OREANDA-NEWS. On 20 August 2009 was announced, that Astarta (AST PW) plans to increase its sugar beet harvest by 16.7% yoy this year to 1,750 ths mt, Ukrainian News reported this morning. The company also said it expects to see a reduction in its grain and oil crop harvest by 8.6% yoy to 360 ths mt.

Concorde Capital: This year, Astarta increased its area sown with sugar beets by 17% yoy, to 35 ths ha and upped areas sown with grain and oil crops by 4-25%, depending on crop. Thus, the expected increase in the sugar beet harvest in 2009 corresponds to the increase in areas sown with beets. On the other hand, grain and oil crops harvest projections are lower than last year’s results due primarily to lower yields for the crops this year.

Concorde Capital is a full service investment bank operating on the Ukrainian, Russian and CIS markets. In 2007 Concorde Capital’s analytical team was recognized as the Top Team covering Ukraine by Thomson Extel's Pan European Survey. Senior Analyst Alexander Paraschiy was recognized as the Leading Pan-European Investment Analyst – European Emerging Markets. Concorde Capital is a leader when it comes to private placements and M&A deals. Concorde Capital’s sale of a stake in Electron Bank to Volksbank International AG was named the Best Ukrainian M&A deal of the year 2007 by the Adam Smith Institute.