UKRAINE: AGRICULTURE NEWS

The Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ministry of Ukraine has launched a pilot State Agriculture Register for cooperation between agricultural producers and the government. The Agriculture Register is an online service where registered agricultural producers can submit applications to correct mistakes in the cadaster, apply for government aid and check information about themselves in four registers: the State Land Cadastre, the Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the Register of Rights and the Register of Animals.
Source: Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ministry of Ukraine

The grant support of the European Union (EU) for the development of agriculture and small-sized farms in Ukraine envisages EUR 26 million, including EUR 10 million will be sent to implement the land reform. According to the documents to the agreement, it is planned to allocate EUR 8 million for reform in the field of rural development, and EUR 7.5 million for support of small farms. The remaining EUR 0.5 million is planned to be spent on audit, inspection expenses and information interaction, as well as ensuring publicity. Support for land reform under the agreement will be carried out under the indirect management of the World Bank.
As reported, the government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on support for the development of agriculture and small farming in Ukraine in the amount of EUR 26 million in Brussels on January 28. The implementation period of the agreement is 108 months from the date of its entry into force.
Source: Interfax

The grain storage facilities in Ukraine allow storing around 60-65% of harvest, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky has said. “The implementation of the agrarian potential of Ukraine needs to modernize the existing logistic infrastructure and further development. Today, grain storage facilities allow storing some 60-65% of the harvested crop. The total one-time grain, leguminous and oilseeds storage capacity is 45.4 million tonnes,” he wrote.
According to the Ministry, under the government program to support agricultural producers in 2019, 55 producers from 16 regions received government support in the direction of partial reimbursement of the cost of building and reconstructing grain storage and processing enterprises, the total amount of compensation exceeded UAH 526 million. “Thanks to the support, an additional 61 facilities with a throughput capacity of about 1 million tonnes were obtained and more than 500 jobs were created,” Vysotsky said.
Source: Interfax

Astarta agricultural and industrial holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has invested USD 71 million in the development of grain infrastructure under the Grain of Astarta investment program launched in 2014. The grain infrastructure development program has so far been implemented in the form of seven modern (both newly-built and modernized) silos with a total capacity of 550,000 tonnes, as well as its own fleet of 200 railway cars. Over the past two years Astarta build four silos in Poltava region and bought Krasyliv silo in Khmelnytsky region.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agribusiness holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. The holding includes eight sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 243,000 ha and dairy farms, a biogas plant and a soybean processing complex in Poltava region.
Source: Interfax

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have agreed a new EUR 50 million programme of financial guarantees aimed at scaling up investment in renewable energy in Ukraine and in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood. Under the new programme, the EBRD will provide guarantees to lenders such as local commercial banks, which will allow them to provide financing to projects alongside EBRD loans. The guarantee is expected to help generate total investments of up to EUR 500 million.
Source: Interfax

According to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, in 2019/20 MY Ukraine will supply 54 million tonnes of grain crops to foreign markets, an increase of almost 5 million tonnes compared with 2018/19 MY.
Last year the harvest of grain crops totaled nearly 75 million tonnes, incl. 54 million tonnes of the planned exports. As of January 10, Ukraine already exported 32.078 million tonnes of grains. In particular, the shipments of wheat totaled 15.1 million tonnes, barley – 3.8 million tonnes, corn – 12.8 million tonnes, and rye – 5 thsd tonnes.
Source: Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture

According to the report of the European Commission about the state of trading with agricultural products, in the period of November 2018 – October 2019 the USA exported agricultural products on the EU market at the sum of EUR 12.3 billion, Brazil – EUR 11.7 billion, and Ukraine – EUR 7.3 billion. It was noted that in the reporting period, the Ukraine demonstrated the fastest growth dynamics in exports – 41%.
Source: report of the European Commission

Since the beginning of 2019/20 MY (September-December), Ukraine supplied more than 200 thsd tonnes of refined sunflower oil on foreign markets, up 40% compared with the exports for the same period last season, which became the absolute maximum. In the current season, the Middle East (26%), Europe (26%), Asia (21%) and Africa (10%) became the main sales markets for the product.
Source: APK-Inform