Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agro-industrial groups, has started direct purchases of nitrogen fertilizer Anvistar from Polish producer Anwil S.A. of PKN Orlen Group as part of early preparations for the next agricultural season.
As the holding said on Facebook Wednesday, the fertilizer was delivered by truck and transferred to rail cars at the Polish-Ukrainian border, and the cargo is already on its way by rail to Kernel’s warehouses.
“We are purposefully expanding our network of partners, diversifying risks and experiencing a new quality of agribusiness products. I am sure that this was only the first step on the way to future partnership,” the holding quotes Igor Stelmashchuk, head of its Agribusiness commercial division, as saying.
As reported, Ukraine’s largest producer of fertilizers Ostchem of nitrogen holding Group DF Dmytro Firtash in 2022 reduced production by 66.9% in 2021 – to 1.754 million tons.
Among the main reasons for the reduction of production by Group DF was the loss of control over Severodonetsk Azot (Donetsk region), which managed to produce 0.05 million tons of nitrogen fertilizers until February 27, 2022.
In addition, the production cuts were caused by the destruction of logistics and distribution chains, reduced exports due to regulatory and logistical constraints, power outages due to the mass destruction of energy infrastructure, high gas prices, as well as a drop in solvent demand from farmers by at least 40%.
According to Group DF estimates, the fertilizer market in 2022 decreased by 45-50% – from 4.75 million tons to 2-2.9 million tons.
PKN Orlen has a dominant share in the oil products markets of Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states.
“Before the war Kernel ranked first in the world in sunflower oil production (about 7% of world production) and its export (about 12%) and was the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, the company was involved in other agricultural products cultivation and sales.
The largest co-owner of Kernel, through Namsen Ltd. is Ukrainian businessman Andrei Verevskyi, with a 39.3% stake.
In FY2022 (July-2021 – June-2022), the holding posted net loss of $41 mln against $506 mln net profit in the previous FY. Its revenue decreased by 5% – to $5.332 bln, while EBITDA decreased 3.7 times – to $220 mln.
Ukrainian UPG Group has entered into an agreement to acquire assets of Polish company Baltchem SA Zakłady Chemiczn, as a result the network has got at its disposal a powerful marine terminal in Poland for transshipment and storage of oil products.
According to the group’s statement on its website, this will enable uninterrupted fuel supplies to Ukraine at affordable prices.
It is emphasized that all fuels sold by UPG come from Europe and comply with the fifth environmental standard.
“Adapting our business to today’s challenges, we have established reliable and stable partnership relations with such European producers of high-quality oil products as Royal Dutch Shell, Total Energies SE, Neste Oyj, Glencore Energy in the shortest time,” the statement says.
As UPG notes, from the first days of the large-scale war in Ukraine, the group terminated its partnership with the Belarusian fuel producer, completely abandoning their products, and does not supply Russian fuel since the beginning of the aggression of the Russian Federation in 2014: the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of certain territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The UPG brand belongs to the fuel company Ukrpaletsystem (Korosten, Zhytomyr Region), which has been operating on the market since 2003.
Another stationary service center for citizens of Ukraine Passport Service opens on Friday in Gdansk (Poland), where it will be possible to issue passport documents.
According to the Interior Ministry website, the new center will be located at Gdansk, Aleja Grunwaldzka (Grunwaldzka Alley) 415, 80-309 and will operate from Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00.
Ukrainians can apply for the following services: simultaneous registration of a passport and an ID-card; issuance of a passport; issuing an ID-card; driver’s license exchange; insurance.
“Acceptance of applications for the issuance of passport documents is possible both by appointment (https://gdansk.pasport.org.ua/solutions/e-queue), and on a first-come, first-served basis. Payment is made directly on the spot, using the online payment for services. Only a smartphone and bank card details are needed for this procedure,” the ministry said.
According to the Interior Ministry, four separate divisions of the state-owned enterprise “Document” have been opened in Poland: in Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Wroclaw. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have already applied for the necessary documents in these centers.
Next year, it is planned to open similar document processing centers in Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey.
The Nova Poshta group of companies has opened two more branches in Poland – in the cities of Gdansk and Wroclaw, the company’s press service reported on Monday.
“In particular, the new branches of Nova Post are located… in Gdansk and Wroclaw,” Nova Poshta said.
According to the press release, a total of 10 Nova Poshta branches have already been opened in Poland: in Warsaw, Krakow, Rzeszow, Poznan, Gdansk and Wroclaw, each of which employs Ukrainians who can serve both in Ukrainian and in Polish.
By the end of the year, Nova Poshta plans to open seven more post offices in Poland.
In Nova Poshta offices, packing services are available, sending to Ukraine and receiving parcels from Ukraine up to 30 kg, delivery time is from five days.
Only the sender can pay for the parcel in cash, by card or via contactless payment (ApplePay or GooglePay) at the branch.
The Nova Poshta Group of Companies includes, in particular, the companies Nova Poshta, NP Logistic, NovaPay and Nova Poshta Global.
The network has about 10,000 branches throughout Ukraine. The number of deliveries in 2021 exceeded 372 million.
Poland will allocate 20 million euros to support the “Graine from Ukraine” program, which will deliver food from Ukraine to poor countries in Asia and Africa, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“We want to support this initiative, so we are allocating 20 million euros to support President Zelenski’s initiative … We must continue supporting such initiatives of the Ukrainian president because Ukraine is suffering – and at the same time Zelenski is preparing this very generous initiative to help countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East,” Moravetski said at a press conference following the international summit on food security in Kiev on Saturday.
Also, he said, over the past few months Poland has been preparing special ways of solidarity for comprehensive support for Ukraine, including support regarding exports of goods, food, etc.
“We have prepared special ways of solidarity over the last few months, because Ukraine requires not only military support or financial support, but comprehensive support. Support in terms of exports of goods, food products,” he said.
The Polish prime minister also noted that his country “cannot go back to business as usual with Russia, because that would mean that Poland would not pay attention to Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
In addition, he stressed that Poland would continue to support Ukrainians in their heroic struggle against the Russian aggressor.
“We will never lay down our arms, we will not stop helping Ukraine’s heroic struggle, its struggle against the barbaric regime. Ukraine must be successful. I am confident of Ukraine’s victory. And let 2023 be the year of victory and restoration of Ukraine,” Moravetsky concluded.
At a meeting on Friday, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine agreed to increase the amount of a concessional loan to Poland by EUR 60 million under an intergovernmental agreement for the implementation of investment projects.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance, the total amount of the soft loan that Poland will provide now amounts to EUR 160 million.
The funds provided will go to Ukravtodor – EUR 94.1 million (development of road infrastructure at the approaches to five border crossing points on the Ukrainian-Polish border), the State Customs Service – EUR 58.9 million (improvement of border crossing points Shehyni, Krakovets, Rava-Ruska, purchase of mobile scanning systems at border crossing points Yahodyn, Shehyni, Krakovets, Rava-Ruska) and the Administration of the State Border Service – EUR 7 million (purchase of unmanned aerial systems and border monitoring equipment).
In addition to increasing the loan amount, the government decree regulates the issue of extending the deadline for concluding contracts by two years – until December 31, 2024, and provides an opportunity to amend contracts concluded in 2017-2018 to increase their value.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the requirement for a minimum of 60% of expenses of Polish origin for the purchase of technical means of customs control will also be cancelled.
