The international research company Corteva Agriscience has established export supply chains for corn seeds from Ukraine to the EU, and in the context of the Russian military invasion plans to increase its exports to European countries by 16 times by the end of the year compared to last year.
According to a press release from the company, as of early August, it has already shipped 3,000 tonnes of corn seeds grown at its seed complex in Poltava region to the European Union.
The company clarified that, for security reasons, it suspended the operation of the seed plant immediately after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but at the initiative of the employees themselves, after some time, resumed the operation of the enterprise. The launch of its work made it possible to provide Ukrainian farmers with seed material that is critical for the sowing campaign.
Corteva, in the context of Russian aggression, also for security reasons, refused to supply seeds of Ukrainian production by land to the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, but expanded logistics to the EU as much as possible.
“On the production lines of the Corteva plant in Ukraine, high standards of seed production have been introduced, which allow us to produce goods that meet all the quality criteria adopted in the EU. Seeds are controlled by many indicators at all stages of production – from field to bag, and meet the maximum requirements of both Ukrainian, and foreign farmers choosing Corteva genetics,” the company said.
Earlier, in April, the company decided to leave the Russian market due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
Corteva Agriscience is a global agricultural company. It offers farmers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active ingredients in the portfolio.
Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in Jan-May 2022 (export)
SSC of Ukraine
Production of sunflower seeds in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, September-August) is projected at 9.4 million tonnes, which is 42.6% less than the previous MY (16.4 million tonnes), while their exports will decrease by approximately 41.2%, to 1 million tonnes from 1.7 million tonnes.
Such data were announced by Stepan Kapshuk, Director General of the Ukroliyaprom Association, during the online conference “Ukrainian oilseed market: optimistic or pessimistic forecast” on Thursday.
Thus, this MY is expected to reduce production of sunflower seeds to the lowest value in ten years, which is even lower than in 2013/2014 MY with 11.5 million tonnes. This decrease is caused by the Russian military invasion into Ukraine, the temporary occupation of part of its territory, and logistical problems associated with Russian aggression.
The head of the association stressed that in 2022/2023 MY, oilseed exports are expected to decrease by 10.6%, to 5.1 million tonnes from 5.71 million tonnes in 2021/2022 MY, including sunflower seeds 41.2%, to 1 million tonnes, and rapeseed by 4%, to 2.6 million tonnes from 2.71 million tonnes. However, soybean exports are expected to grow by 15.3%, to 1.5 million tonnes from 1.3 million tonnes in 2021/2022 MY.
According to Kapshuk, in general, in 2022/2023 MY, production of oilseeds in Ukraine is projected at the level of 14.86 million tonnes, of which, in addition to indicated 9.4 million tonnes of sunflower seeds, 2.87 million tonnes account for rapeseed, and 2.59 million tonnes for soybeans.
At the same time, it is expected that in Ukraine 95.7% of produced sunflower seeds – 9.0 million tonnes, 38% of soybeans – 1 million tonnes, and 7% of rapeseed – 200,000 tonnes will be processed in 2022/2023 MY.
According to the Director General of Ukroliyaprom, in 2022/2023 MY, Ukraine will produce 4.0 million tonnes of sunflower oil, while 4.2 million tonnes will be exported, of which part will be sent from transitional stocks left over from the previous period. These figures are lower than those of MY 2021/2022 with 5.2 million tonnes of oil produced and 4.3 million tonnes of exports, and are comparable to the indicators of MY 2013/2014 (production – 4.6 million tonnes, export – 4.19 million tonnnes).
In July of this year, Ukraine managed to export 3.0 million tons of agricultural products, bypassing its seaports, the key export infrastructure of the country, now blocked by Russian troops.
Export growth last month was 12% compared to June 2022, according to the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business Association (UCAB) on Monday.
In terms of crops in July, grain exports amounted to 1.7 million tons (corn – 69%, wheat – 22%, barley – 9%), having increased by 21% compared to June.
According to the UCAB, in July Ukraine exported 597.2 thousand tons of oilseeds (sunflower seeds – 61%, rapeseed – 19%, soybeans – 9%), which is 7% more than the previous month. At the same time, the same amount of vegetable oil was exported as in June – 297.1 thousand tons, of which 94% is sunflower oil and 6% is soybean.
Export of sunflower and soybean cake and meal in July amounted to 185.9 thousand tons (sunflower – 85%, soybean – 15%), which corresponds to an increase of 34% compared to June.
Thus, last month, grain crops showed the largest growth volumes, the export of which increased by almost 300 thousand tons over the month. There was also a partial change in the structure of grain exports – an increase in the share of wheat and barley compared to previous periods, which is associated with the harvesting of these crops by Ukraine and, accordingly, an increase in supply.
