The Government of Ukraine has canceled the ban (in the form of zero quotas) imposed on March 5 this year on the export of sugar and millet.
According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 549 dated May 7, sugar and millet are now included in the list of goods whose export is subject to licensing.
Earlier, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (VAR) proposed to the government to allow the export of millet, setting its quota of 80 thousand tons, since there is an excess of this crop in the country.
VAR referred to the data of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy for February 2022, according to which in Ukraine in the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY, July-June) 182 thousand tons of millet were produced, the carryover balance from 2020/2021 MY amounted to 18 thousand tons, while the average domestic consumption of millet in the country does not exceed 80 thousand tons, and export expectations for MY 2021-2022 – 80 thousand tons.
In addition, as of April 21, 2022, 4.8 thousand hectares of millet have already been sown in Ukraine, which is significantly more than on the corresponding date in 2021 – 0.9 thousand hectares.
This is the second such decision to lift the export ban. Previously, on April 10, it was replaced by licensing for live bovine animals (UKTVED code 0102), frozen bovine meat (code 0202) and meat and edible meat offal, salted or in brine, dried or smoked; edible flour from meat or meat by-products: cattle meat (code 021020).
Thus, rye, oats, buckwheat and salt suitable for human consumption, fertilizers (except nitrogen, for which the quota was increased to 210 thousand tons per quarter) remained on the list of zero export quotas.
Agro-industrial holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in January-March 2022 reduced sales of this product by 44% compared to the same period in 2021 – from 58.14 thousand tons to 32.64 thousand. tons, while the average selling price on the domestic market increased by 14% – from UAH 16.14 thousand to UAH 18.45 thousand.
According to the report of the agrarian group on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Wednesday evening, sales of wheat by the agricultural holding in the first quarter of this year increased by 2.6 times compared to January-March 2021 – up to 10.1 thousand tons, corn – by 2.8 times , up to 200 thousand tons, sunflower – 6 times, up to 21.5 thousand tons. Also, 71 tons of rapeseed were sold, which was not sold in the first quarter of 2021.
Milk sales for the specified period did not change, remaining at the level of 24.3 thousand tons.
In turn, the sale of soybean oil by Astarta in the first quarter of 2022 decreased by 2.1 times compared to January-March 2021 – to 12.6 thousand tons, and soybean meal – by 2%, to 39.1 thousand tons.
The agricultural holding clarified that the average cost of sugar sold in January-March 2021 increased by 14% compared to the same period a year earlier – up to UAH 18.45 thousand / ton, wheat – by 5%, up to UAH 8.3 thousand / ton, corn – by 34%, up to 7.5 thousand UAH / ton. At the same time, the average price of sunflower rose by 67% – up to 18.9 thousand UAH/ton, soybean oil – by 25%, up to 37 thousand UAH/ton, soybean meal – by 2%, up to 15.5 thousand UAH/ton. ton, milk – by 3%, up to 12.1 thousand UAH/ton.
Thus, taking into account the size of products sold and its average price, it is possible to estimate the estimated revenue of Astarta from the sale of sugar in the first quarter of this year at UAH 602 million, corn – UAH 1.5 billion, soybean meal – UAH 615.8 million , sunflower – UAH 407.6 million, milk – UAH 293.5 million, soybean oil – UAH 221.6 million, wheat – UAH 84.21 million, rapeseed – UAH 1.24 million. Accordingly, the total estimated revenue of the agricultural holding from the sale of these crops amounted to UAH 3.72 billion.
As reported, the agrarian group planned to transfer 1.1 thousand tons of food in the form of humanitarian aid to the Vinnitsa region, of which 530 tons have already been delivered to the region, while the Odessa region will receive 1.3 thousand tons of humanitarian aid (850 tons have already been delivered).
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.
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.
Sugar production in Ukraine as of December 17 amounted to 1.25 million tonnes (more by 110,000 tonnes for the period on December 3-17), in general, 8.87 million tonnes of sugar beet (more by 720,000 tonnes) were processed, according to the website of the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers.
According to the data on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, as of December 17, Ukrainian agrarians harvested 10.53 million tonnes of sugar beet (98.8% of the forecast) with a yield of 469.7 centners/ha.
Thus, at the moment, 84.2% of the sugar beet harvested in the current season has been processed.
Sugar production in Ukraine as of November 9 amounted to 562,300 tonnes (up by 135,100 tonnes for the period of November 2-9), in general, 6.24 million tonnes of sugar beet were processed (up by 940,000 tonnes per week).
According to a report on the website of the National Association of Sugar Producers Ukrtsukor on Tuesday, 29 out of 33 factories that planned to produce sugar in the current marketing year (September-August) are currently processing sugar beets.
According to the data on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, as of November 9, Ukrainian agrarians harvested 8.82 million tonnes of sugar beet (82.9% of the forecast) with a yield of 469.5 centners per hectare.
In addition, the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of Zhytomyr Regional State Administration on Monday announced on its website that the sugar-making season, which began on September 4, has ended in the region. Sugar beets in the region were processed by PrJSC Chervone Sugar Mill (Chervone village) and Cygnet-Center LLC (Andrushky village), which is part of the Cygnet agricultural holding.
According to the department, in general, by November 8 in Zhytomyr region, 334,000 tonnes of sugar beets were processed into 47,900 tonnes of sugar.
As reported, the current season of sugar beet processing started in the country on August 21.
As of October 23, sugar production in Ukraine amounted to 562,300 tonnes (more by 216,700 tonnes over the period of October 11-23), in general, 4.20 million tonnes of sugar beets were processed (more by 1.53 million tonnes over the week).
According to a report on the website of the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers on Monday, during the specified period, sugar refining was started by Tsukoragroprom LLC (Kyiv), part of the Astarta agricultural holding, at facilities of Hlobyne sugar refinery (Hlobyne, Poltava region).
Thus, to date, sugar beet processing is carried out by 29 out of 33 factories that have planned to produce sugar in the current marketing year (September-August).
According to the data on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, as of October 23, Ukrainian agrarians harvested 6.23 million tonnes of sugar beet (59% of the forecast) with a yield of 465.2 centners/ha.
As reported, the current season of sugar beet processing started in the country on August 21.
