Agricultural holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in October-December 2022, reduced sales of the product by 27.7% compared to the same period in 2021 – up to 62.1 thousand tons, but its average selling price rose by 43.6% – to 25.62 thousand UAH per ton.
According to the agrarian group’s report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Tuesday evening, milk sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 increased 9% to 26,500 tons.
Soybean oil sales jumped 75.3% to 10,700 tons, wheat 2.9 times to 135,200 tons, and rapeseed more than 2.9 times to 12,400 tons,
At the same time, soybean meal sales fell by 8.2% to 26.5 thousand tons, sunflower seed – by 8.3% to 23.3 thousand tons, corn – 4 times to 82 thousand tons.
Agroholding specified that the average cost of soybean oil sold in October-December, 2022 increased by 28.1% up to 44.67 thousand UAH/ton, soybean meal – by 23.5% up to 17.54 thousand UAH/ton, milk – by 8.8% up to 13.73 thousand UAH/ton, corn – by 66.5% up to 9.6 thousand UAH/ton, wheat – by 25.3% up to 9.4 thousand UAH/ton.
Only sunflower seed went down in price – by 7.4%, to 15.94 thousand UAH/ton.
Thus, taking into account the volume of sold products and their average price, we can tentatively estimate the growth of Astarta’s revenues in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the fourth quarter before last year at 7.4% – up to UAH 5 billion 796.4 mln. In particular, sugar decreased by 3.7% to UAH 1 billion 589.5 million, wheat – 3.6 times to UAH 1 billion 270.3 million, rapeseed – almost 2.9 times to UAH 280.3 million, soybean oil – 2.2 times to UAH 488.6 million, soybean meal – by 13.4% to UAH 644.7 million and milk – 18.6% to UAH 363.2 million.
Meanwhile, sales of corn decreased 58.8% to UAH 787.7 mln, while sunflower sales decreased 15% to UAH 372.1 mln.
The company also reported that to date it has harvested corn from 90% of the area, its average yield is estimated at 9 tons per hectare.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of six sugar factories, farms with land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and biogas complex.
In 9M2012, Agropromholding received EUR102.2 mln, which is 11.7% more than in 9M2012. 9M2012 Agroindustrial Holding received net profit amounting to EUR 102.2 mln, which is 39.3% less compared with the same period of the previous year, while its revenue increased by 13% – to EUR 341.3 mln.
In UAH terms Astarta’s net profit for 9M2012 decreased to EUR 341.3 mln. Astarta decreased its net profit by 38.6% – to UAH 2 bln 76.15 mln, while its revenue increased by 14.7% – to UAH 11 bln 268.54 mln.
Agroindustrial holding Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has completed its 2022 sugar season, which lasted from September to January, with a total of about 2 million tons of sugar beet processed into 282 thousand tons of sugar.
According to the company’s website on Wednesday, the past sugar season was the most difficult in the holding company’s history, although the volume of sugar produced increased by 6% over the 2021 season, and by 25% over the 2020 season.
It is specified that Astarta’s sugar yield from the raw materials last season was 14.26%, while the Ukrainian average was 13.98%, and 99% of the produced sugar corresponds to the highest quality category.
The holding referred to the preliminary data of Ukrtsukor association, according to which Astarta’s share on the Ukrainian sugar production market in 2022 season was 25%.
The sugar producer specified that its planted areas under sugar beet in central and western regions of Ukraine were not significantly affected by military operations, but it faced a number of other challenges.
“Due to increased costs for fertilizers, crop protection products and fuel, sugar beet cultivation costs per hectare have risen. Nearly continuous rains during the harvest period have made both harvesting the crop and transporting it from the fields to processing plants much more difficult. However, Astarta harvested 1.8 million tons of sugar beets in 2022 at a yield of 56 tons/ha,” the holding quoted its director of agricultural products processing Yevgeny Sadovy as saying.
“Astarta stressed that it was able to implement a number of energy-saving projects at its sugar refineries during the war, in particular, a scheme for autonomous power supply to enterprises in case of a power blackout.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It consists of six sugar factories, farms with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and biogas complex.
Agricultural holding in 2021 increased net profit 14 times compared with 2020 – up to EUR 122.5 mln, EBITDA – 1.8 times, up to EUR 201.5 mln. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – to EUR 491.35 mln, one third of which (EUR 170 mln) was generated by sugar production and sales.
