The general director of UkrLandFarming, the agricultural holding company with the largest area of land in Ukraine, Galina Vasylyk, provided some details about the company's plans in the area of logistics, as well as about construction of its own terminal at the Yuzhny port, during commemoration of Field Day, which took place in the Poltava region on August 22, the Center for Transport Strategies’ correspondent reports.

"At the moment the company has not yet found a partner for construction of a port terminal. We are searching for one, performing a feasibility study, and preparing all the documents in order to present a project to the investor in an efficient and good way," said Vasylyk.

According to her, the area of land that UkrLandFarming currently owns at the port is 200 hectares. This area is sufficient to build not only a grain terminal, but also to have the opportunity for transshipment of other goods,” she said.

"Our experts are investigating the market to determine the services or additional loads that can be handled there. We hope that these partners will be from abroad. Our owner and our entire team are now focused on the search for a partner," she said.

Vasylyk also shared the company’s plans for export. "Last year, our company began to direct exports. By autumn 2012, we were already sixth in Ukraine in terms of export of grain crops. As of March 1, we ranked fourth on the list of the largest exporters of corn. Our plans for the 2013/2014 marketing year are sufficiently ambitious. We plan to export more than 2.5 million tons of grain and plan to become one of the top three exporters in Ukraine. Historically, the most important destination for us is the EU, it accounts for more than 50% of our exports. The main export country is Spain. With regard to corn and wheat, the markets are Egypt and the Middle East. I am very pleased to note that we sent the first ships carrying our grain to Japan last year," she said.

"Because of the catastrophic shortage of hopper cars, it will be important for us this year to have our own machines for transporting grain”

In addition, the company is studying the market for long-haul vehicles for transportation of grain. "This is a problem for the entire Ukraine today. Because of the catastrophic shortage of hopper cars, it will be important for us this year to have our own machines for transporting grain. We are currently selecting the suppliers of these machines, and we will buy more than 200 vehicles. It is economically expedient to transport 300-400 kilometres by road,” said Vasylyk.

"We remember how difficult it was for the existing fleet of railcars to serve us during the period of 2011-2012, and additions are no longer being made to it and, unfortunately, it is becoming outdated. In addition, we are seeing an analysis that suggests that there will be practically no railcars left if we do not increase or significantly modernize the fleet by 2025."

As reported, UkrLandFarming recently announced that it intended to invest UAH 3.5-4 billion in expansion of its elevator capacity in the next two years. The total capacity of the company’s elevators should reach 2.1 million tons of one-time storage.

All the operations of the agricultural holding are currently grouped into five divisions: agriculture, livestock, sugar production, production of eggs, and distribution. With 532,000 hectares of land, UkrLandFarming’s owner Oleh Bakhmatiuk owns the largest area of agricultural land in Ukraine and the eighth largest in the world, according to forbes.ua.

UkrLandFarming’s revenue increased by 40.6% to USD 1.889 billion, its EBITDA reduced by 3.3% to USD 791.5 million, and its net profit reduced by 8.6% to USD 541.58 million in 2012. Exports accounted for 26.5% of its sales revenue in 2012, compared with 8.9% in 2011.