Corteva Agriscience, an international agricultural research company, increased its exports of Pioneer brand corn seed to the EU 16-fold in 2023 through established channels in Romania and Hungary, according to its press release.
According to it, the company was able to achieve a 15 percent increase in yields of Pioneer’s advanced seed hybrids last year through the introduction of precision farming, irrigation and other advanced approaches.
“For ten years we have been developing seed production in Ukraine, because for Corteva Agriscience our country is one of the major players in the global agricultural market, which has a significant impact on global food security,” – quoted the press service of the regional head of seed production Corteva Agriscience Andrey Andriushko.
He said that amid the war the company continues to invest in the production seed complex and support the communities of the region. For example, last year Corteva Agriscience signed a declaration with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on deepening and further developing cooperation for food security in Ukraine and the world, which resulted in increasing the production capacity of the seed complex in Stasi village, Poltava region, officially opened in June 2013 and investments of over $56 million. Its annual capacity has reached about 500 thousand seed units of corn and 250 thousand seed units.
According to the company, Corteva is one of the largest taxpayers in the region. The total number of employees, including seasonal workers, reaches nearly 400.
According to the press release, Corteva has invested about UAH 4.6 million in the development of Stasi village since 2013 (to improve infrastructure, medicine, education and social life of the community, in particular, it financed the reconstruction of a bomb shelter for 800 people.
Corteva Agriscience is a global agricultural company. It offers agricultural producers comprehensive solutions to maximize crop yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active substances in its portfolio.
Its representative office in Ukraine includes a central office in Kiev, a research center in Lyubartsy village (Kiev region) and a seed production complex opened in 2013 in Stasi village (Poltava region). Investments in the plant over five years amounted to more than $56 mln.
In April 2022, the company decided to leave the Russian market due to the full-scale war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.
Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) considers the continuation of the restrictive measures on import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria discriminatory and groundless and insists on the cancellation of this decision.
“Such prolongation will neither solve the problems of local markets nor improve the situation of local farmers,” said a statement published on the UCAB website on Monday.
The business association believes that the resolution prepared by the EU on the prohibition of the import of agricultural products from Ukraine to five neighboring EU countries, according to which the restrictions will be in force until September 15 this year, will have a negative impact on the economic recovery of Ukrainian farmers during the war.
Such decisions should be taken only after detailed studies and consultations with all EU member states because according to the latest data, some neighboring EU member states, such as Poland, were able to increase their export potential and domestic processing by importing cheaper Ukrainian agricultural products and improve their positions in livestock and finished products, the UCAB reminded.
The business association noted the negative influence of such a decision on the situation with sabotage of the “grain agreement” by Russia. “According to preliminary forecasts, the current steps to prohibit the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU may deepen the blackmailing of the Russians regarding the operation of the grain corridor,” the UCAB said.
Experts of business-association emphasized that Ukraine will have less export potential in 2023 season: export of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine is forecasted to decrease by one third to 46 million tons per year.
Existing trade restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products in five countries of the EU should be abolished. At the same time, it is worth conducting an open constructive dialogue between representatives of the Ukrainian and European agro-communities in order to find compromises, which will help both the EU and Ukraine to become stronger, summed up in UCAB.
The European Union has extended by another year the cancellation of import duties on Ukrainian exports. This decision will become effective from 6 June 2023 and will be effective until 5 June 2024, inclusive.
The regulation of the European Parliament and the European Council of May 31 on extending for another year the abolition of import duties on Ukrainian exports was published in the EU official Journal on Monday.
The moratorium on duties imposed in 2022 will expire on June 5, 2023.
In order to prevent fraud in the preferential mechanisms established by the regulation, Ukraine must comply with a number of rules, including refraining from introducing new duties or charges and new quantitative restrictions or measures with equivalent effect, from increasing existing duties and charges, and from imposing any other restrictions in trade with the EU, unless clearly justified, the document says.
According to the regulation, if Ukraine fails to comply with any of these conditions, the EU may suspend the preferential mechanisms.
The European Union (EU) and Ukraine need to find a solution that would allow Ukrainian farmers to work, exporting grain to the EU in the volumes they need, Croatian Minister of Agriculture Marija Vučković said at an online meeting with Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky on Tuesday.
Vučković is confident that the restrictions on the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to Europe, which were introduced by the European Commission until June 5, should not be extended after this date, the press service of Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said.
Solsky, in turn, thanked his colleague for understanding. He also said that Croatia became one of the signatories of the letter of the European Commission sent by the relevant ministers of 14 states of the European Union. In this appeal, they expressed concern about the temporary ban on importing Ukrainian agricultural products to five states of the European Union.
Ukraine has received about 90,000 tons of in-kind aid, such as equipment and medicines, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism since the start of the Russian invasion, DW reported.
“This is by far the most complex, the most extensive and the longest operation under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in the history of its existence,” said European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, quoted by the newspaper.
He said assistance was provided with food, medicine, vehicles, generators, transformers and equipment to repair power grids and other critical infrastructure.
“We even delivered items such as sunflower seeds and equipment to protect cultural monuments,” Lenarcic said.
In addition, more than two thousand patients and wounded from Ukraine have been treated in more than 20 EU countries, the commissioner added.
Ukraine officially joined the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on April 20, 2023. Within the framework of this mechanism, the EU states and other countries cooperate in preparedness and response to crises and disasters.
Thanks to the Mechanism, Ukraine has received assistance before, just like any other country in the world following a request. As a member of the Mechanism, Ukraine will have access to expert exchanges, training programs and exercises, and will be able to provide assistance to countries in crisis.
In 2022 the EU countries have increased imports of honey in physical form by almost 10% – up to 190.6 thousand tons, which in money equivalent is EUR504.2 million, said honey market analyst Anna Burka in Facebook.
According to her data, the EU increased imports from China by 42%, Argentina – by 35%, as well as from Turkey and Vietnam, while imports from Ukraine decreased in kind by 14%.
“Ukraine remains one of the main suppliers of honey to the EU, but in 2022 China ranks first in the ranking (in volume terms). At the same time, if we look at imports in money terms, Ukraine is still the leader,” the analyst noted.
According to data of the European Commission, as quoted by Anna Burka, in 2022 Ukraine supplied 46.09 tons of honey to the EU, which accounted for 24.2% of total imports. A year earlier, the figure was 53.836 thousand tons, and Ukraine had a 31% share of supplies. In 2029, supplies reached 54.8 thousand tons, which was 31.3% of all EU honey imports.
Judging by the four-year trends cited by the EC, EU consumption of honey, particularly imported honey, is on the rise. While in 2019, EU countries imported 167.097 thousand tons of it, in 2020 it increased by 4.7% to 174.912 thousand tons, in 2022 imports reached 190.591 thousand tons, an increase of 9.8% over the year before.
As reported, in 2022 88% of Ukrainian honey exports accounted for the EU countries, which brought exporters $120 million.
The main buyers of Ukrainian honey were Germany, which bought it for $38 million, Poland – $24 million, France – $11 million, Italy – $7 million, Spain – $6 million, Belgium – $6 million. Among the countries from other regions that imported Ukrainian honey were the US, which bought it for $10 million and Japan – $1.7 million. Minor volumes were supplied to Turkey, Israel, Qatar, UAE, Somalia.
