Ukraine Grain wikileaks
TYMO’S BLOC: BYT is (not surprisingly) denying that it is involved in the hike in bread prices, arguing that they don’t have enough members involved in the industry. I’ve seen 3 guys involved in the bread industry in their bloc – Oleksandr Borysovych Feldman, Inha Stanislavivna Vershynina and Yuriy Hryhorovych Tryndyuk (2006 information). Out of the three, it looks like Tryndyuk has the largest bread interest by far.
Tryndyuk is the president of Khlibni Investytsiyi (Bread Investments), which is aiming for a 7 percent share of the market for bakery products in Ukraine by 2008. The company has operations around the country and owns Berdychiv, Sevastopol, Tsar-Khlib, Ivano-Frankivsk, Alekseyevskiy, Chernivsti, and Novoukrainskyi bakeries
Vershynina owns Pivden-Khlib (South-Bread) company, but I’ve so far been unable to find much information on this company. Its possible that its too small to make much of a dent, but I should probably do a little more looking around to be sure.
Feldman is said to own “various bakeries” – how much that represents who knows. He has interests all over the board – he’s the owner of owner of AVEK, which controls several markets in Kharkiv, bakeries, Bodohukhiv leather plant, Orilka sugar plant, Velykyy Burluk cheese plant, the Vremya (Kharkiv) newspaper, Metallist football club. Basically, he’s a generally powerful business guy – so bakeries don’t seem to be that strong a specialty.
YANU’S PEOPLE : And Tymo is unlike the only one with people in the bread business. Yanukovitch has at least one guy – Oleksandr Olehovych Lyeshchynskyy, o owner of Ukrinterprodukt (whichcontrols bakeries, sugar refineries, confectionery plants and meat
processing plants) as well as Sribnyy Vik advertising agency and Multimiks company.
http://action-ukraine-report.blogspot.com/2007/01/aur737-jul-20-members-of-parliament.html
43 FELDMAN, Oleksandr Borysovych; born 1960; Fatherland party member; member of previous parliament; owner of AVEK, which controls several markets in Kharkiv, bakeries, Bodohukhiv leather plant, Orilka sugar plant, Velykyy Burluk cheese plant, the Vremya (Kharkiv) newspaper, Metallist football club
(Kharkiv) - Versii.com website in Russian 13 Jan 06
63 VERSHYNINA, Inha Stanislavivna; born 1967; unaffiliated; director-general of Pivden-Khlib (South-Bread) company
84 TRYNDYUK, Yuriy Hryhorovych; born 1968; Fatherland party member; president of Khlibni Investytsiyi (Bread Investments) company
http://action-ukraine-report.blogspot.com/2007/01/aur737-jul-20-members-of-parliament.html
PARTY OF REGIONS, MEMBERS 186
FACTION LEADER: VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH
DEPUTY LEADERS: Rayisa Bohatyryova, Yevhen Kushnaryov, Mykola Azarov,
Volodymyr Rybak, Borys Kolesnikov, Andriy Klyuyev, Vasyl Dzharty, Oleksandr
Peklushenko, Volodymyr Makeyenko
53 LYESHCHYNSKYY, Oleksandr Olehovych; born 1964; Party of Regions
member; member of previous parliament; owner of Ukrinterprodukt (which
controls bakeries, sugar refineries, confectionery plants and meat
processing plants), Sribnyy Vik advertising agency and Multimiks company -
BYT Political Council Chairman In Kyiv Semynoha Denies BYT Deputies' Involvement In Raising Bread Prices (16:38, Tuesday, June 19, 2007)
Chairman of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's political council in Kyiv Anatolii Semynoha denies accusations that BYT deputies are involved in raising prices of bread.
He said this during a press conference at the Ukrainian News press center.
"We'll see a lean year, and most likely, today there is a panic on the market of bread products, and that's why the prices are rising," Semynoha said.
According to him, the government is unable to control the process today.
"Since it's impossible to control the situation today, they are trying to find someone guilty of this, the opposition is guilty of all our misfortunes," Semynoha said.
He expressed confidence that the BYT had nothing to do with formation of bread prices.
"If there are such plants [bakeries belonging to BYT deputies], one or two; one factory can't influence the price policy of the entire state," Semynoha said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Slauta and Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Mykola Azarov believe that the parliamentary deputies belonging to the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc that own bakeries are involved in increasing bread prices.
Bread prices have recently risen in several regions.
Bread Investments is aiming for a 7% share of the market of bakery products in Ukraine by 2008.
