International grain trader Qortia AG (Switzerland) has resumed grain shipments from Ukraine’s deepwater ports, the company reported on Linkedin.
According to the report, the company sent the vessel Bereket M (Panama flag) with a cargo of 21.5 thousand tons of Ukrainian corn from Pivdennyi port to Turkey.
“Bereket M became the first vessel this year that Qortia AG loaded exclusively by its own resources in a deep-water Ukrainian port. Since the company’s establishment, we have been actively shipping to Ukraine from deep water for six years. However, after the Russian invasion, we focused mainly on the development of river transportation and transshipment in the ports of the Danube cluster, where the company’s share reached 15%,” the statement said.
Qortia AG is a Swiss agri-trading and logistics company headquartered in Switzerland. It specializes in the purchase and export of grains (wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, etc.), oilseeds, and processed products. The Ukrainian representative office is located in Odesa. Its owners are Konstantin Kuflyk, Dmitry Yandovsky, and Andrey Vitryak.
Bereket M is a bulk carrier flying the flag of Panama. Its length (LOA) is 154.38 meters and its beam is 26 meters.
In the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, Kernel processed 816 thousand tons of sunflower seeds, up 10% year-on-year.
According to the company’s announcement on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday, six crushing plants of the agricultural holding operated at almost full capacity, while two plants were idle due to the proximity to the Russian border and the war zone.
In addition, at the end of February, Kernel started commissioning the Starokonstantinovka oilseed processing plant in Khmelnytsky region. At the time of writing, the plant has reached over 90% of its processing capacity at the commissioning stage. The plant is expected to be fully operational by May 2024 and reach its maximum processing capacity of 1 million tons of sunflower seeds annually.
At the same time, sales of sunflower oil in January-March 2024 increased by 44% year-on-year to 394 thsd tonnes, totaling 1,103 thsd tonnes in 9M2024.
Sales of bottled sunflower oil in the third quarter of FY2024 amounted to 5% of total sales (19 thousand tons).
Kernel emphasized that the volume of loading of the group’s granaries in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 was at a seasonally low level – 254 thousand tons, which amounted to 2.7 million tons for 9 months of fiscal year 2024, which corresponds to the same period last year.
The export terminal’s transshipment volume for the reporting period increased to 2,464 thsd tonnes of grain, sunflower oil and meal, which showed a 2.3-fold increase. This was driven by consistent export activity via the Black Sea, increased volumes of sunflower oil produced, transshipment through port terminals acquired earlier in the season, along with the provision of transshipment services to third parties.
Despite the high transshipment volumes of the terminals, the volume of grain exports from Ukraine in January-March amounted to 1.877 thousand tons, which is 2.3 times more than in the same period last year, the company stated.
Before the war, Kernel Agro Holding was the world’s leading producer of sunflower oil (approximately 7% of global production) and its exports (approximately 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel’s net profit for FY2023 amounted to $299 million, while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $41 million. The agricultural holding’s revenue for FY2023 decreased by 35% to $3.455 billion, but EBITDA increased 2.5 times to $544 million.
In the first half of FY2024, Kernel’s net profit fell 3.6 times compared to the first half of FY2023, to $102 million, and EBITDA halved to $223 million, with revenue down 16% to $1.59 billion.
Ukrainian companies increased exports of ferrous scrap by 52.2% in January-March this year compared to the same period last year, up to 61.261 thousand tons from 40.255 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service, 20,907 thousand tons of scrap metal were exported in March (23,194 thousand tons in February and 17,160 thousand tons in January).
In monetary terms, scrap exports increased by 65.7% to $19.431 million from $11.725 million.
In January-March, Ukraine exported scrap metal to Poland (90.56%), Greece (5.42%) and Germany (3.89%).
In the first three months of the year, the country imported 254 thousand tons of scrap metal for $94 thousand. Imports were carried out from Slovakia (68.82% in monetary terms), Poland (13.98%) and the Netherlands (10.75%), while in January-March 2023, 46 tons of scrap were imported from Slovakia for $16 thousand.
