Ukraine has launched the Accelerating Private Investment in Agriculture program according to the agreement signed last year, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance. “On May 20 this year, after Ukraine had conducted domestic procedures, the loan agreement entered into force,” the ministry said.
The loan amount is $200 million, the Finance Ministry noted.
The program should facilitate the creation of the State Agrarian Register and make it publicly available, conduct an inventory of state property lands and include these statements in the state land cadaster, develop a methodology for drawing up land use plans, conduct satellite mapping of the territory of Ukraine, and create an automated notification system for changes in the state land cadaster.
The agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) was concluded on August 27, 2019.
The IBRD is the main lending institution of the World Bank.
Ukraine in January-March 2020 exported agricultural products for $5.7 billion, which is 6% more than a year ago, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) has reported.
According to a report on the association’s website, the crisis minimally affected the trade in agricultural products in the first quarter of 2020. According to the results of the first three months of the year, exports grew by categories: fats and oils by $235.1 million (a rise of 19%), finished products by $74.8 million (a rise of 9%), crop products by $49.3 million (a rise of 2%). In particular, exports of sunflower oil grew by $193.1 million (17%), corn by $148.6 million (8%) and barley by $58.7 million (132%). At the same time, there was a reduction in the supply of rapeseed from Ukraine by $69.1 million (97%), soybeans by $50.4 million (19%) and wheat by $25.2 million (4%).
The association said that the export of livestock products decreased 15% and in January-March 2020 it amounted to $265.9 million. The decrease was due to a fall in supplies of eggs from Ukraine by $13.1 million (36%) and poultry by $10 5 million (7%).
“This situation is caused by a partial ban on the export of these products as a result of an outbreak of avian influenza in Ukraine,” the UCAB said.
At the same time, according to the association, imports of agricultural products in January-March 2020 amounted to $1.7 billion, which is 18% more than the same period last year. The supply of cheese rose by $26.3 million (almost twice), potatoes by $19.8 million (12 times) and citrus by $16.4 million (a rise of 21%).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in March raised its forecast for the export of major oilseeds from Ukraine in the 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, September-August) by 460,000 million tonnes compared to the forecast in February, to 5.51 million tonnes. According to a March report released on the USDA’s website, the forecast for rapeseeds export was increased by 200,000 tonnes to 3 million tonnes, soybean exports by 310,000 tonnes to 2.45 million tonnes.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its forecast for oilseeds processing by 200,000 tonnes to 17.42 million tonnes, meal exports by 110,000 tonnes to 5.77 million tonnes, and vegetable oil exports by 60,000 tonnes, to 6.6 million tonnes.
The USDA forecasts that in the 2019/2020 MY exports of sunflower oil from Ukraine will be at the level of 6.2 million tonnes, sunflower meal at 4.9 million tonnes, sunflower at 60,000 tonnes.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a sunflower crop in Ukraine at 16 million tonnes, production of sunflower meal at 6.5 million tonnes, sunflower oil at 6.78 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in February revised upwards the forecast for export of corn from Ukraine in the 2019/2020 agricultural year (July-June) by 0.5 million tonnes compared with the January forecast, to 31 million tonnes, and the corn harvest – by 0.3 million tonnes, to 35.8 million tonnes.
According to the February report posted on the USDA website, the forecast for production and export of Ukrainian wheat remained at the January level – 29 million tonnes and 20.5 million tonnes respectively.
USDA in February did not change the forecast for production and export of Ukrainian barley leaving it at 9.5 million tonnes and 5 million tonnes respectively.
In general, grain forecast for the 2019/2020a agri-year was revised upwards by 0.39 million tonnes, to 75.43 million tonnes and exports – by 0.53 million tonnes, to 56.6 million tonnes.
The agricultural division of the Epicenter K Group has launched two new silos and expanded the capacities of two more silos in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions and the number of own silos grew from six to eight and their total storage capacities expanded to over 800,000 tonnes.
According to the group’s press release, two new silo complexes were launched in Vinnytsia region: Vendychany (Mohyliv-Podilsky district) with a storage capacity of 120,000 tonnes and Vapniarka (Tomashpil district) with a storage capacity of 200,000 tonnes.
In addition, the reconstruction of the Vinnytsia elevator was completed, as a result of which its storage capacity was increased to 168,000 tonnes, the capacity of the Zakupne silo complex (Khmelnytsky region) also increased by 60,000 tonnes – after reconstruction, the enterprise can dry and store 105,000 tonnes of grain.
The investments of Epicenter K in the development and reconstruction of the silo business amounted to about UAH 3 billion.
According to the group, in the current season the new and upgraded silos of the company plan to accept about 50,000 tonnes of grain from external depositors for refinement and storage.
The Epicenter K said that the construction of a new silo in Vinnytsia with a capacity of 208,000 tonnes recently began. Work on the completion of the third phase of the Zakupne silo complex with a capacity of 184,000 tonnes is underway, as well as the restructuring of two more enterprises – Pererobnyk in Kyiv region, which storage capacities will expand by 105,000 tonnes, and Nemyriv silo complex in Vinnytsia region, where grain storage volumes will increase by 104,000 tonnes.
After the implementation of all projects, the silo grain storage capacity until the end of the 2019/2020 agricultural year will expand to 1 million tonnes. The company plans by the end of the 2020/2021 agricultural year to increase the company’s grain storage capacity to 2 million tonnes.
The total cost of projects for the development and reconstruction of silo complexes is estimated at UAH 4.6 billion.
Ukraine and Israel signed bilateral documents on cooperation in agriculture, economics, education, culture, as well as youth and sports. “A series of Ukrainian-Israeli documents were signed in the presence of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu,” the presidential press service reported on Monday.
Thus, Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lyon signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the sphere of agriculture between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the State of Israel.
In addition, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the State of Israel Hennadiy Nadolenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lyon signed an Agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education of the State of Israel as regards facilitating the study of the Hebrew language in the educational institutions of Ukraine and the study of the Ukrainian language in the educational institutions of the State of Israel.
In addition, the ambassadors of the two states signed a Program of Cooperation in the spheres of education, culture, youth and sports between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Israel for 2019-2022.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Oleksiy Perevezentsev and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lyon signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and the Israeli Patent Office of the Ministry of Justice of the State of Israel.
AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION, ECONOMICS, EDUCATION, ISRAEL, SPORTS, UKRAINE
