The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December reviewed upwards the forecast for export of corn from Ukraine in 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) by 1 million tonnes compared with the September forecast, to 28 million tonnes.
According to a posting on the website of the USDA, the forecast for corn harvest for 2018 is increased by 1.5 million tonnes, to 35 million tonnes.
Corn production in in Ukraine increased thanks to larger crops harvested, and if the forecast volumes are harvested the harvest forecast this month would exceed the previous record hit in 2016/17 agri-year by almost 20%, the department said.
USDA retained its forecast for export of wheat from Ukraine in 2018/19 agri-year at 16.5 million tonnes and the harvest forecast – at 25 million tonnes.
In general, USDA revised upwards the forecast for grain harvest in Ukraine by 1.5 million tonnes, to 68.7 million tonnes and grain exports – by 1 million tonnes, to 49.2 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in November improved the forecast for soybean exports from Ukraine for the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, September-August) by 5%, or 150,000 tonnes compared to the September forecast, to 3.1 million tonnes. According to a report on the website of the American department, the USDA increased the forecast for oilseed exports from Ukraine by 100,000 tonnes, to 5.7 million tonnes, processing by 50,000 tonnes, to 15.55 million tonnes. The USDA forecast for meal exports was adjusted upward by 80,000 tonnes, to 5.15 million tonnes, oil by 20,000 tonnes, to 5.85 million tonnes.
According to the USDA forecasts, in the 2018/19 MY sunflower seed production in Ukraine will increase by 9.5% compared to the previous marketing year, to 15 million tonnes, meal by 6%, to 5.98 million tonnes, and oil also by 6%, to 6.2 million tonnes.
The export of sunflower seeds in the 2018/2019 MY could increase by 2.6 times, to 100,000 tonnes, meal by 8.5%, to 4.6 million tonnes, oil by 5%, to 5.6 million tonnes.
The USDA lowered the forecast for global production of oilseeds this month to 599.6 million tonnes (604 million tonnes in the September forecast).
Ukraine and France plan to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture, the press service of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry has reported. “We are planning to create a joint meteocluster for agriculture and assistance to farmers. This is about bringing new technologies to the processing of meteorological data. This is necessary to obtain more accurate weather data, increase harvest and crop protection, introduce system monitoring of climate change and further modeling,” Deputy Prime Minister, Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko said.
According to the report, the Ukrainian-French intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation came to the relevant agreements.
According to the press service of the ministry, the representatives of the countries also agreed on attracting French companies to the development of Ukrainian farms, investments in seed production, and on strengthening cooperation in animal husbandry, in particular, in the dairy sector.
In addition, the countries plan to develop cooperation in IT and cybersecurity, and French companies will take part in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as in public procurement through the ProZorro e-procurement system.
Grossdorf agrochemical company has launched production of multicomponent solid granular mineral fertilizers with a total capacity of 35,000-50,000 tonnes per year in the village of Khatsky (Cherkasy region), Commercial Director of Grossdorf Serhiy Ruban has said during the official opening of production.
“The company plans to increase production capacity to 100,000-150,000 tonnes per year,” he said.
Grossdorf intends to produce fertilizers by the method of compacting: certain components under high pressure are compressed to form a single granule.
The company said in comparison with other methods of granule formation, the compactor allows quickly changing the component composition and producing goods with any number of components.
Grossdorf agrochemical company (Cherkasy) was established in 2016. It is engaged in production, import, transportation of fertilizers, as well as providing services for application of anhydrous ammonia. Its core business is the supply of basic fertilizers for precision farming. The capacity of liquid fertilizers production is 350,000 tonnes per year.
The volume of investment in agriculture and provision of serviced related to them totaled UAH 10.52 billion in January-March 2018, the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has reported. According to the report, this was 9.5% more than a year ago. In addition, investment in production of food, beverage and tobacco products totaled UAH 4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2018, which was 56% more than a year ago.
The key source of financing of capital investment is own funds of companies, which share of total investment was 76.2%.
The Aurum Group, a multi-profile industrial and investment group, plans to invest in development of some sectors to increase its competitiveness, in particular, some UAH 100 million in development of wagon building and some UAH 50 million in agricultural business, the group has said in a press release. “According to the long-term development strategy of Aurum Group, this year we plan to invest about UAH 100 million in the development of the private rolling stock of the country in order to minimize the existing acute shortage of gondola cars and grain carriers,” the group’s founder Alona Lebedieva said in a press release.
According to her, the funds will be used to build new railway freight cars on the basis of the Diesel Plant LLC, which is part of the group, which will later be transferred to the management of the leasing company of the group – Trans Energy LLC.
According to the press release, UAH 30 million has already been allocated for technical re-equipment of the foundry, thanks to which an automatic molding line has been bought and ready for installation. It uses the method of cold-hardening mixtures produced by Omega Foundry Machinery (Great Britain).
“The modernization of the foundry production of the group will allow, with a reduction in the cost of production, to make high-precision castings with high efficiency. The line will also meet the needs of the Diesel Plant in the production of medium-carload molding, for example, parts like the front and rear stop. Later the plant plans to mold more railway products,” Lebedieva said.
She also announced the intention to more actively develop a new agricultural division for the group this year, where it is planned to invest about UAH 50 million. In particular, it is planned to build the entire production chain – from planting, storing and processing agricultural products.
Lebedieva said that if before 2018 Aurum Group planted only grain and a number of niche crops (flax, mustard, millet), then taking into account the market situation and, according to the group’s development strategy, this year efforts will focus on the creation of a product with high added value.
In addition, according to the founder of the group, transactions to invest in domestic IT projects, details of which have not yet been disclosed, are at the stage of completion. “Ukrainian IT specialists are in great need of additional financing, and we plan to invest in several projects like this in 2018. I would be happy if our participation will contribute to the fact that these talented guys will remain in the country,” the founder of Aurum Group said.
