The Milk Alliance Group in January-June 2019 increased sales of dairy products by 8% year-over-year, to UAH 2.92 billion.
“In the first half of this year, the situation was worse than planned. In particular, we processed only about 180,000 tonnes of milk against 207,000 tonnes in the same period last year,” Chairman of Milk Alliance’s Supervisory Board Serhiy Vovchenko told Interfax -Ukraine in an interview.
In the first half of 2019, the Milk Alliance increased the production of processed cheese by 19%, to 1,300 tonnes; that of ultra-pasteurized cream by 28%, to 1,300 tonnes; fermented cheese by 11%, to 2,000 tonnes; sour cream by 5%, to 5,300 tonnes; baby food products by 4%, to 5,500 tonnes. The output of milk in different types of packaging remained at last year’s level 27,000 tonnes.
“The output of fermented milk products fell slightly (by 2% to 14,700 tonnes). The production of butter and dry cheese whey fell by 30%, because, firstly, international prices of these products became unprofitable for us, and secondly, we did not make cheese products for export in the same volumes as in previous periods,” Vovchenko said.
In total, the group increased sales of dairy products for the six months of 2019 by 8%, to UAH 2.923 billion.
“We plan to slightly change the structure of capacity utilization in the second half of the year in order to make up the lost income in the first six months of the year. Thus, we should receive revenue at the level of UAH 6.2 billion,” he said.
He pointed out that the share of export earnings in Milk Alliance’s total sales now stands at 25%, the domestic market accounts for 75%.
Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups, in the 2019 fiscal year (FY, July-June) increased sales of grain by 2.2 times compared with the previous FY, to 10.445 million tonnes. According to the company’s website, sales of sunflower oil increased by 15% compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, to 1.6 million tonnes.
Sales of bottled oil during this period grew by 10% compared with the previous year and amounted to 131 million liters.
In the 2019 FY, the plants of the holding processed 3.2 million tonnes of oilseeds (sunflower and soybeans), which is almost the same as last year.
Grain exports from Ukraine over the year amounted to 6.1 million tonnes (58% more). Transshipment of grain at the export terminals of the agricultural holding in Ukraine in the 2019 FY rose by 12%, to 4.6 million tonnes, in the Russian Federation decreased by 28%, to 1.4 million tonnes.
Bosch in Ukraine saw a 19% rise in sales in Ukraine in 2018 compared with the previous year, to almost EUR 90 million, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
As reported, the initial sales forecast for the company this year planned at least 15% growth.
“Last year was successful for the company, all directions showed a good result, which allowed us to reach the pre-crisis level and significantly improve overall profitability in euros,’ Director General of Robert Bosch Ltd Vitaliy Bulda said.
According to him, “positive business development” is also expected in the current year, based on the results of the first quarter.
According to the company, in 2018, all business areas showed a positive development, in particular the Mobility Solutions sector, which is mainly represented by the auto parts division, significantly increased, the industrial technologies and electric tools divisions significantly increased, and in the construction technologies sector the growth was 75%.
The Bosch Auto Service network, according to the company, remains the largest independent network of car maintenance stations in Ukraine. Today it unites 108 stations (a year ago 104): 92 Bosch Car Service stations and 16 Bosch Diesel Service stations.
The Thermotechnology division continued its participation in the energy efficiency program developed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which allows end users to have compensation for 35% of the cost of energy efficient housing upgrades.
Bosch in Ukraine has also implemented several innovative projects, in particular, on installing solar cell batteries on the roof of a sports complex, shopping centers, and business centers.
The volume of sales of services by telecommunications and postal communications enterprises in Ukraine in January-March 2019 amounted to UAH 16.99 billion, which in absolute prices is lower than the prices in Q1 2018 by 1.93%, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
According to its data, the volume of international services amounted to UAH 1.79 billion, which was 10.94%% up from Q1 2018.
At the same time, in absolute prices the volume of sales of services by telecommunications and postal communications enterprises grew by 11.2% in Q1 2019, to UAH 1.526 billion, including a rise of 7.84% in international services.
The volume of sales of mobile communications services in Q1 2019 fell by 5.85%, to UAH 8.633 billion, of which international services amounted to UAH 928 million (19.4% up from Q1 2018).
The volume of sales of Internet services in Q1 2019 rose by 19.19% and amounted to UAH 3.535 billion, including international services grew by 5.27% compared with Q1 2018.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine in April 2019 in monetary terms rose by 16.1% compared with April 2018, to UAH 8.073 billion, but decreased by 3.7% in natural terms, to 139.8 million packages.
According to the Apteka edition, with reference to data from the analytical system PharmXplorer/Pharmstandard, in April 2019 sales of medicines in monetary terms grew by 14.6% compared to April 2018, to UAH 6.703 billion, in natural terms by 4%, to 88.9 million packs.
The Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies Farmak, the corporations Arterium and Darnitsa, as well as Teva (Israel) and Sanofi (France) are among the top five marketing organizations.
As reported, in 2018 pharmacy sales in Ukraine in monetary terms increased by 23.4% compared with 2017, to UAH 84.574 billion, sales in natural terms for the period decreased by 0.84% compared with 2017, to 1.52 billion packages.
Astarta agricultural holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in January-March 2019 saw a fall in sugar sales by 42% year-over-year, to 53,960 tonnes, the company has reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Wednesday.
According to the press release, the sales of wheat for the period fell 78.7%, to 10,750 tonnes, sunflower by 42%, to 11,830 tonnes, and milk by 7%, to 26,020 tonnes.
At the same time, sales of corn increased 3.3-fold, to 304,210 tonnes, barley – from 9 tonnes to 2,410 tonnes, soybean oil – by 13%, to 14,220 tonnes, and soybean meal – by 11%, to 46,870 tonnes.
The company said that at the same time, the average sugar prices for this period decreased 15%, sunflower 10%, soybean oil 16%, while wheat grew by 20%, corn by 23%, barley by 1.8 times, soybean meal by 1%, and milk by 15%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agricultural holding operating in five regions of Ukraine.