Exports of tomato paste from Ukraine in 2021/22 (marketing year, July-June) amounted to 62,180 tonnes, which is 45% (or 27,980 tonnes) less than the previous year.
As reported on the industry website tomatonews.com, the main reason for this reduction was the Russian occupation and hostilities in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, where the largest Ukrainian tomato paste producer, the Agrofusion agricultural holding, is located.
According to the publication, the export of tomato paste from Ukraine in February 2022 amounted to 4,090 tonnes (37% less compared to the same month in 2021), in March – 196 tonnes (a drop of 97.2%), in April – 861 tonnes (80% less), in May – 1,120 tonnes (72.2% less), in June – 473 tonnes (85.7% less).
Agrofusion is a vertically integrated group of companies engaged in the cultivation and processing of tomatoes for manufacturers of juices, ketchups and tomato sauces. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, it included 10 departments, two greenhouses, three plants for the production of tomato paste (two in Mykolaiv region, one in Kherson region) with a total capacity of up to 750,000 tonnes of tomatoes per season. The total land bank of agricultural enterprises in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions amounted to more than 32,000 hectares of irrigated land.
The group of companies was founded in 2005 by businessman Serhiy Sypko. In 2019, Agrofusion launched a vegetable drying plant in Snihurivka (Mykolaiv region) and began the production of tomato powder.
From the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) and until November 2, Ukraine exported 13.38 million tons of grain crops, of which 7.14 million tons of corn (53.4% of total supplies), 5.06 million tons of wheat (37.8%) and 1.22 million tons of barley (9.1%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Wednesday, the rate of grain exports since the beginning of the current MY is 32.1% lower than the same period of the last MY (from July 1 to November 2, 2021, 19.72 million tons were delivered abroad).
According to the agency, from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until November 2, 2022, Ukraine exported 5.06 million tons of wheat (2.48 times less compared to the same period a year earlier), 1.22 million tons of barley (4. 01 times less), 6.2 thousand tons of rye (9 times less) and 36.1 thousand tons of flour (16.8% less). At the same time, the pace of corn exports exceeded last year’s volumes – 7.14 million tons were exported, which is 2.94 times higher than in 2021/2022 MY on the same date.
It is specified that in general, on November 1, 177 thousand tons of grain crops were exported from Ukraine, including 62 thousand tons of wheat, 93 thousand tons of corn, 16 thousand tons of barley and 0.7 thousand tons of flour
As follows from the data of the ministry, for the week of October 26-November 2, an average of 170 thousand tons of grain per day was supplied to foreign markets, while for the previous period of October 21-26 – 132 thousand tons per day, for the period 1-21 October -141.5 thousand tons / day, for September 26-30 – a record 267.5 thousand tons / day since the beginning of the war, and for September 21-26 – 126 thousand tons / day. Thus, the average daily export rates for the reporting period October 26-November 2 increased by 28.7% compared to the previous period October 21-26.
As reported, in the 2021/2022 marketing year, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grains and legumes, which is 8.4% higher than the previous marketing year, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat were delivered to foreign markets (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%) , 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%).
In 2020/2021 MY, the country exported 44.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand . tons of rye.
In 2019/2020 MY, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
The Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP) is launching the Danube Grain Route project due to the disruption of the “grain initiative” by Russia, UDP CEO Dmitry Moskalenko said on his Facebook page.
“Back in the summer, we assumed that Russia could at any moment try to disrupt the Grain Initiative. Therefore, we persistently and systematically developed our Danube Grain Route project,” Moskalenko explained.
According to him, UDP has invested in the creation of its own transshipment of grain and agreed with the Romanian partners – the TTS group of companies – on a faster and more efficient transshipment scheme in the port of Constanta.
Among the advantages of the new grain project at the first stage, Moskalenko noted that due to the faster loading and unloading process, the average caravan turnaround time will be reduced by about 30%. As a result, cargo owners will not have to bear financial losses due to long queues near the terminal.
In addition, the Director General of the UDP predicts that in the future the barge caravan will be able to carry out up to two trips per month due to the equipping of ships with online control systems, video surveillance and an increase in the number of navigators in the crew.
