Ukraine since the beginning of the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of March 6, 2019 had exported 33.399 million tonnes of grain and leguminous plants.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, farmers exported 12.7 million tonnes of wheat, 3.3 million tonnes of barley, and 16.8 million tonnes of corn.
Some 179,100 tonnes of flour had been exported on that date.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 MY.
According to the ministry, grain exports in the 2018/2019 MY are projected to be 49 million tonnes.
Kormotech LLC (Lviv region), a Ukrainian producer of cat and dog food, plans to expand the number of countries to export its products in South America and enter Hungary, Lebanon, Libya and the Czech Republic with own brands, the company’s press service has reported. According to the company’s press release, Kormotech is now delivering private label products to Chile in cooperation with Chilean distributor Anasac Ambiental. “Anasac Ambiental works throughout Latin America. In the future, we plan to increase the number of export countries. Therefore, we hope to cooperate with a Chilean partner in other countries of South America not only in private label, but also with Kormotech brands,” the press service reported, citing Production Director Ihor Paraniak.
As the company told Interfax-Ukraine, the company sent the first shipment to Chile in November 2018, its volume was 43 tonnes of wet food for cats. The sales in the new export countries are planned under private label, as well as Optimeal and Club 4 Paws trademarks.
In addition, the company plans to export products under its own brands to Hungary, Lebanon, Libya and the Czech Republic.
At the same time, Director and co-founder of the company Rostyslav Vovk said in an interview with Global FDI Reports that Kormotech is considering the acquisition of other pet food companies.
“We are building a new plant in Lithuania. And in the future – not next year, but soon – we are considering some acquisitions… In the near future, I think we will find companies that we can buy,” he said.
He also said that at the moment the strategic export directions for Kormotech are Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries, where the company has its own sales departments.
According to the results of 2018, Kormotech increased sales to 37,000 tonnes (a rise of 19%), exports amounted to 12.5%. By 2023, the company plans to increase the share of export sales to 50%.
In 2018, Kormotech increased the annual capacity of wet food production to 16,000 tonnes, and in 2019 plans to launch a wet feed factory in Lithuania with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per year.
In addition, in 2020, Kormotech wants to increase the production of dry food at its production facilities in Ukraine to 46,000 tonnes (now – about 30,000 tonnes).
In 2019, the company plans the first private label shipments to the U.K. and Finland, as well as to go to U.S. retail chains (now products are sold through Amazon in this country).
Kormotech exports products to about 20 countries, including France, Estonia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Poland. The facilities of the company include two plants for the manufacture of dry and wet pet food. The company produces products for cats and dogs under its own brands Optimeal, Club 4 paws (Meow! and Woof! trademarks) and in private label.
The ultimate beneficiaries of Kormotech are Olena and Rostyslav Vovk.
Exports of agricultural products from Ukraine in January 2019 amounted to $1.7 billion, which is almost 22.5% more than in the same month in 2018, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has reported.
According to the report, grain crops traditionally remain the leaders of Ukrainian agricultural exports with a share of 44.6% in the total structure of agricultural exports, the share of vegetable oils is 19.8%, oilseeds some 9.7%.
“The EU countries rank first among our sales markets, to which we exported $668 million worth of products in January. Asian countries lost to our European neighbors with a little more than $641 million. African countries rank third. Ukrainian agricultural exports there stood at $292.2 million,” Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to her, the top five key countries importing Ukrainian agricultural products in January (by volume of exports in value terms) were Egypt with $153.6 million, the Netherlands with $149.9 million, India with $143.9 million, Spain with $135.8 million, and Turkey with $112.3 million.
Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has revised upwards its forecast for exports of grain from Ukraine for 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) from 47.2 million tonnes to 49 million tonnes, the press service of the ministry has reported. “This agricultural year we expect that grain exports from Ukraine would reach 49 million tonnes,” Deputy Minister Olha Kovaleva said.
As reported, Ukraine since the beginning of the 2018/2019 agri-year as of February 20, 2019 had exported 31.31 million tonnes of grain and leguminous plants, which is 21.5% more than on the same date of the previous agri-year. On the specified date, 164,000 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
The gross grain harvest in Ukraine in 2018 amounted to about 70.1 million tonnes compared to 62 million tonnes in 2017.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has stated the requirement for the mandatory sale of export earnings could be cancelled, governor of the central bank Yakiv Smolii has said.
“As market conditions develop, we think we’ll cancel this rule,” he said at a conference of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine in early February 2019 announced the decision to reduce the norm for the mandatory sale of export earnings from 50% to 30% from March 1.
