Agriculture

The total volume of sunflower seed exports in February 2009 is going to reach its record level in five months. According to Ukroliya, sunflower seed exports in February will expand to 200 thsd mt, which is 23.5% more than total exports for the last five months of the 2008/09 marketing year.

MCB Agricole [4GW1 GR, N/R], an Ukrainian agricultural producer with a land bank under lease of 100 thsd ha, has announced that it is going to reconsider its land bank.

The Ministry of Agriculture has officially stated that USD 0.2 bln in financing will be allocated for loans to agrarians that are prolonged by Ukrainian financial institutions.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has established the procedure for VAT compensation for grain traders, in order to reimburse its debts on VAT.

Kernel [KER PW, BUY], a Ukrainian bulk oil and grain trader, released its financial results for 2Q08/09 last Friday. The company’s financial year ends in June.

The International Grain Council (IGC) has increased its expectations related to the world harvest of grain and corn in the 2008/09 marketing year.

Ukraine has exported a total 13 mln mt of grain in the period July 2008 to January 2009. However, grain exports in January 2009 lost its temp and the monthly grain export totaled 1.6 mln mt. In particular, 0.7 mln mt of this was mainly fodder grain, 0.6 mln mt of corn, and 0.3 mln mt of barley.

In 2008, Astarta [AST PW, BUY] harvested more than 394 thsd mt of grains and oilseeds (+96% YoY), and processed more than 32 thsd mt of raw milk ( +20% YoY).The company processed 1.5 mln mt of sugar beet (+61% YoY) and its sugar production totaled 235 thsd mt (+51% YoY). Moreover, the company’s share on the domestic sugar market increased two times to 15%.

Astarta [AST PW, BUY], is planning to launch bioethanol production at its Yaresivskiy sugar plant. According to Mr. Ivanchyk, the CEO of the Astarta holding, work has been started and its planned output capacities can reach 200 cubic meters per day. Currently, the estimated total value of the project is not finalized and will be defined in the process.

Astarta [AST PW, BUY] has reached an agreement on selling its carbonic credits to the International Fund of Carbonic Credits that was founded by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in cooperation with the European Investment Bank.