As of October 24, farmers harvested 37.560 million tons of grain and legumes from 8.400 million hectares, which is 73% of the area sown with these crops, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture on its website.
Last year, on the same date, 45.1 million tons of grain were harvested from 9.7 million hectares, meaning that this year’s figures are 16.7% and 13.4% lower, respectively, mainly due to the later start of the corn harvest.
As noted by the Ministry of Economy, 7.71 million tons of corn have been harvested from 1.31 million hectares, while last year at approximately the same date, 15.4 million tons were harvested from 2.7 million hectares.
As for wheat, its harvest is slightly higher than last year’s – 22.80 million tons from 5.05 million hectares compared to 22.30 million tons from 4.9 million hectares, while barley is slightly lower – 5.37 million tons from 1.35 million hectares compared to 5.50 million tons from 1.41 million hectares.
This year’s pea harvest is significantly higher – 662,300 tons from 271,500 hectares compared to 465,300 tons from 212,200 hectares last year, while buckwheat and millet are still significantly lower – 83,300 tons versus 126,900 tons and 61,500 tons versus 159,500 tons, respectively.
The harvest of other cereals and legumes this year reached 876,700 tons from 317,600 hectares as of October 24, while last year it amounted to 1.1 million tons on the same date.
It is noted that among the leaders are, in particular, the Odesa region – 3.80 million tons from an area of 1.14 million hectares, Poltava – 2.86 million tons from 603.3 thousand hectares, Khmelnytskyi region – 2.55 million tons from 365,200 hectares, and Chernihiv region – 2.52 million tons from 407,700 hectares.
The harvest of wheat, barley, and peas has been completed, according to the Ministry of Economy.
As for oilseeds, the rapeseed harvest has already been completed, and it turned out to be only slightly less than last year’s – 3.32 million tons against 3.5 million tons from almost equal areas of about 1.3 million hectares.
However, the harvest of soybeans and sunflowers is still ongoing, and there is a significant lag: 3.50 million tons of soybeans have been harvested from 1.52 million hectares, compared to 5.6 million tons from 2.5 million hectares on the same date last year, while sunflower seeds – 7.84 million tons from 4.24 million hectares compared to 9.5 million tons from 4.6 million hectares.
In addition, sugar beet harvesting is also lagging behind: 5.64 million tons have been harvested from an area of 108,100 hectares, compared to 8.3 million tons from 170,600 hectares on the same date last year.
According to the Ministry of Economy, sunflowers have been harvested from 82% of the sown area, soybeans from 70%, and sugar beets from 55%.
In its Inflation Report published at the end of July, the National Bank of Ukraine lowered its forecast for this year’s grain harvest from 61.7 million tons to 57.9 million tons, and for oilseeds from 22 million tons to 21 million tons.
The NBU recalled that last year, the grain harvest in Ukraine fell to 56.2 million tons from 59.8 million tons in 2023, while oilseeds fell from 21.7 million tons to 20 million tons.
According to forecasts by Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Vysotsky, this year’s grain harvest will be around 56 million tons, the same as last year.
