AVANGARDCO, Ukraine’s largest egg producer, has recorded deepening losses in its first half results.
The company said oversupply in both domestic and global markets had put pressure on egg prices, which were down 25% year-on-year – at US$0.046/egg compared with US$0.061/egg in the first half of 2018.
Revenues were up 25% overall, at US$84.8m, with 53% of sales coming from export markets.
But gross losses amounted to US$65m, compared with a loss of US$4.6m the year before.
Avangardco’s laying flock, as of 30 June was 11.2 million hens, up 30% when compared with 2018. That translated to production of shell eggs up 44% year-on-year, to 1.7bn eggs. Export of shell eggs came to 785m units, up 144% year-on-year.
The company’s chief executive, Nataliya Vasylyuk, said: Avangardco has had a challenging first half of 2019 with results below our forecasts.
“This was largely due to ample supply in both domestic and global markets resulting in the below-cost reduction of the price of shell eggs.
“In H1 2019, the company’s average sales price of shell eggs fell to its lowest level since 2017and affected the company’s revenue. At the same time, lower prices for fuel and the key feed components (grain and oil crops) allowed the company to reduce its costs per unit of output but failed to offset the adverse impact of highly fluctuating shell egg prices on the company’s profitability.
