BZK Grain Alliance AB is Pleased to Announce the Common Project with USAID to Help Ukraine Continue Feeding the World

Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced new partnerships with Grain Alliance, Kernel, and Nibulon to help Ukraine overcome immediate and long-term export logistics challenges caused by Russia’s full-scale war and continue to provide much-needed grain to the global market.  The combined investments exceed $44 million and are projected to increase grain shipping capacity by more than 3.35 million tons annually.

USAID facilitated the partnerships through the Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine), the agency’s flagship effort to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, ship, and export grain despite Putin’s invasion.  The war, most notably the Russian Federation’s months-long blockade of Black Sea ports from late February to August 2022, has drastically diminished Ukraine’s export capacity and left exports dependent on severely constrained rail capacity.  Rail export, river, and other overland routes must be improved and expanded to avoid dependence on Black Sea ports and allow Ukraine to efficiently access regional markets.

These new transshipment investments will increase grain export operations at three terminals: Izmail and Reni, both on the Danube, and Čierna nad Tisou in Slovakia.  The co-investments include $8 million from AGRI-Ukraine and more than $36 million from the three partners and will cover a range of expansion needs from design and construction, to renovate berths at the Reni port and to expand the Port of Izmail, to purchasing a transshipment storage facility in Slovakia including building silos and procuring transport equipment such as trucks and railcars. USAID will contribute through procuring grain loading equipment, temporary storage structures, and remanufactured locomotives.

BZK Grain Alliance AB has operated in Ukraine for more than 20 years, striving to restore Ukraine as the breadbasket of the world.  Grain Alliance currently cultivates around 60,000 hectares as well as operates six grain elevators with a total drying and storage capacity of more than 300,000 tons.  In May of 2022 Grain Alliance secured the Cierna nad Tisou transshipment facility in Slovakia to provide an uninterrupted route for Ukrainian producers to transport grain by rail.  After the first successful shipment in June, by mid-December already 100,000 tons of grain have been shipped.  The expansion will allow Grain Alliance to increase export volumes by more than 500,000 tons annually along this overland corridor.

Ukraine’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil and largest exporter of grain, Kernel’s integrated grain and oilseed value chain includes 363,000 leasehold hectares under farming, 3.5 million tons capacity for sunflower seed crushing, 2.3 million tons of storage capacity, and 10 million tons capacity at deep-water export terminals.  In 2022, Kernel secured sunflower oil and meal transshipment capacities in the Ukrainian port Reni on the Danube River.  During the summer, Kernel invested in barges, coasters, and handy-size carriers for grain and oil to make exports via the Danube River more efficient.  This new investment in berth access will allow for a 600,000 tons per annum increase in volume.

Over the last 30 years, Ukraine’s Nibulon LLC has created a vertically integrated grain logistics infrastructure network that includes 80,000 hectares under cultivation and a total capacity of over 2.25 million tons storage.  Nibulon employs 6,000 people and has invested more than $2.3 billion in the Ukrainian economy.  This includes $600 million in a modern fleet of 82 vessels, currently blocked because of the Russian aggression.  Their recent investments include the new Bessarabska branch transshipment terminal in Izmail, building on their 2009 expertise in using the Dnipro and the Southern Buh Rivers as transport waterways of Ukraine. With a carrying capacity of 300,000 tons per month, the terminal expansion will facilitate an additional 2 million tons of export annually.

Agriculture, the bedrock of the Ukrainian economy, accounts for nearly 20 percent of Ukraine’s GDP, 20 percent of the workforce, and more than 40 percent of total export revenues.  The USAID-led AGRI-Ukraine initiative bolsters Ukrainian agricultural production and exports, supports Ukraine’s embattled economy, and alleviates the global food security crisis exacerbated by Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine.  AGRI-Ukraine provides critical agricultural supplies, improves export rail logistics and efficiency, increases farmers’ access to finance, and supports storage, drying, and processing needs.

Through AGRI-Ukraine, USAID contributed $100 million, has leveraged more than $70 million, and seeks to leverage an additional $80 million, including from fellow donors, the private sector and foundations, with an overall investment target of $250 million.  For more information on AGRI-Ukraine and how to partner with USAID to support Ukraine’s agriculture sector, visit the AGRI-Ukraine link: www.usaid.gov/ukraine/agriculture-resilience-initiative-agri-ukraine.

Första last med förnödenheter och medicinartiklar till våra anställda och markägare i Ukraina

Som tidigare uppmärksammats i flera medier så har CA koncernen ett stort engagemang i Ukraina via sitt helägda bolag BZK Grain Alliance AB som bedriver jordbruksverksamhet i fyra regioner i Ukraina. Totalt omfattar verksamheten cirka 60 000 hektar åkermark, 1100 anställda och därutöver relation med knappt 15 000 markägare. Inledningsvis, sedan Rysslands ytterligare invasion av Ukraina, har fokus från CA koncernen varit att stödja vår personal och våra markägare med akuta insatser på plats i Ukraina.

För att ytterligare stödja landet, och kanske främst våra anställda och markägare som befinner sig i de hårdast drabbade områdena i Ukraina, påbörjade CA under förra veckan ett arbete för att leverera en första last med förnödenheter och medicinartiklar från Sverige.

Vår möjlighet att ta emot gods vid gränsen mot Polen är god, då vi i Ukraina har en stor logistikorganisation med egna fordon samt god lokalkännedom vilket förhoppningsvis underlättar att vi kan få ut förnödenheter till de som behöver det mest.

