Agriculture

As of June 30, 2009, Ukraine harvested a total 1.5 mln mt of grain with an average yield of 2.46 mt per ha (-6.8% YoY). According to a press release posted by the State Statistics Committee, farmers in Crimea as well as Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Poltava, Kirovograd, Zaporizhzhya and Kyiv Regions have started their harvesting campaign.

Mriya [MAYA GR, BUY], one of the top agricultural holdings in Ukraine, with a land bank in operation of 190 thsd ha, released its audited 2008 IFRS results. Key highlights: net revenues increased by nearly 5 times to USD 89.4 mln, EBITDA expanded by 4.5 times to USD 74.2 and net income surged by 4.6 times to USD 66.8 mln. As of January 1, 2009 Mriya’s bank debt amounted to USD 45.2 mln and the company accumulated USD 71.5 mln in cash, including cash in banks.

Astarta’s [AST PW, BUY] major shareholders – Viktor Ivanchyk and Valeriy Korotkov – bought 93.8 thsd (0.38%) additional shares in Astarta holding. As a result, the company’s free float slightly decreased to 19.62%.

MCB Agricole [4GW1 GR, BUY], a Ukrainian agricultural producer with a land bank of 100 thsd ha, has started its harvesting campaign in Crimea and in Odesa region. The total area sown with winter crops amounts to 63.2 thsd ha. For the harvesting campaign Agricole is going to use 139 agricultural machines (41% own machinery, 59% leased).

Ukrros [UROS UZ, BUY], released today its operational update on the sown area for the 2009/10 marketing year. The company used a total of 103 thsd ha for the harvesting campaign, including 24.6 thsd ha for winter crops and 78.4 thsd ha for spring crops. The company stated that 17 thsd ha was cultivated with sugar beet.

The State Statistics Committee released a report showing that Ukraine’s grain reserves have increased by 26% YoY to 8.4 mln mt of grain. In particular, wheat amounted to 4.2 mln mt, corn increased to 1.8 mln mt, barley totaled 1.2 mln mt and rye came in at 0.4 mln mt. Furthermore, sunflower seeds now total 1.6 mln mt.

According to Mr. Melnik, the Minister of Agriculture, Ukraine’s government will sell sugar from the State Reserve. The volume of sugar sold will depend on the market demand, though a total 40 thsd mt of sugar is available. Earlier, the government commissioned a state committee to sell 10 thsd mt of sugar to retail companies in order to stabilize domestic sugar prices.

The Ministry of Agriculture decreased its forecasted 2009 grain harvest from its previously estimated 48 mln mt of grain to roughly 42-43 mln mt. Mr. Melnik, the Minister of Agriculture, stated that the wheat harvest would decrease by 22.8% YoY to 20 mln mt, the corn harvest is expected to shrink by 8% YoY and the barley harvest will drop by 20.6%.

At a meeting in St Petersburg the Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh ministers of agriculture disclosed the intention of creating a Black Sea region grain pool.

Astarta [AST PW, BUY], announced the completion of its spring sowing campaign, and with it some increasing figures.