You may order an audio record of the press conference or/and its text decoding at the Ukrainian News press center service
http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/49907.html
Khlibni Investytsii operates in the bakery and bread manufacturing sector and owns Berdychiv, Sevastopol, Tsar-Khlib, Ivano-Frankivsk, Alekseyevskiy, Chernivsti, and Novoukrainskyi bakeries. Khlibni Investytsii is based in Ukraine.
Khlibni Investytsii Mulls Selling Upto 15% Stake To Foreign Investors
The Khlibni Investytsii holding company has plans to sell 10%-15% of its shares to foreign portfolio investors in 2007. Yurii Tryndiuk, honorary president of the holding company, told this to Ukrainian News. He said IPO would not be the first step of the company to the international markets. He said the holding company would start with the sale of shares to a foreign portfolio investor (private placement of shares) through a financial company, which is a part of the holding company. "It would match our plans for 2007 the best if we manage to do so (sell the shares), because we lack funds for modernization and development badly," he said. He said the holding company planned to raise about $15 million.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=29228453
UKRAINE - Grain traders in Ukraine are throwing thousands of tons of rotting crops into the Black Sea as a protectionist trade embargo extends into its fifth month. The government has promised to ease export quotas on various types of grain within weeks, but the market has already incurred losses in excess of $100m. Kiev's restrictions have played a big role in inflating world prices and added$ 20 per tonne on some categories of grain. The export restrictions have kept food prices low and earned political points for the governing coalition, headed by Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister. But traders warn that the move could backfire and damage the country's reputation as a reliable grain supplier, allowing competitors such as Kazakhstan and Russia to capture market from Ukraine.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/09b89cf2-b4bd-11db-b707-0000779e2340.html
November 2006 -- The government of Ukraine's pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich announced the limits in late November, citing a need to protect domestic grain markets in the wake of a moderate 2006 grain harvest, some 10 per cent less than 2005. Analysts are hopeful that the quotas will be eased soon, to allow traders to boost exports from 5.5m to 8m tonnes.
December 2006 - Ukraine's agricultural and transport industries during December alone lost more than 200 million dollars in cargo ship cancellations, unplanned storage fees, diverted freight trains, and rotten grain dumped into landfills and Black Sea bays, estimated Volodymyr Klymenko, President of the Ukraine Grain Association (UGA).
Suffering Ukrainian consumers, despite the artificial excess grain supply in their country, have failed to benefit from the new regulations, having been forced to finance a 15 per cent rise in the price of bread in the last three months of 2006.
February 2007 - About 300,000 tons of grain currently are stuck in Ukrainian ports, with another 1.5 million tons waiting for loading elsewhere in the country as a result of recently-imposed quotas on grain exports, industry experts estimate.
June 16, 2007 - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has warned he may dismiss all agriculture-related government ministers and the economics minister as well for taking effective measures to prevent groundless rises in the prices of bread. Prices have gone up 20 percent in one month. Droughty weather has greatly harmed grain crops in a third of Ukraine’ s regions. In the meantime, the government says grain reserves are big enough and sees no reasons why bread prices should climb.
Kiev - Ukraine's government on Wednesday slapped severe quotas on grain exports, undermining yet again the former Soviet republic's past commitments to a market economy.
A Cabinet of Ministers order set a 3,000 tonne limit for all of the country's main grain exports including wheat, corn, and barley, with the restriction effective from July 1 through October 1 2007.
Ukraine in 2006 banned most grain exports in the wake of a poor harvest, a move criticised in the international community as a Soviet-style government intervention in major export commodities.
Viktor Slavuta, Ukraine Vice Premier for Agriculture, argued the new quotas - effectively banning grain exports during the height of the 2007 harvest period - were not aimed at restricting the operation of a free market.
'It (the quotas) does not go into effect until July, so exporters will be able to sell off accumulated (grain) reserves before that time,' he told an Interfax news agency reporter.
Markets reacted rapidly to the announcement but not in the way Slavuta predicted, with the country's major grain exchanges reporting a near total halt to trading.
'The price situation is extremely tense,' said Mykola Vernitsky, a market analyst for the ProAgro trading house.
Buying and selling of grain and grain futures had came to a complete stop shortly before Slavuta's announcment, he said.
Observers pointed to national elections planned in Ukraine at the end of September, and rising prices for state-subsidised bread noted throughout the country in late May and June, as a possible cause for the quotas' imposition.
One of the harshest heatwaves in Ukrainian memory, along with an unprecedented 40-50 days of drought in some provinces, has downgraded harvest expectations on a national level by as much as 20 per cent. Grain production in the hardest-hit regions could be as low as one- third of 2006, Interfax reported.
