This year, Ukrainian agrarians grew 81 million tons of gross grain harvest, which is 5-6% of global production, said Mykola Gorbachev, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA).
“Ukraine is located on such soils that we depend on weather factors more than on technology. Although technologies in Ukraine have advanced over the past 20-30 years, and we have grown 100 million tons of grain, which we used to grow 30 million tons. This year, we were lucky with the weather – yields for all crops were above average. We got a record yield for each of the crops,” he said at the Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to the UGA president, this allowed the country to compensate for the loss of 6 million hectares of arable land that is currently under occupation and on the front line and is not cultivated by farmers.
“The world produces more than 2.5 billion tons of grain, of which Ukraine has grown more than 80 million tons this year. If we look at grain trade in absolute terms, Ukraine accounts for about 5-6%. This is a serious impact (on the global market – IF-U),” Gorbachev emphasized, adding that this share of grain production does not allow Ukraine to control the global market.
He reminded that farmers do not depend on the volume of production, but on the prices for it, and expressed hope that the 2023-2024 marketing year will allow for further equalization of world prices and Ukrainian farmers will not be at a loss.
As reported, this season winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thou hectares (-834 thou hectares compared to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thou hectares (-255 thou hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thou hectares (+110 thou hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including 57.5 mln tons of grains and 21.6 mln tons of oilseeds.
On November 3 this year, the UGA updated its estimate of the potential harvest in 2023, increasing it to 81.6 mln tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which is 10.6% more than in 2022, when 73.8 mln tonnes were harvested.