Uppslutningen och viljan att hjälpa till är fantastisk. Logistiken till gränsen mot Ukraina sköter Börjes Åkeri i Nybro som har stor vana av transporter till Polen och Östeuropa. Flera företag har också hjälpt till med material i form av kängor, sovsäckar, ficklampor, första hjälpen-kit etc.

Under fredagsförmiddagen lastade man på Börjes på allt material på den lastbil som körs ner till gränsen av en ukrainsk lastbilschaufför som själv lämnade landet för några år sedan, men som har familj kvar i Ukraina.

– Min bror är kvar i landet, det har varit en del bombningar i närheten av där han befinner sig men under de senaste dygnen har det varit något lugnare, förklarar han.

CA kommer även fortsättningsvis att leverera mat och förnödenheter med egna transporter. Kontakter är redan tagna med lokala och regionala frivilligorganisationer för att få till samarbeten med dessa hjälpsändningar. Vi ser dock gärna att vi får kontakt med fler organisationer som på olika sätt kan hjälpa till i detta nödvändiga arbete.

Baryshivska Grain Company LLC, a part of Grain Alliance AB will receive €10 million loan from EBRD.

As part of the company’s development Grain Alliance will increase it’s grain storage facilities and upgrade agricultural machinery fleet. Less energy consuming technology for machinery and biomass residuals fired heat generators for the grain dryers will help to continue environment friendly sustainable development of Grain Alliance.

We are proud, that our aim to decrease greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while increasing productivity of own production got support from EBRD and Taiwan CDF. This 7 yrs loan also shows the appreciation of us being long-term investor with sustainable focus into Ukrainian agriculture” – said Johan Damne, the chairman of the board of Grain Alliance AB

This investment will allow us to produce and dry more grains with smaller footprint. Additional storage and new dryers with heat generators will allow us to dry additional 170 thsd tones of grains during the season. We can see that the investment will bring benefits to our regional clusters as well as to local communities.” – added Evgeniy Radovenyuk, CEO of Grain Alliance AB.

 

The Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine Martin Hagström visited Grain Alliance in Poltava region

On November 13, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Ukraine Martin Hagström made a working visit to Poltava region for the first time. In particular, the ambassador visited the grain facilities of Grain Alliance (Baryshivska Grain Company) and met with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Mr. Johan Damne. The enterprise applies energy-saving programs on grain drying, which is introduced into to Ukraine. For instance, the company uses an Italian dryer by BONFANTI that works on alternative fuels such as grain processing waste and sunflower husk pellets.

Baryshivska grain company has been operating for over 20 years in Ukraine. About 60 million dollars have been invested into the company development since the advent of the Swedish ownership. Today Baryshivska Grain Company is an agricultural producer with 100% of Swedish investments. The main policy and strategy of the enterprise is to process the European culture into the subject of organization of labor, both in the economy and in production, and in attitude to the land and to the human. Therefore, our strategy is intended for long-term cooperation with communities. Grain Alliance is a member of a group that has been steadily and confidently working in Sweden for 130 years. I think, such long-term cooperation will have a positive result in Ukraine as well, – says the executive director of Grain Alliance Yevgeniy Radovenyuk.

Our activity has been based on the principles of social and ecological responsibility for a long period of time. We have been investors in Ukraine for 12 years , and we look forward to further fruitful cooperation,-confirms the above-said the chairman of the Board of Directors of Grain Alliance Johan Damne.

Also those present at the meeting were able to see and evaluate the cultivation of soil on a corn stub with the high-tech cultivator TopDown by Swedish company Väderstad. Grain Alliance has acquired 3 such cultivators and 2 Tempo seeders. New aggregates will be released in the field the following spring. Grain Alliance fruitfully cooperates with Väderstad in the matters of quality soil cultivation and sowing of grain.

Besides, the Ambassador and the chairman of the Board of Directors of Grain Alliance discussed the problems and prospects for doing business with Swedish investments in Ukraine.

Today I saw the work of Grain Alliance. The embassy is working at expanding economic contacts between Sweden and Ukraine. The most important thing for new investors and businessmen is to see how companies with Swedish investments are working in Ukraine. I’m impressed: Grain Alliance is a large Swedish investment with modern technologies, environmental approaches to production, that are similar to those approaches in Sweden. The company investigated various aggregates at the opened tender and identified that the best are those of the Swedish company, which is also pleasing, -summed up Martin Hagström, the Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine.

Organic farming

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For the third year, Baryshivska Grain Company has been implementing the principles of organic farming. In South Poltava Region, there are fields where crops are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers or means of protection. Their total area is 1600 hectare. At present, the Organic Standard Company has certified most of the company organic crop rotation fields that meet the requirements of European standards for organic crop cultivation. In addition, the relevant certificates have been received for the company warehouses where the grain is stored.
– Baryshivska Grain Company has been growing organic spelt for three years. Organic soybeans were first sown this year. Spelt has already been harvested, we have 700 tons of crop. The productivity level of this grain is 32 centners per hectare. ”Zorya Ukrayiny” is the first spelt variety in Ukraine, which has been passed for official registration. The value of this wheat is that it has up to 17% protein, – says the head of South Poltava region Grygoriy Plys.
– Spelt is a kind of grain that needs to be hulled. This is a rather difficult process. Modern German equipment is used for this purpose. We are able to hull 7 tons of spelt per a day, – says Ivan Shulga, the Head of “Ovsyuky” warehouse.
Baryshivska Grain Company considers organic farming to be one of the most promising and intends to develop it.