Ukraine's government subsidises the price of bread, in no small part because practically all Ukrainian consumers consider keeping bread affordable a key priority for any government and have repeatedly punished at the polls governments allowing the price of bread to rise.
The provinces worst hit by the heatwave are concentrated in the east and south of Ukraine, a Russian-speaking region whose votes are critical to the present's government's control of parliament.
Owner of the largest concentration of black earth loam on Earth, Ukraine last year produced 28.7 million tonnes of grain of all types.
Production this year according to Slavuta will be in the 27 to 33 million tonne range, while independent observers generally are predicting the figure will be between 23 to 29 million, and the most pessimistic going as low as 20 million.
Despite its potential as an agricultural powerhouse, Ukrainian grain production has fallen off in recent years, with 34.3 million tonnes harvested in 2005, against 28.7 million last year.
Market analysts blame a government ban on the sale of farmland, and repeated government interventions to limit exports to prop up local food prices, as major causes for low foreign investment in the sector.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1320036.php/Ukraine_slaps_quotas_on_grain_exports_bread_price_rise_feared
India to pay heavily for scrapping wheat tender
NEW DELHI: India’s decision to scrap an import tender for one million tonnes of wheat will prove costly, given clear signs the country will be forced to buy large volumes from overseas markets just as prices have surged to an 11-year high.
India cancelled a tender to import 1 million tonnes of wheat in May, saying that prices of around $263 a tonne were high. But policy makers might in hindsight be thinking this was a mistake as purchases now would cost around 15 percent more.
With world wheat stocks seen falling to their lowest level in 30 years, erratic weather disrupting the US winter wheat harvest, and drought in Ukraine and Russia, analysts expect little respite for prices in the near term.
“India will now have to pay anywhere close to $300 a tonne to buy wheat as prices have been soaring at the Chicago Board of Trade,” said Atul Chaturvedi, president of Adani Exports Ltd, a commodities trading firm which was among the bidders for the tender New Delhi cancelled. “In retrospect, it seems the government should not have scrapped the tender.”
Wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade rose to 11-year highs of above $6 a bushel last week. But the market ended mixed on Friday. The July contract settled unchanged at $6.06-½ a bushel, below Thursday’s contract high of $6.19-1/4.
Earlier this month, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said the country would need to import 5 million tonnes between August and December to ensure that there was enough wheat in the next crop year beginning April 2008.
Government officials have said New Delhi would hold a tender to import 2 million tonnes of the grain by the end of June.
“The market is looking extremely tight,” said Rajini Panicker, head of commodity research at Man Financial India. “The fact that India is looking to buy has added support to the international scenario.” Analysts said it would be tough for India not to buy, as global supplies could fall further in coming months. And the new Australia crop was not expected until October.
“The government is indeed interested in importing wheat. The idea is to build large buffer stocks,” said a senior government official.
Food security: Though India will need to import wheat, New Delhi isn’t desperate to do so — officials maintain there is enough grain to meet domestic demand until next April. In April 2007, when the current marketing year began, the government had around 5 million tonnes of wheat in its bins against 4 million tonnes normally. It has since procured about 11 million tonnes from farmers, against 9.2 million a year ago.
Moreover, if the country harvests a crop of 73 million tonnes as forecast, against 69.3 million tonnes last year, the grain situation would be comfortable, given an annual domestic consumption of about 70 million tonnes.
Analysts said the government is aiming for a relatively larger buffer stock to keep a lid on prices throughout 2008, and to avoid a similar situation it faced in 2006, when domestic prices failed to come down despite large imports of 5.5 million tonnes.
“It is a question of food security and we don’t have the luxury to play around with prices,” saidAvinash Raheja, senior vice-president of Commtrendz Risk management. “There could be problems in wheat supply with the Ukraine situation.”
About 60 percent of Ukraine’s grain fields, or about 10 million hectares, are suffering from drought and at least 800,000 hectares of grain crops have already died, according to weather forecasters. And a senior agriculture official said the ministry had slash the 2007 wheat crop forecast by a third to about 12 million tonnes from the previous outlook of 18 million.
Analysts said the government should plan its long-term purchases better.
“Everybody knows that India is getting into a desperate situation for wheat. For all these risks, there will be a premium,” Raheja said.
