Page 69 - UKRRptFeb19

association of sugar producers. The current marketing season started on August 31. Sugar refineries have processed 11.25.mn tonnes of sugar beets. In 2018, the area under sugar beets was 280,000 hectares, which is 13% less year-on-year, Interfax news agency reported on December 5. Earlier, Ukrtsukor forecasted a 11.2% y/y decrease in production of sugar in Ukraine in the 2018-2019 marketing year (September-August), to 1.9mn tonnes. The association also forecasted Ukraine's exports at the level of the previous year - at 500,000-600,000 tonnes. In the 2017-2018 marketing year, sugar production increased by 6.5% y/y to 2.14mn tonnes. Some 46 sugar refineries were in operation during that season. In September, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, greenlighted in the second reading a bill aimed at deregulating the lucrative sugar industry. The document abolishes the regulations on the control of production and sale of sugar, which resulted in restrictions in the supply of sugar to the domestic market (quota A) and set a minimum price for sugar and sugar beets, according to Interfax news agency. Ukrtsukor believes that due to the changes on the domestic and global sugar markets in recent years, the need for administrative regulation "has lost relevance". Meanwhile, Ukrtsukor's analyst of the commodity markets and agriculture Vasyl Dolynsky said on December 5 that the harvesting of sugar beet in Ukraine is over, but part of the harvest is still stored on the fields, while 13.5mn tonnes of sugar beets have been dug, which is 1mn tonnes less than last year. "Despite bad weather conditions, diseases and pests, manufacturers got a high average yield of 49.4 tonnes per ha. Soil and climatic conditions and a large amount of moisture in the soil caused such an unexpected result," Interfax news agency quoted Dolynsky as saying. According to him, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions with the average yield of 55-60 tonnes/ha became the most productive this year. The worst indicators were in Kharkiv region at 37 tonnes/ha and Kirovohrad region at 34.8 tonnes/ha. Many farms, mainly in the western and central regions of Ukraine, harvested more than 80 tonnes per ha on some fields. The expert noted that problems with storage and weather and climatic conditions in the second half of summer caused abnormally low sugar content of root crops: the average sugar content of root crops is 16.3%, which is 7% lower than in the last three years.
Ukraine harvested a record 70mn tons of grain in 2018, reports Prime Minister Groysman. Last year, the grain crop was 61.3mn tons. In 2016, it was 66mn tons, then a record. This year, a 43% jump in the corn crop, more than compensated for a 4% drop in the wheat crop.
Ukraine’s 91 fishing companies on the Sea of Azov will not be able to fish next year because Russia has not agreed with Ukraine on fishing quotas for 2019, Ukraine’s State Fisheries Agency tells Ukrinform. The Ukrainian-Russian Fisheries Commission met for three days in late October but adjourned without agreement on quotas. About 800 Ukrainian ships fish in the Azov, a fertile area known as “Fish Sea” in the Turkish Ottoman era. More recently, the Azov was the most productive fishing area in the Soviet Union, typically yielding 80 kg of fish per hectare, 40 times the catches of the neighboring Black Sea.
9.1.7 TMT sector news
Ukraine ranked second in Europe in terms of e-commerce growth rate,
which indicates the country’s significant market potential. This is according to the report by the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), an independent
69 UKRAINE Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com