One of Ukraine’s largest agricultural companies, poultry producer Myronivsky Hliboproduct, owned by tycoon Yuriy Kosyuk, received a total of Hr 812 million or nearly $30 million this year in subsidies from the government.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Viktor Sheremeta said that Myronivsky Hliboproduct has legally received subsidies from the government due to a reimbursement program adopted by parliament on Oct. 31, news agency Ukrinform reported on Nov. 7.
“They built poultry farms, and in that sector there is a 25 percent reimbursement policy; the program was adopted by parliament, not the ministry,” said Sheremeta.
Vinnytsia Poultry Farm, a subsidiary of Myronivsky Hliboproduct, received Hr 618 million ($22 million) from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy on Nov. 1. In addition, the company received Hr 187 million ($6.7million) in August.
The program for supporting farming businesses was amended on Oct. 31. Under the amendments, companies dealing with livestock, milk production and agricultural processing received an additional Hr 500 million ($17.8 million) worth of subsidies, bringing the total amount of aid to roughly Hr 1.7 billion ($60 million). Kosyuk’s companies received almost half of the funds.
In 2017 Myronivsky Hliboproduct received Hr 1.4 billion ($50 million) from the state budget, or 35 percent of the government’s total subsidies for the agrarian sector.
According to Ukrainian news and current affairs magazine Novoe Vremya, Kosyuk is the eighth richest person in Ukraine, with his net worth rising 31 percent this year and equaling $908 million. Forbes estimates a higher figure of $1.4 billion.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct, one of Ukraine’s largest agrarian holdings and the parent company of poultry enterprise Nasha Ryaba, has been involved in a series of scandals. A number of watchdog organizations have questioned concerning the company’s environmental standards. Additionally, the company has received more than half of the country’s European Union poultry and dairy quotas. In Ukraine, Myronivsky Hliboproduct has a near monopoly of the poultry market.
The company was included in the Russian sanctions list published on Nov. 1.
Kosyuk has close ties to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and currently serves as the president’s advisor.
He also served as the deputy head of the Presidential Administration for six months in 2014.
