Ukraine as of April 25 had sowed 2.1 million hectares (86% of the forecast) with early grain and leguminous crops.
According to a report on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, 1.4 million hectares was sown with spring barley (86% of the plan), 157,000 hectares with oats (77%), 144,000 hectares with wheat (82%), and 386,000 ha with peas (91%).
In addition, corn was sown on one million hectares (22%), sugar beets on 239,000 hectares (79%), sunflower on 1.9 million hectares (34%), and soybeans on 172,000 hectares (9%).
Winter crops for grain were fertilized in 14 regions of Ukraine on an area of about 7.2 million hectares (99%).
As reported, with reference to the ministry, the area under early spring grains in 2018 will amount to 2.38 million hectares.
Grain harvest in Ukraine in the 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) could grow by 3% compared with the previous year, to 61.85 million tonnes, according to projections of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA). “In the 2017/18 agri-year exports of grain will be 40.6 million tonnes, and next agri-year we forecast growth of exports by 6%, to 43.3 million tonnes,” UGA President Mykolav Horbachev said.
In particular, wheat harvest in the 2018/19 agir-year could expand by 2.2%, to 27.1 million tonnes, that for corn – by 9%, to 27 million tonnes, and the barley harvest could narrow by 9.3%, to 7.8 million tonnes.
The association said that in the 2018/19 agri-year wheat exports could grow by 5.8%, to 18 million tonnes, corn – by 10.5%, to 21 million tonnes, and barley exports could fall by 6.5%, to 4.3 million tonnes.
As of April 24, 2018, Ukraine exported 15.4 million tonnes of wheat, 4.1 million tonnes of barley and 13.8 million tonnes of corn, according to the UGA.
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) may acquire three grain storage facilities from Mriya Agro Holding in Ternopil region as part of debt restructuring.
IFC requested respective permits for assets owned by private enterprise Noriia Zakhid, Black Bryony Holdings LLC and Elagri-Derenivka LLC, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has said.
As reported, Mriya and IFC in May 2017 agreed on the terms of restructuring of the holding’s debt. The parties agreed to split the debt into a secured and unsecured part. They also stipulated terms for restructuring the secured part of the debt. Mriya’s unsecured debt to IFC will be restructured on common conditions for all unsecured creditors.
Mriya’s total debt is $1.087 billion, of which $46 million is loans for working capital, $7 million for leasing of agricultural machinery, $130 million is secured loans, and $904 million is unsecured loans.
After the restructuring, the amount of secured loans will be reduced to $62 million, unsecured ones to $ 213 million.
Mriya is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding founded by Ivan Huta in 1992. Today, its land bank is 165,000 ha in Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Rivne regions. The capacity of its grain storage facilities is estimated at 380,000 tonnes.
The grain harvest in Ukraine may grow from 61.3 million tonnes in 2017 to 62 million tonnes in 2018, according to the UkrAgroConsult consulting agency. “This year the gross harvest will reach the level of 62 million tonnes. Exports will amount to 41 million tonnes for the 2017/2018 marketing year. In the next marketing year we forecast growth of exports by at least one million tonnes,” grain market analyst at UkrAgroConsult Maryna Sych said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, this year there is a competition between crops due to the fact that the timing of sowing early and late spring crops has almost coincided.
“Now we have virtually a week to fulfill the barley sowing plan, as further it will be necessary to start sowing maize and sunflower. The question of implementing the plan for sowing spring barley remains open,” she said. UkrAgroConsult expects in the current conditions that the area under barley this year will be reduced, the yield will be about 7.7-7.8 million tonnes. If the farmers manage to fulfill the barley sowing plan, the crop can reach eight million tonnes against 8.3 million tonnes in 2017.
The area under maize, according to the agency, will remain at last year’s level. There may be a slight increase in the area if it is necessary to compensate for the reduction of barley crops. The maize harvest is projected at 26 million tonnes, or at 28 million tonnes if the sowing area is increased, compared to 24.1 million tonnes in 2017.
Ukraine as of Friday, April 6, had sowed 138,000 hectares with grain and leguminous crops, or 6% of the forecast, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has said.
According to information on its website, spring grains are sown in 13 regions.
In particular, spring wheat was planted on 2,000 hectares, or 1% of the plan, spring barley on 82,000 ha (5%), oats on 3,000 ha (1%), and peas on 51,000 ha (12%).
Fertilization of winter crops for grain is continuing: nutrients have been used on an area of 4.5 million hectares (62% of the forecast).
A survey of winter grains for the 2018 harvest shows that out from the seeded 7.3 million ha, seedlings were obtained on 99.7% of the areas, of which 6.4 million hectares (89%) are in a good and satisfactory state, while those on 816,500 hectares (11%) are weak and thick.
Winter crops for grain for the harvest of 2018 have been sown on an area of 7.3 million hectares, or 101% of the area under the 2017 harvest. In particular, wheat was sown on 6.3 million hectares, or 103% of the target, barley on 800,000 hectares, or 94%, rye on 149,400 hectares, or 88%. In addition, winter rapeseeds for grain have been sown on an area of one million hectares or 112%
The grain terminal of Cargill and MV Cargo in Yuzhny port (Odesa region), whose capacity will total 5 million tonnes of grain per year, and the cost is estimated at $150 million, could by the end of 2018 transfer the first one million tonnes of grain, the co-owner and CEO of TIS Port, Andriy Stavnitser, has said. “We plan to launch the MV Cargo terminal in summer and I hope we will handle one million tonnes by the end of the year. I will be superstitious, I will not voice the date. But we are doing everything to launch it in summer. Whether it will be June or August I cannot say: construction in Ukrainian realities is a thing not always predictable,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Stavnitser, from the point of view of construction itself, everything is proceeding well: the dredging has been completed, the filling of the pier with sand is being carried out, and then hydraulic engineering construction will begin.
As reported, Cargill (the United States), the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority and MV Cargo LLC in August 2015 signed a tripartite memorandum of intent to implement an investment project in Yuzhny port. Its launch was scheduled for 2017.
