Ukraine 2012 feed production up by 7%
By the end of 2012 Ukraine’s feed production is expected to reach 6.7-6.9 million tonnes, a 7% increase on 2011, this is according to Nikolay Vernitsky, director of agricultural media company ProAgro.
In 2011, the country produced about 6.4 million tonnes of animal feed also taking into account the shadow market, the share of which is about 40% out of the total feed market in the country. According to the report Ukraine’s feed production has risen consistently over the past five years.
More than 70% of the country’s industrial feed production goes to large agricultural holdings. In particular, in 2011 the share to Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) amounted to 25%, Avanguard – 7.9%, Agromars – 7.7%.
Also, according to ProAgro in January-October this year, Ukraine imported 79.1 thousand tonnes of feed at a total cost $147.7 million. The export of feed for the same period was less than 8 tonnes ($ 3.9 million). Ukraine, mostly imported feed additives, premixes and feed mixtures from Europe and China. At the same time the country is exporting complete feed and feed on the basis of grain mixtures. In the report it was also noted that Ukraine’s main export markets in 2012 will remain the same: the Republic of Moldova, Belarus, Georgia and Turkey.
It is also interesting that the price of animal feed in the Ukraine market since the summer of this year increased by 20-23%. According to experts, feed cost will continue to rise by at least 15% until the middle of spring 2013. These hikes will be mostly due to the rise in costs of feed ingredients, primarily corn and soy, which makes up 76% of the production costs. Over the past year, the price of feed components such as coarse grains increased by 19-30%, bran – by 59%, sunflower meal – more than twice.
