OREANDA-NEWS. On 31 December 2008 was announced, that in December ASTARTA summarized the production results of 2008. The Holding has harvested more than 394 thousand tons of grains and oilseeds (96% up y-o-y), provided to customers more than 32 thousand tons of milk ( 20% up y-o-y), It has produced more than 1.5 million tons of sugar beet (61% up y-o-y), and its sugar plants processed more than 1.7 million tons of sugar beets (72% up y-o-y). Until the end of this campaign ASTARTA will produce more than 235 thousand tons of sugar (51% up y-o-y), and almost double its share in the national production from 8.4% to 15%. About 84% (71% in the last year) of sugar beets to the plants were provided by own agri-companies.

In line with its development strategy, in 2008 the Holding has fulfilled a large-scale investment program including the sugar plants' modernization worth about USD15 million, and significant expansion of the agricultural machiner' fleet with new combines, cultivators, grain and beet harvesters, purchased from the leading producers from Ukraine, the EU and the USA totaling in around USD20 million.

ASTARTA significantly increased its sugar production capacity by the replacement of equipment (centrifuges, filter presses, vacuum apparatuses etc.) at 5 own sugar plants and acquired Narkevychi sugar plant in Khmelnytsky region. As a result, the total daily sugar beet processing capacity of ASTARTA' sugar plants is about 20 thousand tons. They also significantly improved production' technical and economical performance, decreased energy consumption per product unit.

ASTARTA has increased its land bank under long term lease to more than 160 thousand hectares (19% up y-o-y). Almost all of the leased land is under cultivation, and an  important competitive advantage of ASTARTA is that due to the optimal crop rotation, fertility of soils has been continuously improving thus providing higher yields.

The best results were achieved in Poltava region, where land is more then 3 years under lease: winter wheat - 6.7 tons per ha (agrofirm "Zolotaya gora"), spring barley - 5.6 tons per ha (agrofirm "Pustovoytovo"), corn - 10.8 tons per ha (agrofirm "Dovjenko"), sunflower - 3.3 tons per ha (agrofirm "Pustovoytovo"), sugar beet - 66.5 tons per ha (agrofirm "Zolotaya gora"). ASTARTA' average yields this year are close to the East-European ones and exceeded  Ukrainian average by 30-40%.

Comment of Viktor Ivanchyk, CEO of ASTARTA Holding N. V.: "We are satisfied with production results achieved in 2008. Our agrofirms have done well, they raised, harvested and safely stored high yield of grains and technical crops. We have been processing record high crop of sugar beet and have become  the #1  sugar producer in Ukraine.

At the same time, we are not used to rest on our laurels, and especially in the current market situation. At present we are implementing restructuring plan aimed at decrease of expenses and increase of our efficiency. In the preceding years our development has often had an extensive nature as the Company has been gaining relatively quickly new land under lease and new production assets. Today we are making a strong emphasis on the intensification of agricultural and sugar production, in particular an effective use of all recourses available, and an increase of labor productivity and energy efficiency.

We are also working hard to prepare for a new production season. In particular, ASTARTA has already sowed more than 34 thousand hectares of winter crops and has prepared fields for sugar beet sowing in spring at 35.5 thousand hectares".