Business news from Ukraine

“Astarta” has allocated 29% of production areas for winter crops

Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the country’s largest sugar producer, has allocated 29% of its production area to winter crops, according to a report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday.

According to the report, winter wheat was sown on 49 thousand hectares, up 14% from a year earlier, and winter rapeseed on 12 thousand hectares, down 12% from last year.

“During the sowing campaign, the area under winter wheat was adjusted from 54 thou hectares to 49 thou hectares due to dry weather conditions to complete the sowing campaign in the optimal time,” the agroholding explained.

At the same time, oilseed harvesting is nearing completion. The gross harvest of sunflower amounted to 83 thsd tonnes with a yield of 3.0 t/ha, which is the same as last year, and soybeans – 169 thsd tonnes with a yield of 3.1 t/ha, which is 6% more than in 2022. Corn and sugar beet harvesting is 2/3 complete.

“Astarta also estimated its share in Ukraine’s exports of grains and oilseeds at 1% based on the results of 9M2023.

“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.

In the third quarter of 2023, the agricultural holding earned EUR1.24 million in net profit, down 27.7 times compared to the same period in 2022. Astarta’s revenue decreased by 14.4% to EUR104.75 million, gross profit by 2.7 times to EUR26.96 million, operating profit by 7.6 times to EUR6.79 million, and EBITDA by 42.7% to EUR97.25 million.

Due to significantly better performance in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year, in the first 9 months of 2023, net profit decreased by 9.8% to EUR 55.97 million, while revenue increased by 14.8% to EUR 392.00 million. The company’s gross profit increased by 3.0% to EUR 151.91 million, while operating profit decreased by 15.9% to EUR 79.91 million and EBITDA by 10.8% to EUR 116.63 million.

,

Ukraine has sown 3.7 mln hectares of winter crops

Ukraine continues sowing winter crops, which have already been planted on 3.7 million hectares compared to 2.992 million hectares a week earlier, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.

According to the report, over the past week, farmers sowed 2583 thousand hectares of winter crops (764.7 thousand hectares a week earlier), of which wheat was sown on 2352 thousand hectares (1.743 million hectares), barley – 171 thousand hectares (109 thousand hectares), rye – 60 thousand hectares (53.6 thousand hectares).

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy noted that the agrarians of Sumy region are leading in sowing of winter crops – 97% of the forecast. The leaders in wheat sowing are Dnipropetrovska oblast with 271.3 thou hectares, barley – Mykolaivska oblast with 25 thou hectares, rye – Volynska oblast with 13 thou hectares.

Winter rapeseed sowing is nearing completion in all regions. The area under the crop is 1.111 mln ha (1.087 mln ha), which is 91.7% of the plan. Dnipropetrovs’k and Odesa regions are the leaders in sowing of winter rapeseed with 117.3 thou hectares and 103.6 thou hectares respectively.

As reported with reference to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of farmers do not plan to significantly change the area under winter crops in 2024 compared to the previous season.

Drought in Ukraine hinders sowing of winter crops

Due to the drought observed in Ukraine, autumn winter crops have already been partially lost, at the same time, the prolonged lack of precipitation intensifies the pace of the harvesting campaign and contributes to high quality corn grain, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, established within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (VAR).

“The forecast model does not show precipitation in Ukraine in the near future. Therefore, the moisture content of corn grain remains low, averaging 17-20%, while in the past season it was 30-35%. This will help reduce the cost of corn grain, as one drying cycle is enough for the harvested crop,” analysts said.

They noted that in early October, agrarians will intensify the collection of corn, because they will complete the harvesting of sunflower and soybeans.

At the same time, it is noted that the shelling of ports in Odessa and Danube region hinders the export of corn. At the same time, this product is in demand from China exclusively on CIF basis with delivery in October-December at a conditional price of $250/ton.

