Ukrainian agricultural holding Continental completes sowing of spring crops, allocates half of area to soybeans

MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian agricultural holding Continental Farmers Group (CFG), operating in the western regions of the country, has completed sowing spring crops and planting potatoes on 94,000 hectares, Ukrainian media reported, citing a statement from the group's press service.

The largest areas for the 2024 season have been allocated to soybeans (46,680 hectares) and corn (28,830 hectares).

Sunflower occupies 13,000 hectares, sugar beets are sown on 3,260 hectares, and potatoes on 1,800 hectares.

"This year's sowing season was special, primarily due to the weather conditions - warm weather came very early. The soil was already atypically well warmed up by the end of March and quite moist. Therefore, we had proper soil ripeness and optimal conditions for starting our sowing campaign at the beginning of April, and this is perhaps the first time when Western Ukrainian regions were able to start spring sowing faster than more eastern ones," CFG Operations Director Konstantin Shityuk, said.

The temporary deterioration of the weather in April did not affect the pace of sowing work, and "as a result, all planned areas were sown at agronomically optimal times," he said.

Continental assesses the development of spring crops as good and expects the density of seedlings to be as planned. Currently, production is focusing on the protection and care of crops.

CFG cultivates 195,000 hectares of land in the Ternopol, Lvov, Khmelnitsky, Chernovtsy and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. The company is one of the leading potato producers in Ukraine.

Continental Farmers Group is owned by Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Co. (SALIC, Saudi Arabia). SALIC completed the process of merging Ukrainian agricultural holding Mriya, which it purchased in 2018, and the Continental Farmers Group, which it already owned, in 2019, under a single brand, Continental Farmers Group.