Grain exports increased due to a larger harvest, not a reduction in gray exports - expert

Grain exports in the current marketing year increased due to a larger harvest, and not due to a reduction in "gray" exports. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive comment by UNN economic expert Oleg Pendzin.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in the 2023-2024 marketing year, Ukraine exported more than 49.7 million tons of cereals and legumes, which is 3% more than in the previous period, while wheat exports increased by 10%, while corn exports decreased by 275,000 tons.

"I am not an optimist in this situation. A 3% increase in exports is associated with an 8% increase in harvest volume. In 2023, we harvested 8% more crops than in 2022, and exports increased by only 3%. There is a "gray" export – where to put it. I don't think that at the moment something has seriously affected the "gray" exports," Pendzin said.

According to him, there were no changes in crop accounting, its exports, as well as in the fight against corruption, which would lead to a decrease in "gray" exports. He noted that according to the tax service, this year farmers did not return $ 9 billion in foreign exchange earnings after exporting the harvest.

"And something has changed in accounting, in exports, in the fight against corruption, what is it that suddenly our "gray" exports should decrease? Do we have less unaccounted wheat or corn, or have our farmers started paying more taxes? I will say more, they are much less this year, and the tax service says about it, $ 9 billion. they were not returned after the export. And are we starting to talk about reducing "grey" exports? I don't think that's the case," Pendzin said.

Answering the question of whether the situation will change after the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, signed a law suggesting a tougher fight against gray grain exports, the expert noted that everything will depend on law enforcement.

Recall

Earlier it became known that the Bureau of Economic Security is investigating several criminal proceedings related to "gray" grain exports. According to law enforcement officers, the most common scheme of such tax evasion for tens of millions of hryvnia is the purchase of grain that has no documents of origin for cash and its further export abroad using the details of "risky" or shell companies.

One of the striking examples of gray exports are criminal cases that relate to "gray" exports from the Olympex grain terminal in 2021-2023, when it was actively managed by Odessa businessmen Sergei Groza and Vladimir Naumenko.

In particular, in January 2021, law enforcement officers were interested in a number of companies engaged in grain exports and associated with the agricultural holding GNT Group of Sergey Groza and Vladimir Naumenko. Ferko LLC, Metallzyukrain Corp LTD, Inzernoexport Grain Transshipment Complex LLC and Vtormetexport enterprise, belonging to the GNT Group, actively used the details of "risky" enterprises for export operations. During the investigation, the territorial department of the BEB in the Odessa region identified at least three such "risky" enterprises: OUTSTAFF 19 LLC, ALICENTA TRADE LLC and SOLTEK PRODUCT LLC. In addition, the investigation found that the exported grain was stored, in particular, in the warehouses of Olympex Coupe International LLC, which is also controlled by Groza and Naumenko.

According to the results of the investigation, law enforcement officers found that none of the mentioned "risky" enterprises has evidence of the purchase of cereals that were planned to be exported, which is more than 2 thousand tons of corn, barley, wheat (this is only what was discovered by law enforcement officers during searches). In addition, all these enterprises violated the requirements of financial and tax reporting, demonstrated zero profitability, and underestimated income tax.

Only within the framework of this criminal proceeding, according to law enforcement officers, the Groza and Naumenko companies caused damage to the state in the amount of almost UAH 37.5 million. At the same time, the exporter of "gray" grain was LLC "Agiros", which belongs to the famous smuggler Vadim Alperin, against whom the NSDC imposed sanctions in 2021 and who was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. And  these grains were shipped, according to media reports, by another company controlled by Groza and Naumenko, Attollo Granum. 

Currently, this criminal proceeding is still under investigation.

One more thing criminal proceedings, in which Groza and Naumenko's company Olympex Coupe International LLC appears, are being investigated by the territorial department of the BEB of the city of Kiev. It was opened a year later, in 2022, but also concerns the "gray" grain exports.

The case is being investigated under articles on tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.

The scheme according to which the Groza and Naumenko company operated is identical to the one used earlier, only the names of fictitious companies differ, and even then not all. In particular, it includes what has already been mentioned in another criminal proceeding of OUTSTAFF 19 LLC. 

In addition to this company, they also used the "risky" enterprises "EXPRESS ALL" and "AGROTRANS GROUP". With their help, according to the investigation, at least 40 thousand tons of cereals and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.  

In addition, BAB detectives believe that criminal activity related to tax evasion by "gray" grain exports continues at the Olympex terminal .