Cyprus has issued a temporary certificate of continuation of activity to the parent company of Astarta agro-industrial holding Astarta Holding N.V, certifying its registration as a company temporarily operating in the Republic of Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC.
As the holding reported on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday evening, the corresponding certificate was issued to the company on September 16 by the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry of the Republic of Cyprus.
It is specified that Astarta received a temporary certificate of registration in Cyprus as part of the ongoing process of its cross-border migration to the jurisdiction of Cyprus from the Dutch jurisdiction.
“The migration has taken effect, which means that the company was temporarily registered in Cyprus under the name Astarta Holding PLC, the seat of the Company was transferred from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Nicosia (Cyprus). The company lost its legal address in the Netherlands and began its activities under the name Astarta Holding PLC,” the holding said in an exchange message.
At the same time, the formal completion of the legal migration will occur after Astarta receives the final certificate of continuation of its activities, for which it needs to provide evidence of the official transfer of registration from the Dutch Commercial Register (Handelsregister) to the Companies Registry in Cyprus within 6 months after receiving the temporary certificate of registration .
According to the report, the change of jurisdiction of Astarta took place without dissolution of the company, termination of its existence or reincorporation, its shares were not replaced by new shares and remain listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Also, migration does not affect the voting rights and the right to profit of the company’s shareholders.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
Agro-industrial group Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, refused to pay dividends for 2021 and will direct EUR94.1 million to the retained earnings reserve.
As stated in the message of the company on Friday night, such a decision was made by its shareholders meeting on Thursday.
Shareholders also approved Astarta’s continuation of the buyback program for up to 12.5 million shares (50% of those outstanding) at a maximum price of PLN125 per share.
In addition, the meeting delegated to the board of directors the right to issue shares and grant options in the amount of not more than 10% of Astarta’s authorized capital for one year.
The shareholders also instructed the board of directors to select an auditor company to audit the company’s financial statements for 2022. Candidates for the review include international drug companies Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, BDO and Baker Tilly.
The meeting reportedly approved the replacement of Marc M.L.J. van Campen as a member of the company’s board of directors with Savvas Perikleous.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
The temporary suspension of exports of wheat, flour and sugar will ensure Moldova’s food security until the next harvest, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Viorel Gerciu said Thursday in parliament.
The minister did not predict the price of bread in autumn, but said that this year’s wheat harvest will be less than last year’s (900,000 tons instead of 1.7 million tons). But even this will be enough to cover domestic demand, which is estimated at 660,000 tons per year.
Referring to the supply of fertilizers in Moldova, disrupted due to hostilities in Ukraine, the minister said that the country consumes 270,000 tons of fertilizers annually. Until the end of February, the cost of this volume of fertilizers was estimated at $80 million, but now the price has risen to $220 million. “129,000 tons of fertilizers have already been imported to Moldova this year, which is enough to meet the needs of agricultural producers today,” Gerciu added.
Ukraine in the marketing year 2021/2022 (MY, September-August) produced 1.4 million tons of sugar, which completely covers domestic demand in the amount of 1.2 million tons, therefore, the excess of production over consumption eliminates the shortage of this product in the country , reported on the Facebook page of the Association “Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business” (UCAB) on Friday.
“In 2021/22 MY, 1.4 million tons of sugar were produced, which is 44% more than in the previous year. The produced sugar is enough to cover Ukraine’s annual demand for sugar calmly and even with a margin. And given the fact that part of the population of Ukraine temporarily went abroad and the consumption fund also decreased, respectively, the transitional balance is increasing,” the UCAB specified.
The association recalled that during the sowing campaign in Ukraine, as of June 2, 181 thousand hectares have already been sown with sugar beet, which is 80% of the sown area of the previous year. In addition, a new season of sugar making will begin in four months to meet the needs of Ukrainians next year.
According to the UCAB, in the context of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine, there is a rush demand for basic food products. Each family is trying to stock up for more than one month, fearing food shortages and possible price increases. In turn, increased demand can lead to higher prices.
As reported, a number of countries have banned the export of sugar to meet their own needs. In May 2022, restrictions on its export were introduced by India, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in April – by Belarus, in March – by the Russian Federation.
