In 2025, Agro-Region will increase its total budget for the purchase of inventory by 15%, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
“The total budget for inventories in 2025 will increase by 15%, but this is due to a change in crop rotation: we are increasing the share of corn, which is a more expensive crop. If we consider the costs of each crop separately, the growth will be about 5%, but this is not due to prices, but to the use of more expensive technology (more fertilizers and more expensive plant protection products),” said Dmytro Tarasyuk, Chief Procurement Officer of the agricultural holding.
According to him, fertilizers always account for the largest share of costs in the procurement structure. In the 2025 season, they are about twice as expensive as seeds, fuel or pesticides. However, thanks to early purchases, Agro-Region was able to save significantly on fertilizers. The agroholding purchased most of the fertilizers in June 2024, at the “bottom of the price”. This helped to avoid a shortage of phosphate fertilizers that occurred in July and August, as well as additional costs, as nitrogen fertilizer prices rose by 25% by January. The agricultural holding also split the purchase of nitrogen fertilizers into two parts to avoid financial burden and spread risks.
Tarasiuk noted that Agro-Region also purchases seeds in advance. As early as November 2024, 90% of the need was contracted, taking advantage of the maximum discounts for early contracting. The remaining 10% are test hybrids that the agricultural division is testing.
“We also purchase plant protection products (PPPs) as early as possible, especially seed treatment products, soil herbicides and growth regulators. In addition, we create an “emergency” stock of herbicides and insecticides for possible force majeure, such as the unforeseen appearance of pests. This allows us to be flexible in our production processes,” said the head of the division.
He also said that after the outbreak of war, Agro-Region increased its own fuel storage capacity, which made it possible to ensure seasonal operations even in crisis conditions. Currently, the agricultural holding has about 20% of the fuel requirements for the spring sowing season.
“Unfortunately, oil prices remain at $80 per barrel, so we decided to postpone major purchases. We are watching the market and may switch to spot purchases in small batches this year, as it is likely that the later we buy, the cheaper it will be,” summarized the agricultural holding’s procurement director.
Agro-Region owns a land bank of 39 thousand hectares in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies organized into four crop production clusters. It has two elevators – Boryspil elevator with a capacity of 73 thousand tons and Miropil elevator with a capacity of 52 thousand tons.
Agro-Region’s annual harvest of grains and oilseeds is up to 200 thousand tons.
In April 2021, the Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by the former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavičius, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to buy the Swedish Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages the Agro-Region group of companies in Ukraine.
On January 24, the State Specialized Economic Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” announced a tender for compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance for owners of land vehicles (CMTPL). According to the electronic public procurement system Prozorro, the expected value of the insurance services is UAH 23.962 million.
The amount of the bid security: UAH 480 thousand. The deadline for submitting bids is February 1.
According to the results of 2024, JSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya paid UAH 22.28 billion in rent payments to the consolidated budget of the country.
According to the company’s website, 5% of this amount, or UAH 1.114 billion, went to the local and regional budgets in the regions where the company produces hydrocarbons.
As for the distribution of funds, Kharkiv region received UAH 580 million, Poltava region – UAH 441.3 million, Lviv region – UAH 45 million, Dnipropetrovs’k region – UAH 22.5 million, and others – UAH 25.2 million.
As reported earlier, in January-September 2024, Ukrgasvydobuvannya increased commercial gas production by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2023, up to 10.4 bcm, and liquid hydrocarbons by 26%, up to 372 thousand tons.
In 2023, the company produced 13.224 bcm of commercial gas, which is 0.679 bcm more than in 2022.
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine owns 100% of Ukrgasvydobuvannya shares.
The unshadowing of the alcoholic beverage market in 2024 brought an additional UAH 1.9 billion to the state budget of Ukraine compared to 2023, Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, said in a telegram channel.
He noted that the payment of excise tax on alcoholic beverages produced in the country increased by UAH 1.7 billion, or 24.4%, compared to 2021. Positive dynamics can also be seen in the growth of VAT tax efficiency: it is 6.88%, or 33.3% more than in pre-war 2021, when it was recorded at 5.16%.
At the same time, revenue from alcoholic beverages increased by 25% in November 2024 compared to January.
Hetmantsev noted that the President of Ukraine signed a bill on taxation of the alcohol market based on the capacity of the plants and expressed confidence that this would not allow the black market to be restored.
The head of the parliamentary committee called the increase in the capacity utilization of distilleries to 87% an important indicator of the de-shadowing of the alcoholic beverage market in 2024. This helped to produce 23.7 million dal of alcohol in 10 months of last year, which is 189% more than in peaceful 2021, when the distillery’s capacity utilization was 60%.
“This meant that all the residual capacity was directed to the bottle without excise duty,” Hetmantsev added.
According to him, the law No. 4014 adopted by the parliament is aimed at ensuring the full payment of excise tax by producers of ethyl alcohol and bioethanol.
“The law makes it economically unprofitable to conditionally “not use” the capacities. It is extremely important that the controllers do not turn a blind eye in the process of fulfilling the requirements of the law,” summarized the Chairman of the Parliamentary Financial Committee.
In 2024, Ukraine received $41.7 billion in external financing to cover the budget deficit, which made it possible to allocate the necessary funds to repel full-scale Russian aggression, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said.
“This makes it possible to fully finance pensions, salaries in education and healthcare, and the entire humanitarian and social system,” the Finance Minister said during a national telethon on Monday.
He noted that this year and next year, Ukraine will allocate UAH 2.2 trillion ($52.5 billion at the current exchange rate), or 26% of GDP, to the security and defense sector.
Regarding budget financing for 2025, which is planned in the state budget at $38.4 billion, Marchenko emphasized the importance of implementing the G7’s ERA initiative to allocate $50 billion to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets.
“We have access to $50 billion, which allows us to look forward to 2025 with confidence. Moreover, if everything goes well, we plan to close 2026 and 2027 with the help of these assets,” the Finance Minister said.
He clarified that in 2024, the state budget has already received the first $1 billion of this $50 billion from the United States.
In general, assessing Ukraine’s dependence on external financing, Marchenko believes that “if we end the war, such dependence will not be glaring.” The minister reiterated that the huge budget deficit is due to the cost of the war.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal believes that the state budget for 2025 adopted by the Verkhovna Rada clearly defines priorities in the context of limited resources.
“Given the limited resources, this budget clearly defines priorities. Defense, security, support for people, development and restoration of the country. This is all that makes us stronger and leads to victory,” Shmyhal wrote on his telegram channel after the Verkhovna Rada adopted the budget in the second reading and in general.
According to the Prime Minister, all taxes of citizens and businesses next year will be directed to the defense and security of the country.
“The total resource allocated to the security and defense sector will amount to UAH 2.23 trillion. Record funds will be allocated for the production and purchase of weapons. UAH 739 billion is provided for this purpose. There will be more funding for the modernization of our defense industry, as well as for the purchase of drones,” he said.
Shmyhal noted that the second priority of the budget is to support citizens, in particular, almost UAH 421 billion is provided for social assistance programs.
“Expenditures on education will amount to about UAH 199 billion, and on healthcare – UAH 217 billion. Important modernization and development projects are planned in both regions. UAH 10.7 billion is allocated to upgrade medical facilities, purchase modern equipment, and create rehabilitation centers. An additional UAH 17.5 billion has been allocated for the modernization of educational institutions and the construction of shelters,” he added.
Among other things, Shmyhal noted that in 2025 the resources of local budgets will increase by 15%.
