Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has successfully passed certification under the Canada Organic Regime standard and received a Canadian organic certificate for its products – organic chickpeas and high oleic organic sunflower, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
“This expands our export opportunities and strengthens Ukraine’s position as a supplier of quality organic products on the world stage,” Vyacheslav Chuk, the agricultural holding’s director of commercial and strategic marketing, said in a statement.
As noted, the certification confirms that the production process complies with international organic standards, which include the use of renewable resources, safe technologies for people and the environment, animal welfare, prohibition of GMOs and prevention of environmental pollution.
“Demand for organic products is growing globally, and Canada is one of the largest importers of organic products. The certificate gives us access to new markets that recognize this standard,” explained Chuk.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
The Seed Treatment Technology Laboratory of the production complex of the international agricultural research company Corteva Agriscience has passed international round tests to determine the dust content of treated seeds (Heubach test) and received a certificate of high quality of seed protection products and seed safety for consumers and the environment, the company’s press service reports.
“Corteva Agriscience’s seed treatment allows farmers to effectively protect their crops during germination and plant formation. This is a full-fledged comprehensive protection against the risks associated with soil pests and diseases, seed diseases, as well as pests and nematodes that affect plants in the early stages of crop development, when the disease can lead to complete loss of crops,” said Stepan Derkach, Category Marketing Manager for Corteva Agriscience Seed Treatment Technologies in Ukraine.
Opened at the end of 2021, Corteva’s Seed Treatment Technology Laboratory checks the quality of application of protection products on all seeds of premium genetics of the Pioneer® brand, which the company’s seed production complex produces for farmers in Ukraine, Europe and Central Asia.
The Heubach test is a laboratory test that assesses how much dust is generated during mechanical impact, such as during transportation or sowing of seeds. Excessive dust can not only affect the quality of seeds during cultivation, but also pose risks to human health and the environment in case of poor application of treatment products.
Corteva Agriculture is a global agricultural company. It offers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active ingredients in its portfolio. The company’s representative office in Ukraine includes the headquarters in Kyiv, a research center in Liubartsi village (Kyiv region) and a seed production complex in Stasi village (Poltava region).
In April 2022, the company decided to leave the Russian market due to the full-scale war against Ukraine unleashed by Russia.
The Agrotrade agricultural holding has received a certificate allowing it to export soybeans to the EU countries. Initially, it is planned to sell 4,000 tons of soybeans from the last year’s crop residues.
As reported on the Facebook page of the agricultural holding on Thursday, the document guarantees the cultivation of non-GMO soybeans using fertilizers and chemicals permitted in Europe.
It is specified that the certification of exports to the EU was carried out by the Ukrainian certification body Organic Standard.
The Agrotrade group sowed 3.1 thousand hectares of soybeans this year, the harvest from which is also planned to be exported to the EU.
Previously, the company certified rapeseed for supplies to Europe.
The Agrotrade group of companies is a vertically integrated holding of a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade in agricultural products). Processes more than 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkov regions. Profile crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrids of corn and sunflower seeds, barley, and winter wheat. On the basis of the seed farm “Kolos” (Kharkiv region) in 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built. In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
The founder and CEO of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
A COVID certificate can be generated on the 15th day after the diagnosis of COVID-19 is established within 105 days.
This is confirmed by changes in the procedure for the formation and use of a COVID certificate confirming vaccination against COVID-19, as well as a negative test result or a person’s recovery from this disease.
The adopted changes, in particular, provide that a COVID certificate can be generated no more than twice in one calendar year (if it is technically possible to record the generated COVID certificates).
As reported, in the last four days of October, Ukrainians generated 1 million COVID certificates in the Diia application, their total number has already reached 5 million and continues to grow.
Earlier, the government made it easier to obtain COVID-certificates in Diia: now this does not require an electronic signature, in particular, Diia.Signature, which required proof of identity using a Photo ID.
The competent authorities of Ukraine and Jordan have agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“This week we opened another market, namely, the export of Ukrainian milk to Jordan. The competent authorities of the two states agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine. The concrete result of the joint work of diplomats and specialists of the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.
He said that Ukrainian dairy products are of very high quality and therefore are in great demand abroad. According to Kuleba, this is the third certificate agreed between Ukraine and Jordan in 2021.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to systematically open new foreign markets for Ukrainian exporters together with the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Each new open market provides additional opportunities for Ukrainian companies, the strengthening of our national currency, the arrival of foreign currency to Ukraine, new jobs, taxes to the budget, the best salaries for our citizens,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said that not only exporting companies will benefit from the expansion of Ukrainian goods abroad, but every citizen of Ukraine involved in economic activity.
The COVID-19 certificate can be implemented from July 1 and will be valid for up to 180 days, Director General of the Center for Public Health Roman Rodyna has said.
“Now we are working out a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, which will determine the conditions for issuing a COVID-19 certificate. We hope that it will available from July 1,” he said on the YouTube channel on Friday.
Rodyna named three reasons for issuing such a certificate. In particular, it will be issued if a person has received a full course of vaccination. In this case, the document will be valid for 180 days.
In addition, a negative PCR test will be the basis for issuing a certificate. In this case, its validity period is 72 hours from the moment of taking the sample.
The certificate will also be issued if a person has been ill with COVID-19 and the relevant confirmed laboratory data have been entered into eHealth. In this case, the certificate will be valid for 180 days from the date of receipt of laboratory confirmation of the disease.
Rodyna said, the question of whether these certificates will allow entry to other countries will be decided by bilateral agreements between the countries.
