The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine is obliged to begin restoring the irrigation system of agricultural lands in the south of the country by the end of this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a meeting devoted to irrigation held on Thursday.
According to the press service of the Cabinet, in addition to Shmyhal, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko, representatives of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, Head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitaliy Kim, Head of the Odesa Regional State Administration Serhiy Hrynevetsky and acting Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration Serhiy Kozyr attended the meeting.
As the Prime Minister said, the President of Ukraine set the Cabinet of Ministers the task to begin the restoration of irrigation systems this year, which means that the government must ensure the prompt transfer of the property complexes of the Ministry of Ecology to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
“Today, most of the land reclamation and irrigation infrastructure is managed by the State Water Resources Agency. Accordingly, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, which is responsible for the restoration of irrigation systems, cannot yet begin practical work in this direction. A quick solution to this issue will allow the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to begin implementation of pilot projects to restore irrigation systems this year, and will help farmers to significantly increase their harvest,” Shmyhal said.
As Leshchenko said, irrigation reform is among the main priorities of the ministry.
“This year is defining for us. We understand how to form an institutional and legislative framework, and according to this plan we are ready to move,” the minister said.
Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykhailo Khorev reported that on behalf of the Prime Minister, a meeting had been held, following which a roadmap for transferring property to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy was drawn up.
AGRARIAN POLICY, AGRICULTURAL, AGRICULTURAL LAND, IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
Sales of agricultural machinery Amazone in Ukraine last year in units increased 19% compared to 2019, despite the general drop in the market of agricultural machinery by almost 15%, Amazone-Ukraine subsidiary has told Interfax-Ukraine.
In particular, in 2020, the sales of pneumatic seed drills Primera DMC and Condor increased significantly, which allowed Amazone in terms of the number of sold seed drills among importers to climb from the fourth place in 2019 to second place in 2020, having sold 58 units.
“Despite a significant overall drop in the seed drills market by about 40%, we managed to increase sales of Amazone seed drills by almost 30% compared to 2019. One of the positive factors was the growth in demand for no-till, strip-till technologies in Ukraine, which is associated with climatic challenges that agricultural producers faced last year,” General Director of Amazone-Ukraine Dmytro Davydenko said.
According to the company, the segment of disc harrows in Ukraine in 2020, compared to other segments, decreased slightly – by 5-6%, which, according to Amazone-Ukraine, confirms the general trend of transition to minimum tillage technologies. “At the same time, sales of Amazone disc harrows grew by 64%, which allowed the brand to increase its market share to 12%. In the segment of fertilizer spreaders and high-tech sprayers, Amazone maintains a stable leadership in Ukraine,” the press service said.
As Davydenko said, this year, taking into account climate changes and a revision of the approach to organizing agricultural production processes, the company intends to continue to offer farmers Amazone technologies, which can significantly improve soil performance and reduce the costs of enterprises for fertilizers and plant protection products.
The press service of the company also reported that in 2020, the turnover of the Amazone group in the world increased 15% compared with 2019, to EUR 537 million, which made it possible to achieve the highest profit in the entire 138-year history of the enterprise, despite the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 80% of products are exported, Amazone is the leader in the markets of Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Russia and Austria, and a high level of turnover was again recorded in France, Ukraine, Poland and the UK in 2020.
Family company AMAZONEN-WERKE H. DREYER SE & Co. KG, headquartered in Hasbergen-Gast, specializes in the manufacture of agricultural and municipal machinery. The company has nine production sites in Germany, France, Russia and Hungary with a total of about 1,900 employees.
It manufactures tillage implements, seeders, fertilizer spreaders and crop protection implements.
This year it expects at least to keep sales at the level of the previous year.
The company has been operating in Ukraine since 1998. Amazone-Ukraine does not disclose the figures of turnover in monetary terms.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct agricultural holding (MHP) received a net loss of $133 million in 2020 versus a net profit of $215 million in 2019, mainly due to exchange rate losses of $204 million due to the annual depreciation of hryvnia by 16%, and the company’s revenue decreased by 7%, to $1.91 billion.
According to the quarterly financial statements of the holding, released on London Stock Exchange on Wednesday, its adjusted EBITDA and operating income decreased by 7%, respectively, to $395 million and $201 million, while the profitability of sales (EBITDA margin) remained at the 2019 level of 21%.
MHP said that in 2020, export revenue decreased by 9.1%, to $1.015 billion, which is 53% of total revenue (56% of total revenue in 2019).
In the fourth quarter of 2020, MHP reduced its net loss by 60%, year-over-year, to $24 million, its total revenue decreased by 10%, to $497 million, and export revenue decreased by 19.3%, to $255 million (51% of total revenue).
MHP is the largest chicken producer in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of cereals, sunflower oil, meat products. MHP supplies the European market with chilled half-carcasses of chickens, which are processed, including at its factories in the Netherlands and Slovakia.
KSG Agro agricultural holding increased its land bank by 6.7%, to 23,900 hectares, the company’s press service said on Wednesday.
According to the report, the agricultural holding has increased its land bank due to 1,500 hectares of land shares in village Strilkove (Henichesk district, Kherson region), where it plans to grow crops.
The exact names of the products are not indicated.
The vertically integrated holding KSG Agro is engaged in pig breeding and production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds.
Over the nine months of 2020, the agricultural holding posted $4.77 million in net profit, which is 52% less than in the same period in 2019, revenue decreased by 17%, to $14.67 million.
Exports of agricultural food from Ukraine in January-November 2020 decreased 0.3% compared to the same period in 2019, to $20 billion, the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture said on Tuesday, citing data of the State Statistics Service.
“During the reporting period, Ukraine supplied agricultural food to the EU for the amount of $5.8 billion, or 28.9% of the total export of such products,” Economy Minister Ihor Petrashko said in a statement.
According to the State Statistics Service, in addition to the EU, the largest importers of Ukrainian agri-food products in January-November 2020 were China with $3.1 billion, India with $1.3 billion, Egypt with $1.3 billion and Turkey with $0.9 billion.
Over the period, cereals, oil and meat products were exported most of all. In addition, the supply of sunflower oil, barley, wheat, honey, fruits and nuts, bakery and confectionery products increased, the ministry said.
As previously reported by the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), the export of agricultural food products from Ukraine in 2019 amounted to $22.2 billion, which is 19% more than in 2018. According to its data, over the year the share of agri-food products of total exports from the country amounted to 44%.
KSG Agro agricultural holding increased the multicurrency credit line at TAScombank (Kyiv) from $12 million to $18.5 million, the company said in a report published on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Monday.
“We can use these lines for sowing and harvesting […] In addition, one of the goals of increasing the credit line is to refinance foreign exchange obligations and hedge currency risks,” Chairman of the Board of Directors of KSG Agro Serhiy Kasianov said.
He said that part of the funds is also planned to be used for further reconstruction and modernization of the pig breeding farm in the village of Nyva Trudova (Dnipropetrovsk region).
According to the report, hryvnia equivalent for the volume of the credit line is UAH 522 million, the term is three years. The interest rate was not disclosed.
As reported, in April 2020, KSG Agro increased the existing credit line at TAScombank by almost $4 million, to $12 million.
The vertically integrated holding KSG Agro is engaged in pig breeding and production, storage, processing and sale of grain and oilseeds.
