Friday, 28 April 2017

Friday AM Black Sea agribusiness news

The Belarusian Ministry of Agriculture will respond to complaints lodged by the Russia food safety watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, after representatives of the Russian agency inspected several Belarusian enterprises.

This is part of an ongoing spat between the two countries which has resulted in Russia banning imports of many Belarussian products over food safety concerns which has been rigorously denied by Belarus.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister has pledged to create favourable conditions for Chinese businesses in Ukraine saying he is committed to sparing no effort to create conditions for effective cooperation and there is talk of creating China's first modernized agricultural park in Ukraine, whatever that is.

Worth reminding ourselves that back in 2013 China announced (here) they had reached an agreement with Ukraine to buy three million hectares of farmland which was immediately refuted by Ukraine saying it had all been a big misunderstanding and what they had actually agreed to was to investigation cooperation in a three thousand hectare drip irrigation project, so I wouldn’t take too much notice of these announcements until something concrete happens.

Ukraine exported 10.5mmt of grain in the first quarter of 2017, 18% more than the same period last year making 2016/17 grain exports a record high.

Belarus has planted 823,300 hectares of spring cereals and pulses so far or 88% of the forecast which is about the same as last year.

Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said on Wednesday that Moscow hoped to reach a compromise with Turkey over grain exports within two weeks.

Russian pig production continues to rise with a 5.3% increase in the first quarter of 2017 for pigs for slaughter in live weight compared to the same period last year and amounted to more than 1 million tonnes.