Ukraine will amalgamate the merchant navy

Ukraine strengthens economic cooperation with China. Also, the state will develop its merchant fleet. One of the directions of Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation will be the export of grain. Contacts between Ukraine and China became more active after the visit to Beijing of President Yanukovych in December 2013.

The State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine (GPZKU) intends to create its own merchant fleet. Ten vessels, each worth $ 30 million, are planned to be purchased under a loan agreement with China. This was stated by the first deputy chairman of the board of the company Robert Brovdi .

"A separate area, which is currently being intensively studied by the State Food and Grain Corporation, is the investment of Chinese credit in the acquisition of its own merchant fleet ... These are steamers with a carrying capacity of 55 thousand tons and more," he said.

Negotiations are underway with the Chinese side. If they are successful, the first ships will be launched in 2015, the rest - in 2016.

Recall that in 2012, the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine agreed with the Export-Import Bank of China on the supply of grain to China for 15 years. As part of the deal, Ukraine pledged to purchase Chinese goods worth $ 1.5 billion from the Chinese National Machinery Industry Corporation. So far, the only Ukrainian grain trader that has its own fleet is Alexey Vadatursky's Nibulon.

Grain exports from Ukraine since the beginning of the current marketing year as of January 10 amounted to 19.85 million tons, which is 34% more than on the same date last year, ITAR-TASS writes .

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, in particular, 6.9 million tons of wheat (including 5.6 million tons of food), 2.05 million tons of barley and 10.7 million tons of corn were exported.

As reported, the gross grain harvest in Ukraine exceeded 63.8 million tons. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food estimates the potential for grain exports this year at 32.5 million tons.

Let us recall that Ukraine is consistently stepping up trade and economic relations with the People's Republic of China. Thus, the export of goods from Ukraine to China in January-October 2013 increased by 48.6% (by 742.95 million US dollars) and amounted to 2.270 billion US dollars, said Ruslan Osipenko , Director of the Department of Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Economic Development .

As previously reported by Inpress.ua, the negative balance of trade in goods of Ukraine in January-October this year amounted to $ 11 billion 537.1 million . Such data were published by the State Statistics Service in the next express release.

Recall that the signing of a number of strategic agreements with the Russian Federation and China can stimulate the development of certain sectors of the economy and have a positive effect on the structure of trade, which will lead to an increase in the flow of foreign currency to Ukraine.

The dynamically developing Asian region, led by China, is in dire need of provision with agricultural products. And who, if not Ukraine, can satisfy this impressive demand. Therefore, it is not surprising that the projected trade turnover between our state and the countries of the Asian region will grow rapidly. Further integration of Kiev into Asian markets will require constant growth of agricultural infrastructure and an increase in production capacity.

Recall that on December 3, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych arrived in the People's Republic of China on a state visit, which began in the city of Xi'an (Shaanxi province).

Also, during the dialogue between Ukraine and China, it was possible to reach agreements on attracting credit funds to boost the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex. This will significantly increase the quality of agricultural products and, as a result, increase export volumes.