Agroholding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, is investing $15 million in the construction of a new silo in the city of Chernihiv. The decision of the board of directors of the group of companies was published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) on Wednesday evening.
According to Astarta, the construction of this facility will will further strengthen the company’s network of seven grain and oilseeds handling facilities and expand its reach to Chernihiv region.
The total capacity of simultaneous storage of grain and oilseeds will be 70,000 tonnes. Commissioning of the first stage of the silo with a capacity of 58,000 tonnes is scheduled for July 2022.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine.
The grain storage facilities in Ukraine allow storing around 60-65% of harvest, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky has said.
“The implementation of the agrarian potential of Ukraine needs to modernize the existing logistic infrastructure and further development. Today, grain storage facilities allow storing some 60-65% of the harvested crop. The total one-time grain, leguminous and oilseeds storage capacity is 45.4 million tonnes,” he wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.
According to the deputy minister, the shortage of storage facilities is observed in all regions. According to the ministry, under the government program to support agricultural producers in 2019, 55 producers from 16 regions received government support in the direction of partial reimbursement of the cost of building and reconstructing grain storage and processing enterprises, the total amount of compensation exceeded UAH 526 million.
“Thanks to the support, an additional 61 facilities with a throughput capacity of about 1 million tonnes were obtained and more than 500 jobs were created,” Vysotsky said.
Kivshovavta Agro LLC (Kyiv region) belonged to Japan’s Kivshovavta is launching a silo with a storage capacity of 16,000 tonnes in the village of Kivshovata, Kyiv region, the company’s press service has reported. The press service said that with the launch of the silo the storage facilities of the company will be around 30,000 tonnes. Investment in the first and second stages of the silo totaled some UAH 60 million, and over UAH 100 million were sent to buy grain from other producers.
“The first stage of the silo was completed before 2017. In the past year it was reconstructed and expanded,” the company said.
Kivshovavta Agro seeks to boost land bank four times in coming five years, to 10,000 ha and build one more silo. Kivshovavta Agro LLC was founded in 2009. Its owner – SDGs Corporation – bought the company in Q4 2016. Kivshovavta Agro is the only enterprise of SDGs Corporation in Ukraine. The company plants wheat, sunflower, corn, soybeans. Its land bank is 2,500 ha.
Dnipro Agro Alliance Ltd. (Nicosia, Cyprus) plans to acquire PJSC Bozhedarivsky Elevator belonged to Renaisco B.V., a subsidiary of Switzerland’s Glencore International. According to the materials of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, Dnipro Agro Alliance Ltd. applied to the committee for getting permit to buy over 50% in Bozhedarivsky Elevator.
Dnipro Agro Alliance Ltd. Plants grain, leguminous crops and oilseeds. The ultimate beneficiaries of the company are co-owners of Dnipro Agro Group Mykhailo Koshliak, Yevhen and Vasyl Astion. Dnipro Agro Group is a vertically integrated group of companies, the core business of which is the production, storage, sale of grain and oilseeds.
The Epicenter K Group, which has been actively developing agricultural business in the past two years, plans to build a silo with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes in 2018 on the territory of an oil depot acquired from Galnaftogaz Concern, the press service of the group has reported.
According to a posting on the website of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, on May 14, 2018 the committee permitted Epicenter K to buy the oil depot belonged to Galnaftogaz Concern (both based in Kyiv).
The press service of Epicenter K said that the group since 2015 has started investing in agriculture and in two years it boosted its land bank to 110,000 ha.
“In the conditions of the development of the agrarian business, the question arose for us to quickly and substantially increase the capacities of existing ones and build new modern silos. That is why we entered into agreements with PJSC Concern Galnaftogaz on the acquisition of the property complex of the oil depot located at 80, Pryvokzalna Street, Vendychany, Mohyliov-Podilsky district, Vinnytsia region,” the press service said.
The owner of the depot complex did not use for more than 10 years, and the concern did not plan to resume its work.
At the same time, the issue of trade in oil products by the founders of the Epicenter K is not currently being studied and is not being considered.
Epicenter K LLC was established in 2003. Its first construction materials hypermarket was opened in Kyiv in December of the same year.
