 million tons, soybeans – 3.4 million tons and rapeseed – 2.9 million tons.
Ukraine last year exported, according to preliminary data, agricultural products worth at least $20 billion, which is about half as much as in 2021, Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nikolay Solsky said on the air of the national telethon on Wednesday.
He also stressed that this is still a very significant amount, especially taking into account the Russian Federation’s aggression and other circumstances under which Ukraine has performed external deliveries.
Solsky noted that in 2021 most of the foreign exchange earnings went to the Ukrainian agribusiness sector, while in 2022, infrastructure and logistics companies, including foreign ones, received a significant portion of the margin from crop exports.
“The ships that go with Ukrainian grain, insurance services and everything else, because of military risks and the conditions in which we live, have gone up significantly. But it is still the No. 1 item in foreign exchange earnings of the country, and there is a good chance that next year the situation will be similar,” the minister stressed in a video interview.
As reported, according to preliminary data Deputy Minister of Economy – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka last year Ukraine exported 99.8 million tons of products and goods of all kinds totaling $ 44.1 billion, which is respectively 38.4% and 35% less than in 2021.
Most of the revenue was received from the export of agricultural products – corn at $5.94 billion (+1% compared to 2021), sunflower oil at $5.46 billion (- 14.4%), wheat – $2.6 billion (-44.7%), rapeseed – $1.54 billion (-8.6%), sunflower seeds – $1.26 billion (33 times growth), soybean – $862 million (+43%), poultry – $852 million (+19%).
According to the preliminary results of the implementation of the state program of financial support for activities in the agro-industrial complex by reducing the cost of loans in 2020, almost UAH 1.05 billion out of UAH 1.2 billion planned for 2020 was compensated to agrarians, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture said in a statement, published on its website on Tuesday.
“This year, under the program on reducing the cost of loans in the agricultural sector, UAH 24.8 billion were attracted. During the reporting period, more than 4,200 agricultural enterprises took advantage of the program. Due to this additional funding, they were able to update lines for the production and processing of agricultural products, build storages for vegetables, fruits and berries, and cover other production costs,” Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko said.
According to the ministry, the top five regions in terms of loan compensation included Odesa (UAH 91.6 million), Kharkiv (UAH 71 million), Ternopil (UAH 68.9 million), Vinnytsia (UAH 66.5 million) and Cherkasy (UAH 65.4 million).
The Economy Ministry said that in October this year, the parliament adopted in the second reading bill No. 3295, which allows farmers to receive partial compensation for loans raised to replenish working capital. In pursuance of this law, the Economy Ministry is preparing appropriate amendments in the procedure for the use of funds (resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 300).
As reported, under the budget program of financial support for agricultural producers in the direction of financial support for activities in the agro-industrial complex by reducing the cost of loans in 2020, some UAH 1.2 billion are provided.
Of the total number of authorized banks that signed a memorandum on general principles of cooperation with the Economy Ministry (36 banks), some 33 banks participate in providing compensation for loans.
The Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine allocated UAH 762 million of partial compensation for loan interest to agricultural producers out of UAH 1.2 billion, the amount of state support planned for these needs in 2020.
According to a report on the ministry’s website, the total amount of loans attracted by agro-industrial complex exceeded UAH 74 billion, of which soft loans (subject to compensation) are UAH 17.6 billion, including the types of loans: short-term 45.8%, medium-term 24,5%, long-term 29.7%; and the types of activities of borrowers: livestock industry 17.1%, and other industries 82.9%.
The average interest rates of banks, at which the subjects of the agro-industrial complex attracted loans, amounted to 14-16% per annum.
As reported, under the budget program of financial support for agricultural producers in the direction of financial support for activities in the agro-industrial complex by reducing the cost of loans in 2020, some UAH 1.2 billion are provided. For the period of January-September, 63.5% of the planned was actually used.
Of the total number of authorized banks that signed a memorandum on general principles of cooperation with the Ministry of Economy (34 banks), 32 banks participate in providing compensation for loans.
Ukrainian agrarians as of November 5 had sowed 7 million hectares with winter grains with the projected area being 7.2 million hectares for the 2019 harvest.
According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, 6 million hectares of the area were sown with winter wheat, with the forecast being 6.2 million hectares, 120,000 hectares with rye with the forecast standing at 150,000 hectare, and 870,000 hectares with winter barley with the forecast being 870,000 hectares.
In addition, one million hectares were sown with winter rapeseeds, with a forecast of 890,000 hectares.
“We are reaching the projected result of 7.2 million hectares under winter crops for grain. As of November 5, about 150,000 hectares more were sown than on the same date last year,” First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said on Facebook.
According to him, the work was carried out within the best terms, the level of soil moisture was sufficient both for sowing and to ensure the best conditions for growth and development.
“The availability of material and technical resources was at the level or above the need. The availability of mineral fertilizers for the autumn field work amounted to 776,000 tonnes or 108% of the application, in particular phosphate fertilizers amounted to 207,000 tonnes (109% of the need),” Martyniuk reported.
