Interviews, Comments

DJ UPDATE: End To Ukraine Wheat, Corn Duties Boosts Export Hopes

stryzheus — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 07:41:10 +0000

12.10.2011

Ukraine's parliament voted Friday to end duties on grain exports as of next year, in a move industry sources say will boost shipments from this year's expected bumper harvest.

Cargill CEO: Nation should help feed world instead of shaking up prices

stryzheus — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:03:14 +0000

05.07.2011

Q&A with Cargill chief executive Greg Page on the gifts that nature gave to Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia could substantially boost crop and food output if they lift export restrictions and open up more to investment, the head of U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill said during a Kyiv Post interview.

Agribusiness losses mount amid damaging "Great Grain Robbery"

stryzheus — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 06:02:04 +0000

27.04.2011

Morgan Williams writes: Ukraine's huge potential is being unmet.

Ukraine historically has been called “the breadbasket of Europe.” Even this underestimates Ukraine’s potential. The nation today can be a huge “market basket” of high-value products, not a “breadbasket” of low-value products.

FT: Investment climate will determine yield (Andriy Yarmak)

moderator — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:55:48 +0000

01.07.2010

Amid all the doom and gloom, one sector in the country’s economy has a bright future and promises high yields. Despite a deep recession that sent gross domestic product plunging 15 per cent last year, some budding domestic agribusinesses reported double-digit growth.

Thirteen reasons why farm sector’s potential unfulfilled

moderator — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:56:10 +0000

22.01.2010

Due to populism and poor government policies, the pace of development is extremely disappointing. Ukraine has recovered its reputation as the breadbasket of Europe by posting record harvests in recent years, more than 52 and 48 million tons of grain in the past two seasons, respectively. Moreover, investment into the sector has increased sharply. However, I think that the pace of development is extremely disappointing and that Ukrainian governments did everything possible with poor policies to slow it down. Had they not, Ukraine’s agriculture sector would already be generating much larger harvests and at least twice as much value as it generates today.

Soybeans To See Best Demand Growth In Grains - Goldman

moderator — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:55:57 +0000

04.11.2009

Soybeans are expected to see the “lion’s share” of global demand growth for grain in the coming years due to increased meat demand, Jeffrey Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Food Security conference in London, Currie said annual demand growth for soybeans is expected to increase 3.5%, compared with 2.5% for corn and 1% for wheat. “Yields can’t keep up with demand anymore, we’ll have to expand acreage,” said Currie. Demand for grains used for animal feed will drive growing grain demand and soybeans are a key source of protein for meat production, said Currie.

World Wheat Prices Seen Doubling In Next 3 Decades - IFPRI Exec

moderator — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:19:35 +0000

03.11.2009

World wheat prices are expected to double in the next three decades, with an increase of up to 20% in the next decade, Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. Speaking on the sidelines of a Food Security conference in London, von Braun said wheat is the most “troubled” grain crop going forward due to an expected increased incidence of disease combined with a lack of yield increases.

Russian Banks Count Pigs, Lingerie as Collateral

moderator — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:35:40 +0000

27.10.2009

When Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev’sOAO National Reserve Bank seized collateral offered against a loan from a cash-strapped borrower, a health quarantine was slapped on the security: 40,450 pigs. “We had a court decision to take away the collateral, which is the pigs,” Lebedev, 49, said in an interview in Moscow. The borrower, a farm near Samara on the Volga river, agreed “with the local authorities to establish a quarantine” against African swine fever. The former KGB officer is still waiting to collect the pigs offered against a loan of 100 million rubles ($3.5 million). A kilogram of live pig costs an average of 78.4 rubles, the National Meat Association says.

UN Food Chief: Economic Crisis Requires Swift Action On Hunger

moderator — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:15:53 +0000

19.10.2009

“The current [economic] crisis is historically unprecedented in several ways,” Diouf said in the speech at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters in Rome. “As developing countries are more financially
and commercially integrated in the world economy, a drop in the global demand or supply and in credit availability had immediate repercussions on them,” he said.

Growing Global Demand To Drive Food Prices Higher - StanChart

moderator — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:37:21 +0000

19.10.2009

Food prices are likely to increase due to rising global demand, which could also fuel the risk of protectionist trade measures in future, Standard Chartered bank said Friday.

World economy gropes on road to recovery amid mixed signs

moderator — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:09:35 +0000

02.10.2009

As the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the World Bank annual meetings approach as another arena for policy makers to discuss ways to resume and sustain growth, the world economy is scrabbling on the way out of the deepest recession since the 1930s.