China ready to move in

As capital markets in the West dry up, some companies may find an alternative source of investment in the east, notably China.

Abundant capital and a long experience of dealing in opaque markets means the Chinese state-run companies can often pick partners and set ground rules better than Western competitors.

Seeking to secure its growing food needs, China has been particularly active in Africa in recent years, becoming the continent's top trading partner and top source of foreign direct investment – much of it going to agriculture. But Ukraine's neighbors Belarus and Russia have also seen a rise in Chinese investments.

The Middle Kingdom recently announced plans to finance $3 billion of of agricultural projects in Ukraine in areas including trade, fertilizer and cultivation. Major areas of investment are said to include procuring pesticide, seeds and equipment from China and selling Ukrainian agricultural products to China.

China is sometimes seen as the ultimate-trophy market for Ukrainian companies - perhaps far off, but large, hungry and growing at unmatched speed. According to the U.S. Grain Council, the country is expected to surpass Japan as the world biggest corn importer by 2014, while Ukraine has in recent years grown to be the world's second biggest exporter.

Ukrlandfarming Plc. Ukraine's largest grain producer owned by billionaire Oleg Bakhmatyuk, is among those jumping on the opportunity. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with China's CAMC Engineering Co. on attracting $4 billion to invest in capacity, meat-production and modernizing sugar production plants.

According to Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk, the country plans to export 3 million of corn to China via forward contracts in the upcoming financial year, starting June 2012.

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