In Ukraine, massively stop the work of the greenhouse
Stopped 30% of greenhouses in Ukraine, including the largest plant in Ukraine "Teplichny" in the village of Kalinovka near Kiev. It is reported by Ukrinform.
“The plant stopped buying gas from October 14 last year. The plants gradually died out with the onset of cold weather, but the company has to pay UAH 25 million a year in monthly fees for using gas networks that cannot be disconnected from. Obviously, the situation is hopeless, and you actually have to pay "for air". This payment system has been in place for three years already,” said Evgeniy Chernyshenko, President of the Greenhouses of Ukraine Association.
He added that production at the plant was partially suspended for the winter. After all, without maintaining a minimum temperature, greenhouses can collapse in frost. And it will be very difficult and expensive to restore them: 1 hectare of modern greenhouses costs 3 million euros.
As E. Chernyshenko explained, the price of gas for the industry's farms is more than 43 UAH/m3. Electricity is also getting more expensive, in particular, the price in November was 5.02 UAH/kWh. Due to the high cost of electricity, even flower greenhouses have stopped, requiring less gas, but a lot of electricity for additional lighting.
“The problem could be solved at the expense of gas from our own Ukrainian production. I provided information to the ministry, and to the Federation of Employers, and to the Verkhovna Rada, and to the Cabinet of Ministers: the entire greenhouse industry consumes 55-60 million cubic meters of gas per year. This is practically nothing for Ukraine. There is domestic gas with a cost of no more - 5-7 UAH / cubic meter. Let the gas workers add 50-100% of the cost to themselves. But then the gas will cost UAH 15-16 per cubic meter with delivery,” Evgeny Chernyshenko suggests.
He warned that full-fledged work of the enterprise would not resume until next winter. “It is no longer profitable to grow greenhouse products in the spring, because vegetables from open ground will gradually appear on the market. We have to wait for next season. The entire resource went to support not to lose production. And then it will be necessary to look at the economic situation in the country, at the cost of energy resources, and so on. Now on the agenda is the preservation of production, ”explained the head of the greenhouse industry.
As a result, only 480 out of 620 employees remained at the Kalinovsky greenhouse plant. Of the total area of almost 50 hectares, only 38 hectares of modern greenhouses have been sown. And the reduction occurred mainly in cucumber greenhouses.
“With the current cost of gas, prices for products from Ukrainian greenhouses can jump by 40%. This will make them uncompetitive: for example, greens will cost UAH 50-60, when there is Italian on the counter - UAH 35 each. According to our estimates, now 40-50% of greenhouse farms are in bankruptcy mode, ”the USPP said.
”An imported cucumber from Turkey now costs UAH 60 (the group cost of customs-cleared products). And the selling price of Ukrainian cucumber from greenhouse plants is 80-100 UAH, depending on the volume and quality. This is one and a half times more expensive than Turkish cucumbers. And under the conditions of the Free Trade Zone, they will be cleared at customs and cost even less,” says Taras Bashtannik, head of the UPOA.