KMZ Industries became a partner of AGRO UKRAINE SUMMIT

13.02.2024

On 2 February, AGRO UKRAINE SUMMIT was held in Kyiv, bringing together more than 1,000 representatives of the agricultural and related industries. The event was organised by ProAgro Group, the Association of Grain Stogare of Ukraine and the Community of Pulses Producers and Consumers of Ukraine.

The day included five separate thematic conferences with over 70 experts as speakers and a large-scale AGRO UKRAINE Expo exhibition featuring more than 50 stands of companies producing equipment, machinery and technologies for agriculture.

The event also included the well-known Grain Storage Forum: Smart Drying”.

The speakers of the panel discussions traditionally discussed the issues of storage, drying and transshipment of agricultural products, as well as automation and digitalisation of enterprises.

A large amount of interesting information was presented, and several key points were highlighted:

Ukraine’s grain storage boom is yet to come.

Even before the full-scale war, Ukrainian farmers were actively expanding their grain storage capacity. However, according to experts, the grain storage boom in Ukraine is still ahead.

In particular, this opinion is supported by Epicenter Agro, which currently has an grain storage capacity of 1.8 million tons of simultaneous storage and additional 300 thousand tons of hoses. With 8 route grain storages, the company can make 10 routes per day, shipping about 35 thousand tons of grain.

Currently, the agricultural holding plans to:

• processing of all grain grown by its enterprises (this is still in the early stages of the concept) and export of finished products;
• construction of its own transshipment terminal on the western border of Ukraine.

What is the immediate future for terminals?

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, about 30 companies have received permits to build railway infrastructure for terminals on Ukraine’s border with Poland, Hungary and Romania, of which 7 are already operating and 12 are under construction.

According to analysts, the transshipment terminals currently under construction on the western border have a future. In the future, they will act not just as transshipment bases, but also as trading platforms for trading: it will be more profitable for farmers to take their products directly to the border.

Dry ports, which are also currently under construction, will also serve as similar trading platforms. There is also demand for projects that are multimodal terminals in scale and those that are implemented with minimal investment ($100-150 thousand): they do not have grain storage facilities at all and work with piles.

Everything that can be digitised should be digitised.

The shortage of qualified personnel has been a significant problem for Ukrainian agricultural enterprises for many years.

Companies that build new facilities for storing, processing, handling, or processing agricultural products automate and digitise as many production processes as possible at the design stage, while others also try to implement them in stages, understanding their importance and necessity.

And the continuous development of technology does not allow these trends to change.

For example, Ukrainian holdings, whose active expansion has taken place over the past five years, are already saying that they plan to introduce even more updated and modern automation systems.

In general, experts identify the following trends in the development of enterprise digitalisation both globally and in Ukraine:

• Transfer of all information to the cloud, development of cloud technologies;
• Investments in artificial intelligence;
• Strengthening cybersecurity;
• Quantum technologies (but in the distant future);
• Business automation;
• Robotisation of production.

And it is impossible not to note the enthusiasm and zeal with which our Ukrainian business overcomes obstacles, copes with difficulties and builds development plans against all odds.

We were glad to see everyone!

Now we look forward to seeing you at Grain Tech Expo.