“On all bases weekly price tags for Ukrainian corn lose 3-5$/ton. The supply of its grain is high, but logistical problems are and will continue to be a factor in the fall of prices, especially in the deployment of the harvesting campaign”, – explained in the CAP and added that in a week we can expect the following level of prices for 1 ton of corn: SRT river ports – 140-150$, DAP border – 145-155$.

, ,

Sowing of winter crops continues in Ukraine, rapeseed has already been sown in number of regions

Agrarians in all regions except Transcarpathia have sown 1155 thousand hectares of winter crops, of which 905.9 thousand hectares are allocated for winter rape and 249 thousand hectares for winter grains, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.

According to the report, 228.6 thou hectares are already under winter wheat, 10.8 thou hectares under winter barley, and 9.5 thou hectares under winter rye.

Over the previous week, 251 thou hectares were planted with winter rape, and 204 thou hectares with winter grain.

In addition, it is reported that farmers of Volyn, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Chernivtsi regions have completed sowing of winter rape.

Most of the winter grains were sown in Sumy region – 25.9 thousand hectares, which is 50% of the forecast, winter rapeseed – in Dnipropetrovs’k region, 93.4 thousand hectares (74.4% of the forecast).

As reported with reference to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of farmers do not plan to significantly change the area under winter crops in 2024 compared to the previous season.

, ,

Ukrainian agrarians have started sowing winter crops for grain and rapeseed

Agrarians of all regions of Ukraine have started sowing winter crops for grain, as well as actively sowing rape. As of early September, 699.7 thousand hectares of winter crops have already been sown, including 654.9 thousand hectares of rape and 44.8 thousand hectares of grain, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.

According to the report, winter wheat has already been sown on 42.5 thousand hectares, winter barley on 1.2 thousand hectares, winter rye – 1.1 thousand hectares.

According to the ministry, due to favorable weather conditions sowing of rape has already been completed in Volyn, Poltava, Sumy and Ternopil regions. The largest areas under winter rape are now in Ternopil (72.5 thousand hectares), Vinnitsa (67.2 thousand hectares) and Kirovograd (59.4 thousand hectares) regions.

As reported, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of agrarians do not plan to significantly change the sowing areas under winter crops in 2024 compared to last season.

, , , ,

“Continental” will allocate 98 thousand hectares for sowing winter crops

Agroholding “Continental Farmers Group” began sowing winter crops for the harvest of 2024, for which it plans to allocate 97.8 thousand hectares, reported the press service of the agricultural holding.

According to the report, Continental is traditionally the first to sow winter rape, for which 34.8 thousand hectares will be allocated. Weather conditions favor sowing work: thanks to precipitation in the soil is enough moisture.

“We apply different production technologies according to the type of seeders we have. These include direct seeding immediately after harvesting wheat and barley with Horsch Focus seeders, and traditional continuous seeding. We also plan to use precision seeders with a row spacing of 35 cm,” said Konstantin Shityuk, Operations Director of Continental Farmers Group.

According to him, sowing of winter rape began in accordance with the planned dates. The company is fully provided with seeds, mineral fertilizers, protection products and fuel and lubricants.

Agroholding intends to complete sowing of rape by August 20, after which it will start sowing of winter wheat and barley, for which 49.7 thousand hectares and 13.1 thousand hectares will be allocated respectively.

The pace of sowing winter wheat and barley will depend on the speed of harvesting the precursor crops. In the regions where Continental operates, the vegetation of spring crops (soybeans, sunflowers, corn) will be prolonged due to delays in development. The reason for this is weather conditions and rather late sowing dates, explained the agroholding.

In addition, the early grain harvest continues on Continental’s fields, which has been harvested from 65% of the planned areas.

“Winter barley threshing is fully completed, with a net yield of 6.39 tons per hectare, which is higher than planned. Winter rape harvest is nearing completion. The net yield of the crop is also higher than planned and is 3.74 tons per hectare”, – stated in the agroholding.

Mriya Agroholding and CFG, united under the name Continental Farmers Group, have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya made a deal with international investor Salic UK on the sale of assets.

Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which invests in agricultural and livestock products.

, ,