Domestic wheat prices at local wheat markets have risen 7.6 percent to about 915 rupees ($22.35) per 100 kg, from 850 rupees in May. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C19%5Cstory_19-6-2007_pg5_35
Ukraine could ensure own grain supply despite drought - official
KIEV, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Despite a nationwide drought that has affected large areas under cultivation, Ukraine can still meet its own grain demand, the country's first deputy prime minister and finance minister said Friday.
"Undoubtedly, this year's harvest will be worse than last year - [hot] weather and a drought have created conditions that will damage crops," Mykola Azarov said. "However, we have enough reserves of grain harvested in 2006 and 2005."
The minister said there were no objective reasons to raise bread prices. However, bread prices have slightly gone up in six Ukrainian regions.
Azarov urged relevant ministries and governors of the affected regions to take all measures to cut bread prices. He also suggested that "the hysteria about the government's incapability to control the situation on the grain market" was being provoked by those members of the Tymoshenko Bloc who own bakeries.
Agriculture minister in Ukraine's Crimea, Pavlo Akimov, said that high air temperatures (up to 31-35 degrees Celsius) and soil temperatures (up to 45-46 degrees Celsius) in May, as well as a lack of rain had damaged winter and spring grains, especially barley, oats and grain legumes.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Vyktor Yanukovych said Wednesday he would fire three relevant ministers unless they brought the situation on the bread market back to normal within a week.
About 400,000 hectares of crops have failed so far.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070615/67271233.html
Azarov Forecasting Reduction Of Bread Prices By June 25
First Vice Premier and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov forecasts that bread prices in regions will be reduced by June 25.
He disclosed this to the press after meeting held at the Cabinet of Ministers.
«I have no doubts that simply the next week, we will adjust the problem (bread price increase),» Azarov said.
He said that on Friday, it was decided to create an operative group to the Cabinet of Ministers.
It is authorized to attract representatives of all ministries, agencies and also governors to study situation with bread price increase.
«I have to say that the situation is absolutely calm. If some politicians did not tense the situation, we would adjust it long time ago,» Azarov said.
He added that Ukraine has enough grain and flour, which are offered to bakeries at prices, which are lower than market ones.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Azarov considers that Verkhovna Rada Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc deputies, who own large bakeries, are involved in bread price increase in regions.
The Agricultural Policy Ministry reported on lack of grounds for bread price rise in the regions.
http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/49232.html
http://otherside.com.ua/news/detail.php?id=25946&lang=3
Another four hours on the bus and we arrived in Kiev, the mother of Russian cities and the capital of Ukraine. Every traveler to this city at all times has gone to sign the register at the Kiev Pechera Monastery, eaten those tiresome Kiev-style cutlets, and gone to the Karl Marx confectionery factory for a Kiev cake.
“The cakes are for the soul,” said Vladimir Yarandin, technical director of the Roshen confectionery corporation. “For a long time we thought about whether it was worth continuing to make them and decided to increase production five times.”
Roshen is part of the Ukrprominvest Financial and Industrial Group (FPG Ukrprominvest), and in 1999 it bought the Karl Marx confectionery factory in Kiev. It was here in 1956 that Konstantin Nikitin, the foreman of the biscuit workshop, created the recipe for Kiev cake. This cake became the city’s trademark, and in Soviet times the factory produced one ton per day and this was considered too little. There was an advantage in this, since one item in short supply could be exchanged for another.
The Karl Marx factory itself was founded by the merchant Valentin Efimov in 1886. Back then, production was 200 tons of confectionery per year. The factory received the name of Karl Marx on the 105th anniversary of his birth in 1923, and by 1940 was producing 32 800 tons of products per year.
After FPG Ukrprominvest purchased the Karl Marx factory (one of the largest in Ukraine), its confectionery division, which already owned four confectionery factories, made it responsible for the “chocolate and biscuit group.” The factory’s output of 6 to 12 tons of cakes per day is only a small fraction of its total production.
According to Vladimir Yarandin, the original recipe for Kiev cakes was restored when Roshen arrived. In Soviet times, substitution of certain ingredients had been allowed, for example, ground carob for cocoa powder and peanuts for cashews and filberts. The new owners did some research and settled on filberts (bought in Turkey). They also investigated oil: many producers add vegetable oil to animal fats, but Roshen buys 82%-fat sweet butter.
A classic design was also created for the Kiev cake. Previously, each decorator had worked in her own style. The factory did a customer survey, made a model of the best design, and hung it in the work areas. Now the rule is leaflet on the right, floweret on the left, and pattern just so.
