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recalled in a note on February 20 that this is the second acquisition that Kernel has announced this week. "The event may have important consequences for Kernel’s expansion strategy in its core segment, sunflower oil," he believes. Kernel had two alternative expansion strategies, with the first one being the construction of a crushing plant in western Ukraine with a capacity of 1mn tonnes, and the second (and more logical) being the acquisition of a seed processor with total capacities of 1.0mn-1.5mn tonnes in western Ukraine (i.e. ViOil), Perederey added. In 2018, the company announced its intention to construct a new plant, meaning that the probability of a ViOil purchase nearly vanished at that time. Moreover, by the end of 1QFY19, Kernel reported that a large part of its $152nm in supplier commitments is related to the crushing plant's construction. "However, we believe Kernel is beginning a long-term acquisition of ViOil, and the key question now is whether the company will pursue both projects (new capacity and the acquisition of existing ones) or will choose the ViOil deal as its priority," the expert wrote in the note. "At first glance, the deal looks encouraging, but the information provided by the company so far does not allow us to estimate whether the potential ViOil acquisition will significantly add value to the company," Perederey added.
9.2.11 Metallurgy & mining corporate news
Belarusian steel mill BMZ exported over 2mn tonnes of metal products worth over $1.25bn in 2018, up 25.9% over 2017 , BelTA reports. BMZ exported steel products to 66 countries last year. Europe accounted for 49.1% of BMZ's exports, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for 24.2% and Asia for 11.9%. The share of Africa and the Americas was 8.7% and 6.1% respectively. The top 10 importers included Russia, Germany, Lithuania, Israel, Ukraine, Netherlands, Poland, Egypt, Italy and the United States. “In 2019 we are set to maintain our positions and to build up our presence in the markets of African and Latin American countries,” the company said. In 2018 BMZ reported the total sales of more than 2.36mn tonnes of steel products, which represents a 6.2% increase over 2017. More than 26% of shipped products were innovative.
34 BELARUS Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com