Ukraine as of July 22 had fully used quotas for duty-free exports of agricultural products to the EU on nine groups of goods, including honey, sugar, cereals and flour, processed starch, processed tomatoes, grape and apple juice, wheat, corn, and butter. According to a press release from the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), the pace of quota use and revival of trade with the EU is noticeably accelerating, as on the same date last year seven quotas for duty-free exports from Ukraine to the EU were used.
“Potentially, quotas for barley (79% are now used), poultry (75%), malt and wheat gluten (58%), and starch (53%) will be used by the end of the year,” the association noted.
The UAC said additional quotas for eight groups of goods come in force from October 2017 for a period of three years: for honey, flour and cereals, processed tomatoes, grape and apple juice, oats, corn, wheat, and barley. As of July 22, five of the additional quotas were used: for honey, cereals, juice, wheat, and corn.
AGRI PRODUCTS, APPLE JUICE, CEREALS, CORN, DUTY-FREE EXPORTS, EU, GRAPE, HONEY, SUGAR, WHEAT
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in April raised its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine for the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 500,000 tonnes compared with the March forecast, to 29.5 million tonnes.
According to the report on the USDA’s website, the increase in the export forecast is associated with a large harvest. The forecast of corn harvest in Ukraine was increased by 305,000 tonnes, to 35.8 million tonnes.
In addition, the USDA retained the forecast of wheat exports from Ukraine in the 2018/2019 MY at the level of 16.5 million tonnes, raised the crop forecast by 57,000 tonnes, to 25.057 million tonnes. The forecast for barley production was also slightly increased (by 204,000 tonnes, to 7.6 million tonnes), while the export forecast did not change (4.2 million tonnes).
In general, the U.S. agency raised its grain yield forecast in Ukraine to 69.7 million tonnes, exports to 50.4 million tonnes.
The USDA has not changed its forecasts for oilseeds processing (15.85 million tonnes) and oil exports (5.93 million tonnes), while the forecast for oil meal exports rose to 5.26 million tonnes (100,000 tonnes more) after a decline in the previous month.
Corteva Agriscience, the agricultural division of DowDuPont (the United States), a large global seed producer, occupied 21% of the Ukrainian corn seed market and 16% of the sunflower seed market (the seeds of the two brands – Pioneer and Brevant).
“According to the calculations of the Kleffmann Group, which are based on a survey of farmers in 2018, our market share of the combined portfolio of Corteva Agriscience [the seeds of two brands: Pioneer and Brevant] for corn is 21%, and for sunflower is 16%. The crop protection agents market’s share is 7% However, based on these data, one should take into account the error in the calculations, which can reach almost 3 percentage points,” Head of business in Eastern Europe Corteva Agriscience Serhiy Kharin said.
According to him, in the plans for the next season is to get at least 1% growth in the seed market share for each of the crops.
Corteva Agriscience is an integrated company with the following segments: seeds, crop protection agents and digital technologies. It was created by combining DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection, and Dow AgroScience.
Corteva Agriscience includes Pioneer Nasinnia Ukraine LLC, a commercial office located in Kyiv (it provides sales of Pioneer brand seeds) and Stasi Nasinnia LLC, a seed production plant that has been operating since 2013. Over five years, investments in the production complex amounted to more than $56 million. The plant reached its full capacity in 2017: for the production of corn seeds – 500,000 seeds per year, for the production of sunflower seeds – 250,000 seeds per year.
Corteva Agriscience plans to become an independent company which shares will be quoted on an exchange after the previously announced separation process is completed by June 2019.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December reviewed upwards the forecast for export of corn from Ukraine in 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) by 1 million tonnes compared with the September forecast, to 28 million tonnes.
According to a posting on the website of the USDA, the forecast for corn harvest for 2018 is increased by 1.5 million tonnes, to 35 million tonnes.
Corn production in in Ukraine increased thanks to larger crops harvested, and if the forecast volumes are harvested the harvest forecast this month would exceed the previous record hit in 2016/17 agri-year by almost 20%, the department said.
USDA retained its forecast for export of wheat from Ukraine in 2018/19 agri-year at 16.5 million tonnes and the harvest forecast – at 25 million tonnes.
In general, USDA revised upwards the forecast for grain harvest in Ukraine by 1.5 million tonnes, to 68.7 million tonnes and grain exports – by 1 million tonnes, to 49.2 million tonnes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in September improved its forecast for corn exports from Ukraine in the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) by 500,000 tonnes compared with the August forecast, to 25 million tonnes. According to a report on the website of the U.S. department, the forecast for corn harvest for 2018 has been maintained at the level of 31 million tonnes.
The USDA also kept the forecast for wheat exports from Ukraine in the 2018/2019 MY at the level of 16.5 million tonnes with the yield standing at 25.5 million tonnes, which corresponds to the figures released in August.
In general, the U.S. agency downgraded its forecast for grain harvest in Ukraine by 400,000 tonnes, to 65.2 million tonnes, raised that for exports by 300,000 tonnes, to 45.96 million tonnes.
As reported, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine predicts the increase in grain harvest in 2018 by 1.1 million tonnes compared to the previous year, to 63.1 million tonnes. Grain exports in the 2018/2019 marketing year are projected to be 42 million tonnes.
Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry predicts that corn harvest in Ukraine would increase by 19.4% in 2018 compared with 2017, to 29.5 million tonnes.
“We expect the corn harvest this year to be about 29.5 million tonnes, while the export of the crop this agricultural year [2018/2019 agri-year, July-June] will amount to 22 million tonnes,” First Deputy Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The ministry estimates that the wheat harvest in 2018 may decrease by 7.6%, to 24.2 million tonnes, barley by 13%, to 7.2 million tonnes, rye – by 15%, to 0.38 million tonnes, buckwheat – by 25%, to 0.14 million tonnes, soybean – by 2.6%, to 3.8 million tonnes, and sugar beet – by 10.7%, to 13.3 million tonnes.
The harvest of sunflower can grow by 9.8%, to 13.4 million tonnes, and rapeseed – by 18.2%, to 2.6 million tonnes.
The areas planted with crops for the 2019 harvest will be 8.09 million hectares, in particular 6.2 million hectares with winter wheat, 0.89 million hectares with winter rape, and 0.87 million with winter barley.
