The Agrotrade agricultural holding has received a certificate allowing it to export soybeans to the EU countries. Initially, it is planned to sell 4,000 tons of soybeans from the last year’s crop residues.
As reported on the Facebook page of the agricultural holding on Thursday, the document guarantees the cultivation of non-GMO soybeans using fertilizers and chemicals permitted in Europe.
It is specified that the certification of exports to the EU was carried out by the Ukrainian certification body Organic Standard.
The Agrotrade group sowed 3.1 thousand hectares of soybeans this year, the harvest from which is also planned to be exported to the EU.
Previously, the company certified rapeseed for supplies to Europe.
The Agrotrade group of companies is a vertically integrated holding of a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade in agricultural products). Processes more than 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkov regions. Profile crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrids of corn and sunflower seeds, barley, and winter wheat. On the basis of the seed farm “Kolos” (Kharkiv region) in 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built. In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
The founder and CEO of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
Lyst-Ruchky LLC (Ruchky village, Poltava region), part of Astarta agro-industrial holding, exported the first batch of organic soybeans under a contract with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“A supply contract of organic soybeans was concluded with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH. As per contract, the quality of delivered products has to be confirmed in two stages. The first samples of soybeans were selected and tested by the European laboratory Galab (Germany) prior to signing a contract. The organic origin of the product and its high quality was confirmed. The second stage of the inspection took place upon delivery and organic status of soybeans was reaffirmed,” the company said on its website.
“As reported, last year Astarta completed a three-year journey to the first harvest of organic grain and oilseeds crops in sync with the European trend of expanding organic farming methods. In the 2021 season, the total area of the company’s land bank under organic products is 1,800 ha with the following crops: soybeans, millet, mustard, sunflower, corn and winter wheat,” the report says.
“The company also plans to certify this crops according to Bio Suisse (Switzerland) and USDA NOP (USA) standards,” it said.
As reported, Lyst-Ruchky in July 2020 received a certificate of a manufacturer of organic products. To confirm this status, it took three years of work in a transitional period, the corresponding intermediate inspections and certifications.
China is interested in increasing the supply of Ukrainian soybeans, peas, barley, wheat, as well as poultry and other products, the Ministry of Economy said, following a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Oleksiy Liubchenko and Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong on June 10. “Today we’ve heard from our Chinese partners confirmation of interest in deepening economic cooperation, increasing exports of Ukrainian agricultural products, building infrastructure and implementing joint investment projects in transport, construction, energy, IT and other areas,” the press service of the ministry said citing Oleksiy Liubchenko.
According to the report, the meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister Volodymyr Hryniuk and Deputy Minister-Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, as well as representatives of the leadership of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine.
The parties also noted the importance of signing an intergovernmental agreement on deepening cooperation in the construction of infrastructure in the near future, the ministry said.
“This step will allow starting preparatory work for the launch of investment projects, including the construction of the M-22 Poltava-Oleksandriya road and the first part of the Kyiv circular road – sections M05-M06, which will cost about $ 1.1 billion,” the ministry said.
It is also important to continue work on the development of freight traffic in the direction of China-Western Europe through the territory of Ukraine, the report notes.
In addition, the Chinese side stressed the importance of the implementation of the intergovernmental initiative of Ukraine and China “One Belt-One Road.” The matter concerns preparing a roadmap for the implementation of a program of cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the joint construction of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” the ministry added.
Vinnytsia oil and fat mill of ViOil Industrial Group in 2018/2019 season has produced more nearly 89,000 tonnes of soybeans, which is 2.4 times more than last year.
According to the company’s press release, the combine processed over 17,000 tonnes of unrefined soybean oil and about 65,000 tonnes of soya oilseed meal.
The mill exports all processed soya products.
As reported, Kernel, one of the largest Ukrainian agrarian groups, in February-2019 acquired 5.85% of ViOil shares.
ViOil Industrial Group was created by Viktor Ponomarchuk in 2006 on the basis of agricultural assets of KMT industrial group.
Currently ViOil owns 13 granaries with a total capacity of 360,000 tonnes. The group exports products to more than 60 countries.
Ukraine has started sowing soybeans, planting 31,000 hectares (2% of the forecast) with this crop, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has reported.
According to the ministry, as of April 17 some 1.5 million hectares are sown with barley (94%), 150,000 hectares with wheat (90%), 165,000 hectares with oats (84%), and 283,000 hectares with peas (83%).
Ukraine has also sowed 264,000 hectares with corn (6%), 194,000 hectares with sugar beets (79%), and one million hectares with sunflower (18%).
In addition, according to the ministry, agrarians fertilized winter crops on 7.5 million hectares (99% of the forecast).