They also considered various ways to extend the period of freshness (36 hours). One of them was to make the cake in the day and stamp it in the evening, but that was dishonest. Then they followed the example of French bakeries: prepare only the cake layers during the day, then assemble the cakes, spread on the cream, and decorate them between 10:00 in the evening and 6:00 in the morning. Shipments start at 6:00 a.m., and by 9:00 a.m. the factory gates close, so that dealers who are late will not get any cakes.
The personnel question has also been difficult. Wages at the factory are fairly high for Kiev, but generally, preparing the cakes is laborious women’s work. Increasing efficiency meant excluding creativity. The only person at the factory who is allowed to be creative is a confectioner named Zhdanov, who has worked here for 40 years preparing cakes on special order, for example, for general secretaries and other high officials.
The factory’s management has not made an issue of the fact that other factories and bakeries produce the famous Kiev cake—the Kiev Bakery and Confectionery Combine (BKK) is the main competitor. Evgeny Vovchanovsky, Roshen’s director of corporate development, believes that the problem of rights to old trademarks has been settled in a more civilized manner in Ukraine than in Russia. In Ukraine, whoever registered the old trademark first is the owner of it. So we have not accused our competitors of piracy but have simply increased production. In any case, customers rate Kiev cakes made at our factory more highly.
However, Vovchanovsky himself likes custard pastries made by BKK but does not like Kiev cake.
http://www.kommersant.com/t365959/r_2/n_19/Ukraine/
43 FELDMAN, Oleksandr Borysovych; born 1960; Fatherland party member; member of previous parliament; owner of AVEK, which controls several markets in Kharkiv, bakeries, Bodohukhiv leather plant, Orilka sugar plant, Velykyy Burluk cheese plant, the Vremya (Kharkiv) newspaper, Metallist football club
(Kharkiv) - Versii.com website in Russian 13 Jan 06
63 VERSHYNINA, Inha Stanislavivna; born 1967; unaffiliated; director-general of Pivden-Khlib (South-Bread) company
84 TRYNDYUK, Yuriy Hryhorovych; born 1968; Fatherland party member; president of Khlibni Investytsiyi (Bread Investments) company
http://action-ukraine-report.blogspot.com/2007/01/aur737-jul-20-members-of-parliament.html
BYT Political Council Chairman In Kyiv Semynoha Denies BYT Deputies' Involvement In Raising Bread Prices (16:38, Tuesday, June 19, 2007)
Chairman of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's political council in Kyiv Anatolii Semynoha denies accusations that BYT deputies are involved in raising prices of bread.
He said this during a press conference at the Ukrainian News press center.
"We'll see a lean year, and most likely, today there is a panic on the market of bread products, and that's why the prices are rising," Semynoha said.
According to him, the government is unable to control the process today.
"Since it's impossible to control the situation today, they are trying to find someone guilty of this, the opposition is guilty of all our misfortunes," Semynoha said.
He expressed confidence that the BYT had nothing to do with formation of bread prices.
"If there are such plants [bakeries belonging to BYT deputies], one or two; one factory can't influence the price policy of the entire state," Semynoha said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Slauta and Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Mykola Azarov believe that the parliamentary deputies belonging to the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc that own bakeries are involved in increasing bread prices.
Bread prices have recently risen in several regions.
Bread Investments is aiming for a 7% share of the market of bakery products in Ukraine by 2008.
You may order an audio record of the press conference or/and its text decoding at the Ukrainian News press center service
http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/49907.html
Khlibni Investytsii operates in the bakery and bread manufacturing sector and owns Berdychiv, Sevastopol, Tsar-Khlib, Ivano-Frankivsk, Alekseyevskiy, Chernivsti, and Novoukrainskyi bakeries. Khlibni Investytsii is based in Ukraine.
Khlibni Investytsii Mulls Selling Upto 15% Stake To Foreign Investors
The Khlibni Investytsii holding company has plans to sell 10%-15% of its shares to foreign portfolio investors in 2007. Yurii Tryndiuk, honorary president of the holding company, told this to Ukrainian News. He said IPO would not be the first step of the company to the international markets. He said the holding company would start with the sale of shares to a foreign portfolio investor (private placement of shares) through a financial company, which is a part of the holding company. "It would match our plans for 2007 the best if we manage to do so (sell the shares), because we lack funds for modernization and development badly," he said. He said the holding company planned to raise about $15 million.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=29228453
OJSC Starobesheve Bakery produces bread and other bakery products. The company is based in Starobesheve, Ukraine
Khlibprom Concern OJSC, through its subsidiaries, produces bakery and confectionery goods in Ukraine. It also develops a network of bread stores. The company is based in Lviv, Ukraine.
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