As reported, in 2023, the scrap collecting enterprise of Ukraine increased the export of scrap metal from the country by 3.4 times compared to the previous year – up to 182,485 thousand tons from 53,557 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports increased 2.74 times to $52.723 million from $19.271 million.
Earlier, Ukrmetallurgprom President Oleksandr Kalenkov stated in an op-ed on the Interfax-Ukraine website that scrap metal is exported through the European Union, which has a preferential export duty of EUR3 per ton, and from there the raw materials are redirected to real customers. He noted that exporting raw materials directly to customers would cost EUR180 in export duties, and the Ukrainian budget has already lost UAH 350 million.
The head of Ukrmetallurgprom called for a temporary ban on the export of ferrous scrap to provide steelmakers with strategically important raw materials in the ongoing war. He also clarified that a ton of scrap metal processed into steel brings in 10 times more to the budget than the EU export duty, which is about $300 per ton.
In 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of ferrous scrap by 11.5 times compared to the previous year, to 53,557 thousand tons, and in monetary terms, it decreased by 12.4 times, to $19.271 million.
Since August 2023, the sea corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy has exported almost 36 million tons of cargo, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction).
“More than 36 million tons of cargo have been exported via the Ukrainian sea corridor since August 2023. This is higher than the figures of the Grain Initiative for the year of its existence,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
According to him, 195.7 thousand tons were loaded on the largest of those that called after the full-scale invasion of Ukrainian ports, the Panamanian-flagged CAPTAIN LEONIDAS at Pivdennyi port. The vessel is 300 meters long, 50 meters wide, and has a deadweight of over 203 thousand tons.
Since August 2023, 1,286,000 vessels have sailed through the Ukrainian sea corridor, exporting 25 million tons of agricultural products to Asia, Africa, and Europe. There are 135 vessels waiting to enter the Black Sea ports, which are expected to export another 4 million tons of cargo.
“The Ministry’s team is working hard to ensure the stable movement of exports by sea and reach the targets by 2022,” Kubrakov wrote, emphasizing that the Ukrainian corridor is an effective logistics route, the rhythmic operation of which is the result of joint efforts of the state, the Joint Defense Forces and the entire maritime infrastructure team.
Earlier it was reported that exports via the Ukrainian sea corridor reached 33.8 million tons in 7 months.
Ukraine has exported 34.862 million tons of grain and leguminous crops since the beginning of the 2023/24 marketing year and as of April 1, of which 5.192 million tons were shipped in March, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization Denis Bashlyk said in Telegram.
According to the report, in terms of crops, 18.765 million tons of corn, 13.842 million tons of wheat, 1.962 million tons of barley, and 1,000 tons of rye have been exported since the beginning of the current season.
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of April 1 is estimated at 79.3 thousand tons, including wheat flour – 75.1 thousand tons.
In order to further promote fruit and vegetable products in Uzbekistan, a commission for the export of fruits, vegetables and food products will be established, headed by the Prime Minister.
For this purpose, Uzbek trading houses in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, the United States, and Kazakhstan will be transferred to the management of entrepreneurs.
It has been announced that new trading houses will be opened in major port cities such as Nagoya (Japan), Mersin (Turkey), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Qingdao (China), Klaipeda (Lithuania) and Doha (Qatar).
Thanks to an investment of $8 million, modern laboratories with international accreditation will be launched this year in Zangiat, Fergana, and Samarkand.
A reference laboratory will also be set up in Tashkent to ensure that private laboratories meet international standards. For these purposes, $12 million will be allocated from the World Bank. In the future, internationally recognized reagents will be exempt from customs duties and will not require a mandatory environmental certificate.
For export companies with a shortage of working capital, the Business Development Bank will provide UAH 1.5 trillion in soft loans of up to 50% of the contract amount with the farmer and the procurement warehouse. Loans will be issued at 18% per annum with a grace period of six months for a period of up to 1.5 years.
Suppliers of various fruits and vegetables will be exempt from all taxes regardless of turnover, and will now be able to work as self-employed individuals.
Thanks to the measures taken, fruit products worth USD 1 billion are expected to be exported this year. As part of regional programs, 528 projects worth $833 million will be launched.
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