This year's harvest of grains, oilseeds to exceed 80M t - Agrarian Council

The Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC) predicts that this year Ukraine will harvest at least 80 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which is the same as in the peaceful 2016-17.

Denys Marchuk, deputy chairman of the UAC, said this at a briefing at Ukrinform.

He reminded that this year, farmers have already harvested more grain than in 2022, 72 million tonnes versus 68 million tonnes.

"This figure will improve further. After all, massive corn harvesting is underway. However, many farmers do not plan to harvest this crop, leaving it on the field due to unprofitability. But nevertheless, we will have a figure of at least 80 million tonnes. This is actually the same amount as we harvested in the peaceful 2016-17. So we understand that in a time of war, this is a very good result," the expert emphasized.

At the same time, the volume of exports of agricultural products in this marketing season (since July 1) is much lower than in the previous one.

"Unfortunately, we are already 30 percent behind last year's grain exports. So far, we have managed to export just over nine million tonnes of agricultural raw materials, whereas last year's exports exceeded 14 million tonnes at this time. Back then, the Grain Initiative was working: despite the problems artificially created by Russia, ships were actively transporting grain. Now we rely mainly on the capabilities of land and river routes. Of course, the humanitarian corridor created by our military is partially helping," Marchuk said.

He recalled that despite the difficulties, in October, Ukraine managed to improve its export performance and sold about 4.8 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds abroad. Thanks to the humanitarian corridor, for the first time in recent years, domestic purchase prices for agricultural raw materials have increased, as before, farmers were often forced to sell grain below cost. Another positive development is the reduction in the cost of freight for ships calling at the Danube river ports.

The deputy head of the UAC reminded of the growing problems with land routes: Polish carriers have been blocking the full movement of goods across the border since November 6.

"Thousands of cars are stuck in traffic jams. These are additional financial losses. It is difficult to calculate the amount of money involved, as the dialog to resolve the situation is ongoing. But, according to my data, we are talking about 4-6 days of delay on the routes," Marchuk added.

As reported, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, as of November 10, Ukraine harvested 71.5 million tonnes of grain from the new harvest: 51.3 million tonnes of grains and 20.2 million tonnes of oilseeds. Grains and pulses were harvested from 9.8 million hectares with a yield of 52.1 centners per hectare (c/ha), and oilseeds from 8 million hectares with an average yield of 24.9 c/ha.