Ovostar Union, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, increased its total number of chickens by 4.1% to 7.6 million in January-June 2024, while the number of laying hens decreased by 4.6% to 6.2 million compared to the same period in 2023.
According to a report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the group reduced the volume of eggs produced by 4% to 706 million in the first half of 2024, while sales decreased by 9.4% to 433 million compared to the same period last year.
Export sales of eggs decreased by 18.3% to 170 mln, accounting for 39% of the total number of eggs sold in the first half of 2024, while a year earlier this figure was 43%.
“Ovostar Union increased egg processing by 28% to 274 million in the first half of 2024. The company produced 1,170 tons of dry egg products and 7,040 tons of liquid egg products. A year earlier, the figures were 1,050 tons and 6,232 tons, respectively.
Sales of dry egg products amounted to 1,116 tons, down 8.4% year-on-year, of which 833 tons, or 75%, were exported. A year earlier, the figures were 878 tons and 72%, respectively. Sales volume of liquid egg products increased by 14.5% to 6,967 tons, of which export sales amounted to 2,506 tons or 36%. A year earlier, these figures amounted to 2,801 tons and 46%, respectively.
“In the first half of 2024, the Group’s companies continued to be under constant pressure from the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine. Despite numerous unfavorable factors that affected the group’s operations in the reporting period, such as destabilization of production processes due to prolonged power outages, complications in domestic and international logistics, volatility in both purchase prices for the main components of feed and sales prices for manufactured products, the group managed to maintain production and sales of eggs and egg products at the level of the previous year, which we consider a satisfactory operating result,” the press service emphasized.
According to the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine, in January-June 2024, Ukraine increased egg exports to 36.98 thousand tons. Including eggs in the shell, national producers exported 32.98 thousand tons for 33.711 million dollars.
At the same time, egg exports in the first half of 2023 amounted to 29.7 thousand tons. In particular, 25.737 thousand tons of shell eggs were exported for 34.745 million dollars.
The largest importers of Ukrainian eggs are EU countries, in particular Italy and Poland, as well as Singapore, the UAE and Israel.
Polish egg producers welcome the reinstatement of customs duties on eggs imported to the European Union from Ukraine, as a few dozen hours were enough to increase interest in eggs from Polish farmers, said Pawel Podstawka, chairman of the National Federation of Poultry and Egg Producers (KFHDiPJ).
“For many weeks now, we have been observing a stagnation in purchase prices for eggs, which, due to the very low prices offered by competitors from Ukraine, our livestock producers had to sell almost at production cost. (…) According to the signals I receive from colleagues from different parts of the country, although only a few dozen hours have passed since the reintroduction of customs duties, there is already a visible recovery on the demand side, which proves the tendency towards market normalization,” he was quoted as saying by the Polish publication farmer.pl.
Pawel Luty, spokesman for Ferm Woźniak, the largest egg producer in Poland, agrees with the KRHDiPJ chairman.
“The introduction of customs duties on imports of eggs from Ukraine to the European Union brings the first positive effects for Polish egg producers and exporters. We are seeing increased interest from EU and third country counterparties in purchasing eggs from Poland. This is a step in the right direction, easing the pressure on local producers and strengthening their position on the international market. The egg market is still competitive, mainly on price, and the low standards of egg production in Ukraine and the associated lower production costs are a long-term problem. This is best illustrated by the export of egg powders, which Ukrainian producers offer at a price about 25% lower than the cost of raw materials required for the production of powders in the EU,” Luthi said.
According to the industry association, in 2023, egg production in Poland was estimated at about 14 billion eggs. Every tenth egg in Europe was laid in Polish chicken coops. Every third egg produced on Polish farms was exported.
As reported, from June 2, 2024, to June 5, 2025, the European Commission introduced quotas for the supply of eggs and sugar to the European Union from Ukraine due to the excess of quota-free volumes of their supplies to the European market.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/
In January-March 2024, Ovostar Union, a vertically integrated holding company, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, increased its total number of hens by 2.7% to 7.31 million, while reducing the number of laying hens by 4.1% to 6.12 million.
According to the group’s report published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange website on Friday, the volume of egg production in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to 331 million eggs, which is 9% less than in the same period of 2023. Accordingly, sales in the egg segment amounted to 211 million units, which is 12.4% less than last year.
Export sales of shell eggs in January-March 2024 also decreased by 22.9% and amounted to 81 million units, which was 38% of the total number of eggs sold in this period in 2024. A year earlier, this figure was 44%, the report says.
At the same time, in the first quarter of 2024, the agricultural holding increased egg processing by 42% to 132 million eggs, while in 2023 this figure was 92 million. Ovostar produced 571 tons of dry egg products and 3.41 thousand tons of liquid egg products, while last year the processing amounted to 406 tons and 3.07 thousand tons, respectively.
Sales of dry egg products amounted to 629 tons, up 18.5% year-on-year, of which 478 tons (76%) were exported. In the first quarter of 2023, 354 tons (67%) of dry egg products were exported to foreign markets.
