Agriculture

Western Ukraine’ agricultural companies Dakor and Land West are considering a merger, with the resulting shares placed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Myronivsky Khliboprodukt [MHPC LI, BUY] announced its plan to increase market share in the poultry market from its current 45-47% to 50%. MHP plans to expand the output of poultry meat by 23%YoY in 2009.

Kernel [KER PW, BUY], a Ukrainian bulk oil and grain trader, obtained a USD 17 mln loan from an undisclosed Ukrainian bank with a western mother structure. The funds will be spent to refinance a USD 45 mln loan obtained in September 2008. The exact financial conditions are not announced.

The US Department of Agriculture increased its forecast for Ukraine’s harvest by 0.7 mln mt of grain. Moreover, Ukraine’s grain exports are forecasted to increase by 1.5mln mt of grain based on increased harvest estimations and a decrease in domestic consumption.

Ukrproduct [UKR LN, N/R], a London AIM-listed Ukrainian dairy producer, announced that it acquired 1.8 mln of its shares at GBp 12 per share. The shares will be held as treasury shares. As result, the company holds a total of 1.8 mln shares as treasury shares and 41.1 mln shares remain as free float.

Myronivsky Khliboprodukt [MHPC LI, BUY] announced its operational results for 1H09 in a press release today. MHP successfully launched the second phase of the Myronivka Poultry Plant in 2Q09. The company’s annual chicken meat production capacity will reach more than 200 thsd mt. MHP’s poultry volumey increased by 6% YoY to 116.3 thsd mt of meat in 1H09.

According to the newspaper “Delo”, the top five Ukrainian grain traders are as follows: Nibulon (exported 4 mln mt of gain); Louis Dreyfus and Serna (Glencore), which exported 2 mln mt of grain each; Toepfer, Bunge and Kernel exported 1.5 mln mt each.

As of July 7, Ukraine harvested 17.6 mln ha or 13.6% of its expected crop. The crop yield averaged 2.5 mt per ha. Ukrainian farmers harvested 1.2 mln mt of wheat (yielded at 2.51 mt per ha), 3.1 mln mt of barley (yielded at 2.6 mt per ha), and 0.24 mln mt of rapeseeds (yielded at 1.3 mt per ha).

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) approved the sale to Mriya of a more than 50% stake in six sugar plants in Ternopil region. The sugar plants previously belonged to Ukrainian Industrial Group.

Ukraine exported 24.7 mln mt of grain in the 2008/09 marketing year. In particular, Ukraine exported 12.6 mln mt of wheat, 6.3 mln mt of barley and 5.4 mlm mt of corn. Earlier, Mr. Melnik, the Minister of Agriculture, estimated Ukraine’s exports at 25 – 26 mln mt of grain in the 2008/09 marketing year.