Agrain stroke the balance of 2018
The year 2018 was marked by a number of achievements for Agrain. This was stated by Pavel Mamin, Director of the Consult Agro company, in the exclusive comment for Latifundist.com.
Related story: Invisible Latifundist: Agrain Coming Back
“To begin with, on an area of 10.5 thou. hectares this year we received an average of 11 tons/hectare of corn. This is a good result. In the future, we are set to double the area under this culture,” he said.
Pavel Mamin added that in 2018 Agrain sowed high-oleic sunflower for the first time and got good results.
“We harvested a good yield for this crop, all the demands that customers put to high-oleic sunflower were also met. This is an interesting market due to the good premium the processors pay. In some cases it reached USD 70 per ton,” he stressed.
In addition, in 2019, the company plans to grow chickpeas in the south and in Kharkiv region and judging by the results Agrain will consider the further production of niche crops.
Related story: Larisa Ignat about the competition for farmlands in the South and the golden mean in the privity with shareholders
According to Pavel Mamin, this year Agrain managed to carry out all the work without involving the leased machinery.
“This is a considerable part of the costs. Besides, the season was complicated because of the simultaneous harvesting of sunflower, corn and soybeans. It was almost impossible to hire harvesters. But we planned all our work so that we went without leased machinery. In 2019, we plan to continue updating the fleet, in particular: tractors, aggregates for tillage and seeders,” he commented.
In 2019, Agrain scheduled the expansion of the transport company Agrain Trans, which today operates 35 grain trucks. It is also planned to purchase 30 new ones in order to self-sufficient in all operations in the future.
Related story: Fury Road: How to Keep Your Grain Shipments out of Harm’s Way
In 2018, the agrogroup managed to avoid outbreaks of the ASF.
“This became possible due to the proper organization and respect for biosafety. In addition, we found promising economics in the domestic market, which ensured stable sales volumes. As for the premium per kilogram of live weight, it varies in the range of 2-5 UAH,” said Pavel Mamin.
Related story: Profitable Livestock Business: Who Owns 15% of All Livestock in Ukraine