Sales of liquid egg products amounted to 3.4 thousand tons, up 11% year-on-year, of which 1.14 thousand tons (34%) were exported. A year earlier, 1.29 thousand tons (42%) of liquid egg products were exported.
“In the first quarter of 2023, the volume of egg production decreased due to a slight decrease in the number of laying hens. Given the downward trend in egg prices, the company increased the volume of egg processing, which led to a steady increase in egg production. In the current situation, the management is satisfied with the operating results achieved in the first three months of the year,” said Boris Belikov, CEO of Ovostar Union.
Ovostar Union, a vertically integrated holding company, is one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine. “In the first nine months of 2023, Ovostar earned $29.08 million in net profit, up 12.2 times year-on-year. Its revenue for the nine months increased by 36.3% to $123.06 million, mainly due to higher prices for its products.
Agro-industrial group of companies “Ovostar Union”, one of the leading producers of eggs and egg products in Ukraine, in January-September 2022 reduced the production of chicken eggs in shell by 5.1% compared to the same period in 2021 – 1.19 billion eggs. , while their sales decreased by 2.4% – to 824 million units.
According to the report of the group of companies published on the website of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Ovostar increased the export of eggs by 6.7% in the first nine months of this year, to 223 million eggs, as a result of which the share of foreign deliveries in the company’s sales increased by 2 percentage points. P. – up to 27% from 25%.
“During the third quarter of 2022, the group’s companies continued to operate under the pressure of risks and uncertainties caused by the ongoing Russian military invasion of Ukraine. Given the specifics of the current operating environment in Ukraine, management assesses the group’s operational results as satisfactory,” said Borys Belikov, CEO of the company. the words of which are given in the message of the holding.
Also, Ovostar processed 339 million eggs in January-September 2022, which is 10% less than its figures for the same period last year.
The number of birds “Ovostara Union” as of September 30, 2022 amounted to 6.84 million heads (14.2% less than on the same date a year earlier), including laying hens – 5.75 million heads (- 13.3%.
Sales of dry egg products of Ovostar for the three quarters of this year decreased by 55.9% compared to January-September 2021 – to 1.16 thousand tons, and the share of their exports in the total sales structure did not change, remaining at the level of 68% .
At the same time, sales of liquid egg products decreased by 26.4% – to 7.53 thousand tons, the share of their exports amounted to 41% against 28% in the same nine months of 2021.
The average selling price of chicken eggs in shell in the specified reporting period of the current year remained at the last year’s level – $0.076/piece, dry egg products increased by 80%, up to $8.63/kg, liquid egg products – by 10%, up to 1 83 $/kg.
The Ovostar Union group of companies is a vertically integrated public holding company, one of the leading producers of chicken eggs and egg products in Europe. The manufacturer has been a certified exporter to EU countries since 2015.
The holding company of the group is Ovostar Union N.V. in mid-June 2011, it held an IPO of 25% of the shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and raised $33.2 million. The majority stake in the company is owned by Prime One Capital Limited, which is controlled by its CEO Boris Belikov and chairman of the board of directors Vitaly Veresenko.
Ovostar received $1.65 million in net profit in 2021, which is 38% less compared to 2020. Its EBITDA fell 29% to $5.7 million, while revenue increased 35% to $133.3 million.
Avangard agricultural holding, the largest egg producer in Ukraine, cut monthly production by 50% over the past year due to pressure from law enforcement officers, largely due to the impossibility of organizing the export of its products in such conditions, owner of the agricultural holding Oleh Bakhmatiuk has said. “We now produce 170 million eggs a month, and we produced about 300 million, and in May – 350 million! Of which 170 million were exported in May, and this month we will send for export, maybe 20 million,” he said is in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Bakhmatiuk explained that the company used credit lines for $ 60-70 million for export, since delivery, for example, to Singapore takes 45 days and the supplier needs to be granted a delay.
“But thanks to the valiant actions of the NABU (the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine), all credit lines were closed to us, we were forced to almost completely close the export direction,” the Avangard owner said, adding that the coronavirus pandemic complicated logistics by making it longer and 30% more expensive.
According to him, out of seven trading houses – in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Iraq, Liberia, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, the opening of which took six years and about $ 25-30 million, Avangard retained only one – in Dubai.
Talking about other reasons for the reduction in production, Bakhmatiuk named a painful rise in the price of raw materials, in particular, fat and oil, bagasse and cereals, common for the entire sector.
“This reputational war has been added to the general problems of the sector. In fact, 12 poultry farms have been closed, now the 13th will be closed,” he said, adding that there are 13 operating factories left.
As the businessman noted, such a reduction in production, taking into account fixed costs, led to an increase in the cost of an egg by about 20 kopecks.
Commenting on the rise in egg prices in Ukraine, he called it forced.
“We go to zero profitability and even with a small minus. Because feed prices are growing faster than the demand and the price of eggs are growing,” the businessman explained.