“Although there is a positive trend in exports, prices for grain crops in the domestic market continue to decline. They are being pressured by an excess supply of both the last year’s crop and the arrival of a new crop at a significantly lower export growth rate,” the UCAB said in a statement.
As reported, before the start of the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation, Ukraine monthly exported 5-6 million tons of agricultural products through its key seaports in Odessa and Nikolaev.
The export potential of Ukrainian wheat in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) may be about 12 million tons, which is 36% lower than in the previous 2021/2022 MY (18.7 million tons) and by 28% less than the year before last 2020/2021 MY (16.6 million tons).
As reported on the APK-Inform agency website on Friday, the decline in wheat exports is due to a 39% decrease in the expected gross grain harvest in Ukraine in 2022/23 MY compared to the previous season – to 52.3 million tons from 86 million tons, as well as the limited capacity of the country’s export infrastructure.
According to him, Egypt and Indonesia have been the key importers of Ukrainian grain products for several seasons: at the end of 2021/2022 MY, their shares in total exports amounted to 16% and 14%, respectively (2.9 million tons and 2.5 million tons in natural expression). It is specified that in 2021/2022 MY, Egypt increased purchases of Ukrainian wheat in relation to the season 2020/2021 MY by 19%, and Indonesia – by 2%.
Turkey became the third largest importer of Ukrainian wheat in the past MY – its imports more than doubled compared to the previous season – from 794 thousand tons to 1.9 million tons, and its share in total exports increased from 5% to 10%.
As reported, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the July report predicts the harvest of Ukrainian wheat in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) at the level of 19.5 million tons, its export – 10 million tons, domestic consumption within the country – 10, 2 million tons. The corn harvest is estimated at 25 million tons, export – 9 million tons, domestic consumption – 10.7 million tons.
The European Union will be able to double the export of Ukrainian electricity this week, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday after an informal meeting of EU energy ministers with their Ukrainian counterpart Herman Galushchenko on the sidelines extraordinary meeting of the EU Energy Council.
“If commercial electricity trading helps Ukraine offset some of the revenue losses, then this is the way forward. We are not waiting for any specific technical conditions to start trading. Trading is already underway,” she stated.
The European Commissioner recalled that the Ukrainian and Moldovan power transmission networks “were synchronized with the European one in record time.”
“I will continue to support the next step of a full-fledged electricity trade with Ukraine. The first commercial cross-border electricity exchange began at the end of June with Romania, and with Slovakia in July. At the moment, the trading capacity is 1,500 megawatts. But European transmission network operators meet on this week and will discuss doubling this amount,” Simson said.
In this regard, the European Commissioner opined that “by doing so, we will also be able to compensate for some of the production of capacities that here in the EU must be produced with gas, most likely gas from Russia.”
“These are mutually beneficial actions. But our cooperation in the future is not only electricity and gas, but you can expect that soon we will be ready to announce future cooperation in the field of clean gases, renewable gases. This is a market that will develop in Europe, and Ukraine has great opportunities to become our trading partner in the coming years,” she explained.
Simson also said that the EU-Ukraine High Level Energy Market Integration Panel will resume work in September, “accelerating the necessary reforms.” “This will be even more important, since Ukraine now has the status of an EU candidate with a clear European perspective,” the European Commissioner said.
In addition, she noted that Ukraine has the largest gas storage facilities in Europe. “And it’s in our joint interest to use them for security purposes,” Simson said.
For his part, Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko noted that Ukraine has the ability to store more than 12 billion gas for European companies in its underground gas storage facilities “in fairly safe places.”
Galushchenko stressed that the Ukrainian gas transportation system could guarantee gas supplies at the level of those volumes that are transported to Europe through Nord Stream 1, “if the Russians close it.”
“Even during the war, we ensured the security of supplies of those volumes that go through the Ukrainian pipeline, and this was our obligation to our European partners. We are fulfilling this obligation,” the Minister of Energy stressed.
As for the export of Ukrainian electricity, according to him, today it is a direct replacement for Russian gas.
“Today we export 100 MW to Europe. But technically we could already increase it to 1.5-1.7 thousand MW, realizing that this can replace up to five to six billion cubic meters of Russian gas with Ukrainian electricity,” he said.
In addition, Galushchenko focused on the behavior of the Russian invaders at the site of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
“What they are doing there is called nuclear terrorism. And therefore, we must be aware that in the 21st century, only one country can behave like a terrorist. And this is a matter of nuclear security. This is not only a matter between Ukraine and Russia, this is a question of the whole world,” the head of the Ministry of Energy stressed.
