KIEV, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The State Food and Grain Corporation (SFGC) of Ukraine, the country's grain market operator, said on Thursday it is in talks with China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC) over a possible investment in the framework of the privatization program.
"We see them as a strategic partner, and we have talked about this during the recent meeting. They should be the first candidate," Alexander Grygorovych, an acting head of the SFGC, told a press conference in Kiev.
He added that the Chinese company has already expressed the interest in the privatization project of the Ukrainian grain market operator.
Established in 2010, the SFGC of Ukraine owns about 10 percent of the country's certified grain storage capacities. The port terminals operated by the company are capable of shipping abroad about 6 percent of the country's overall annual grain exports.
The Ukrainian government has decided to privatize the SFGC as the company has suffered losses of some 117 million U.S. dollars last year, unable to compete with private grain market operators due to the lack of funds for modernization and insufficient management.
In the previous marketing year, running from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, Ukraine has exported 39.4 million tons of grain.
