One of the largest operators of the Ukrainian grain market, JV Nibulon LLC, shipped the second batch of 63 thsd tonnes of wheat to Egypt under the tender of the General Authority for Supply of Goods of the Egyptian government GASC via the Danube Grain Corridor, the grain trader’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, the grain was loaded on the EDFU vessel, owned by the Egyptian state-owned company National Navigation Company (NNC), at the anchorage PGM-2 of TTS Operator SRL (Constanza).
“Thanks to the well-coordinated and professional work of the Nibulon fleet team and our strategic partners, TTS (Transport Trade Services), the daily grain loading rate reached a record 18.2 thousand tons. This high productivity is very important, because along with a stable cargo flow, it allows us to reduce delivery costs,” said Nibulon’s Chief Logistics Officer Sergey Kalkutin, Director of Logistics at Nibulon.
He emphasized that such voyages allow the Danube Grain Corridor to compete with the ports of Greater Odesa.
In times of war and permanent danger, having a full-fledged alternative logistics channel for grain exports is not an additional option, but a vital necessity on which the world’s food security depends, Nibulon believes.
As reported, in August, Nibulon delivered the first shipment of Ukrainian grain to Egypt under the GASC.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, a one-time storage capacity of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever volume of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
The State Agency of Ukraine for the Development of Land Reclamation, Fisheries and Food Programs (State Agency) has announced a tender for the purchase of 10.741 thsd tonnes of wheat (not lower than grade 3) of Ukrainian origin for the Republic of Sudan, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
According to the report, the grain will have to be delivered on FOB terms to the deep-water ports of the Black Sea or the ports of the Danube River. The expected value of the procurement item is UAH 80.498 million.
The deadline for submitting bids is September 19, 2024. The electronic auction will be held on September 20, 2024.
“One of the requirements for potential bidders is the absence of ties with Russia, Belarus and Iran,” the ministry said.
Detailed information about the tender is available here: https://prozorro.gov.ua/uk/tender/UA-2024-08-20-008626-a.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its August report raised its wheat harvest forecast for Ukraine in the 2024/2025 marketing year (MY, July 2024/June 2025) by 10.8% to 21.6 million tons, and exports by 7.7% to 14 million tons
Analysts also revised upward the domestic consumption of wheat in Ukraine by 10.5% to 7.4 million tons. Ukraine will enter the season with starting residues of 770,000 tons, while a month earlier they amounted to 1.08 million tons. USDA expects that by the end of 2024/2025 MY the country will have 1.05 mln tons of wheat, which is 9.4% higher than the July forecast.
At the same time, USDA forecasts world wheat production for the 2024/2025 season at 798.28 (+ 2.18 million tons from last forecast) and world exports at 214.86 million tons (+ 1.98 million tons). The experts lowered the forecast of wheat ending stocks in the world to 256.62 million tons (- 1.97 million tons).
Agro-Region has completed harvesting of winter crops from 12 thousand hectares, in particular, winter rape from 5 thousand hectares and winter wheat from 7 thousand hectares, the results of threshing exceeded the plan, the press service of the agro-holding reported on Facebook.
“The average yield of winter rape for the company amounted to 3.6 c/ha, which even exceeded the average yield of this crop for the last five years. Weather conditions allowed to get quality rape grain with minimal tillage, moisture and weed impurity in the base and meet the key contractual indicators”, – said the chief agronomist of the agricultural holding Yuri Lysak.
Speaking about winter wheat yield, he noted that the plan was also exceeded – by 10%.
“The average yield of winter wheat amounted to 6.6 tons/ha. At the same time, two clusters received yields of more than 7 tons/ha, the best result was shown by the Western cluster – 7.89 tons/ha,” Lysak added.
Winter wheat quality indicators (moisture content, gluten, protein and other parameters) are among the best in Agro-Region in recent years.
“73% of wheat is of second and third class. This is the result of proper selection of varieties and nutrition management,” stated the chief agronomist.
Agro-Region Agro Holding owns a land bank of 39 thousand hectares in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhitomir and Khmelnitsky regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies united in four crop production clusters. It has two elevators – Boryspil with a capacity of 73 thousand tons and Miropolskiy with a capacity of 52 thousand tons.
The annual harvest of grain and oilseeds of Agro-Region is up to 200 thousand tons.
Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by former Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, in April 2021 received from the Antimonopoly Committee (AMCU) permission to purchase Swedish Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages Agro Region group of companies in Ukraine.
IMC Agro Holding has completed harvesting winter wheat from 20.2 thousand hectares and harvested 139.8 thousand tons with an average yield of 6.9 t/ha, which is the second best result in the history of the company and 60% higher than the average wheat yield in Ukraine, the company’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, the agricultural holding is satisfied with the results, as most of the harvested winter crops meet the quality parameters of milling wheat.
“Last fall’s weather conditions were favorable for timely sowing, good germination and tillering of winter wheat. This spring, we carried out fertilization and plant protection against weeds, diseases and pests in accordance with the technological map. All operations were completed on time according to the crop development stages and weather conditions,” said IMC Production Director Mykola Pylypenko.
He noted that the agroholding started wheat harvesting earlier than usual due to the lack of precipitation needed for optimal plant development in the Poltava cluster. This led to a slight decrease in yields and an early start of the harvest in Poltava region.
“In other regions of the company, Chernihiv and Sumy, weather conditions were more favorable, and we significantly exceeded our targets for yield and gross production of winter wheat,” summarized Pylypenko.
“IMC is an integrated group of companies operating in Sumy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (north and center of Ukraine) in the crop production, elevators and warehouses segments. The land bank is about 120 thousand hectares, storage capacity is 554 thousand tons, with a 2023 harvest of 1.002 million tons.
In 2023, IMC posted a net loss of $21.03 million compared to $1.12 million a year earlier, and its EBITDA decreased 11.3 times to $3.22 million. The holding’s revenue increased by 22.3% to $139.45 million, while the share of exports decreased to 68% from 73% a year earlier.
TAS Agro has completed harvesting winter crops and threshed about 24 thousand hectares of wheat and rapeseed, with a winter wheat yield of 6.3 t/ha, a record high for the agricultural holding’s history, the company’s press service reports on Facebook.
“The harvest of early grain crops was completed quite successfully, despite the difficulties and additional risk factors that accompanied farmers this year. Early spring, abnormal heat in June and July, and power cuts had virtually no impact on our businesses due to the introduction of advanced technologies, upgraded equipment and employee responsibility. We managed to implement an effective strategy for the entire range of agrotechnical operations, harvested the grain in the best possible time and also produced a record winter wheat crop. The Northern cluster became the leader in the company in terms of yield of this crop with 7 tons per hectare,” said Oleg Zapletnyuk, CEO of TAS Agro.
The agroholding specified that in 2024, the company will use its own equipment, which was updated during the year, to the maximum extent possible. Only combine harvesters were rented due to economic feasibility. Along with the harvesting campaign, we worked on organizing logistics and marketing of the harvested crop. Currently, the grain is accepted at pre-prepared elevator facilities.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance) and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
Before the war, TAS Agro Group cultivated 83 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Dnipro regions, where it grows soybeans, sunflower, rapeseed, wheat, barley, and corn. In addition, the agricultural holding is engaged in dairy farming (up to 5.5 thousand heads of cattle) and owns six elevators with a simultaneous storage capacity of 250 thousand tons.
The founder of TAS is Sergey Tigipko.
