Page 61 - UKRRptSept20

Nibulon, the largest shipper on the Dnipro, is building a Black Sea port complex in Ochakiv and restoring the fish canning factory. ​To supply the cannery with fish, crustaceans and mollusks from the Dnipro-Buzky estuary, Nibulon’s CEO Oleksiy Vadatursky writes on his Facebook page that he is considering building shallow water fishing vessels at Nibulon’s shipyard in Mykolaiv.
● Cars
For Ukraine, the biggest impact of strikes spreading across Belarus may be a shortage of asphalt for President Zelenskiy’s $3bn drive to pave 4,000 km of highways ​this year. Ukraine imports half of its asphalt in heated, liquid form from Belarus. “Objectively, there is nothing to replace Belarusian volumes -- and this is half of the market,” Serhiy Kuyun, director of the A-95 Consulting Group, writes on his Facebook page. “Russian supplies are closed, and Ukrainian traders are just mastering imports by sea.”
Noting that concrete roads hold up in the summer heat, while asphalt roads sag, ​Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krikliy vowed to raise the% of main roads built with concrete from 1% today to 30% in 2040. As leaders of Ukraine’s cement industry nodded appreciatively, Rada Member Olena Shulyak vowed to spend $700mn a year through 2025 to build concrete roads.
In the latest effort to rebuild the East, the European Investment Bank is planning to lend €100mn to Ukravtodor ​to finance almost two thirds of a road building project in government-controlled Luhansk. Separately, the state highway agency is rebuilding 343 km of roads this year in government-controlled Luhansk.
9.1.6​ Agriculture sector news
Ukraine is on track to reach this year the symbolic target of a 100mn ton harvest of grain and oilseeds​, predicts the Ukrainian Grain Association. This would be 2% higher than last year’s overall harvest. Whilst drought is pushing the nation’s wheat harvest down 5% y/y, to 26.8mn tons, corn, Ukraine’s largest crop, is expected to grow by 10.5.% to 38.9mn tons.
Grain sales were down 18% y/y in July​, reports UNIAN citing the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture. Due to bad weather, much of the harvest is late.
Ukraine has displaced Russia to become the world’s third largest potato producer​. Agronews.ua reports that last year’s crop levels were: China – 93mn tons; India -- 51mn tons; and Ukraine – 23mn. The next two countries were Russia and the US.
Ukrainian sunflower oil prices surged 8% in ghet last week of August to their highest level in five years​, Agricensus reports in an analysis: “Ukraine’s sunoil market is on fire but will it last?” Ukraine is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil. The three main importers – China, India and the EU – are nervous about reports that hot, dry weather in southern Ukraine is reducing the oil content of harvested seeds. One crusher tells Agricensus reporter Vika Blazhko: “The first sun seeds that are going into crushing plants are of a small
61​ UKRAINE Country Report​ September 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com