Moskalenko also said that at the second stage of the project, it is planned to build new barges, to increase the “tonnage” capabilities and modernize traction – a major overhaul of the self-propelled fleet with the replacement of engines.
As reported with reference to the data of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, in just three months of the implementation of the Grain Initiative, 422 ships from Ukrainian seaports exported about 10 million tons of agricultural products. This volume could be 30-40% more if Russia did not block inspections in the Bosphorus.
On the afternoon of October 31, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that without the participation of the Russian Federation, the export of Ukrainian grain would hardly be feasible. At the same time, he noted that from now on the grain deal acquires a “risky and non-guaranteed character.”
Ships flying the Turkish flag will be able to continue exporting grain from Ukrainian ports without any problems, despite the suspension of Russia’s participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.
“There are no problems with the exit of ships under the flag of Turkey. They will continue to leave Ukrainian ports,” the Turkish media quoted the minister as saying.
Akar also expressed hope that the parties will be able to agree on the implementation of the agreement on grain in full.
The topic of the grain deal, as reported, was discussed by phone on Monday and Tuesday by the foreign ministers and defense ministers of Russia and Turkey.
The vessel Ikaria Angel with 40,000 tons of grain for Ethiopia as part of the UN World Food Program (WFP) was unable to leave the Ukrainian port on Sunday, as planned, due to Russia’s actions, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
“These products were intended for the people of Ethiopia, who are on the verge of starvation. But due to the blocking of the “grain corridor” by Russia, export is impossible,” he tweeted on Sunday.
As reported, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Moscow’s withdrawal from agreements on the export of grain from the ports of Ukraine, citing the alleged attack by Ukraine “against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships involved in ensuring the security of the” grain corridor “.
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that this was just a pretext, and Russia deliberately began to aggravate the food crisis back in September, when, due to the actions of its representatives, 176 ships had already accumulated in the Joint Coordination Center near the Bosphorus, which could not pass through your route.
On July 22, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN signed an agreement in Istanbul on the creation of a sea corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain from the ports of Chornomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny for a period of 120 days.
As of October 29, 403 ships left Ukrainian ports with 9.1 million tons of agricultural products for Asia, Europe and Africa.
Representatives of the oil and fat industry of Ukraine are asking the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine to increase the duty on the export of sunflower seeds to 10% from 3.5%, this will allow them to be processed domestically into higher-margin sunflower oil, especially in the face of a reduction in the oilseed crop in 2022 from – for the aggression of the Russian Federation.
The proposal to create a working group between the ministry and the specialized association “Ukroliyaprom” to resolve the relevant issue was made by its representative Stanislav Tarshin, the beneficiary of the GradOlia company.
“We understand that the gross harvest of sunflower this year will be 30% less than last year, not 16 million tons, but 9-10 million tons. You can assume that since the beginning of the war, 1.7 million tons have already been exported, and no less will be taken out in the future. We will again be left without jobs, without receiving foreign currency and other things,” he stressed during a panel discussion with Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko at the business forum “Dialogue between civil society, business and government: wartime challenges” in Kyiv on Friday.
He emphasized that the oil and fat industry of the country may face a shortage of raw materials for the production of sunflower oil due to a smaller sunflower crop in Ukraine in 2022 due to Russian invasion and temporary occupation of part of its territory. This can lead to underloading of enterprises in the industry, a reduction in foreign exchange from oil sales abroad, as well as the closure of enterprises and an increase in unemployment in the country.
To prevent such a development of events, Tarshin proposed to establish a duty on the export of sunflower seeds from the country at a rate of 10% instead of the current 3.5%.
In addition, the representative of Ukroliyaprom called on the Minister of Economy to stimulate deep processing of sunflower oil in Ukraine, including its purification and packaging before selling it abroad.
“We should have reduced the export of crude sunflower oil (in favor of processed – IF-U). Many people think that if we export not sunflower, but crude oil, then this is the final product. This is a big mistake – such oil is a raw material that is subsequently processed many countries of the world. We export 6-6.5 million tons annually, while we only eat 0.5 million tons in the country,” Tarshin specified.
According to him, in order to increase the deep processing of sunflower oil by 50% of the current level, it will be necessary to build about 20 enterprises of this profile in Ukraine, which will additionally create tens of thousands of jobs in the country.
