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.
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).