The corn market is currently the most active segment of Ukrainian grain exports, ensuring stable port loading and constant demand from importers, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk,” created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (VAR).
“Corn currently remains the only relatively active market segment. As of December 22, exports amounted to almost 1.5 million tons. Although these volumes are not record-breaking, shipments are stable, and it is corn that keeps most ports operating today,” analysts said.
According to their information, demand for corn on the world market remains high. Ukrainian corn remains in demand in EU countries, particularly in Spain and Italy, which are among the key buyers, as well as in Turkey.
At the same time, importers are closely monitoring the security situation in Ukraine.
“Importers are aware that the war is not expected to end quickly in the coming months and that risks to port infrastructure will remain. If exports from Ukraine are halted or significantly reduced, it will be difficult for the global market to quickly cover the possible deficit. American corn has already been contracted for January and almost entirely for February, so there are virtually no alternatives to Ukraine for supplies during this period,” experts said.
At the end of the week, spot corn prices rose to $207–208 per ton, while domestic contract prices rose to 9,800–9,850 UAH/ton.
“Further price dynamics will largely depend on the growth rate of logistics costs and security risks,” Pusk said.
The crop division of the Alebor Group grain trading company has completed the 2025 production season, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the company’s specialists grew and harvested wheat from 2,000 hectares with a yield of over 7 tons/hectare, corn from 1,100 hectares with a yield of 14.5 tons/hectare, rapeseed from 1,500 hectares with a yield of 3.6 tons per hectare, and sunflower from 1,800 hectares with a yield of 3.85 tons per hectare.
Alebor Group is a trading company founded in 2006 in the Cherkasy region. Its structure includes the Khristinivskoye Grain Receiving Enterprise (with a storage capacity of 74,000 tons of grain), the Voronovitske Grain Receiving Enterprise (104,000 tons of grain), Chesne Grain Receiving Enterprise (27,500 tons of grain), transport companies Boleko and Avtoera with a fleet of 210 heavy-duty grain trucks, and construction company Alebor Real Estate.
According to information on the company’s website, Alebor Group is one of the top 20 grain trading companies in Ukraine, exporting about 2 million tons of grain annually. The group has its own land bank of 6,500 hectares. The company’s founder is Oleksiy Kustov.
KMZ Industries is the largest manufacturer of elevator equipment in Ukraine and produces a full range of products, including silos, grain dryers, transport equipment, and separators, as well as providing automation and installation services.
According to the company, it has built more than 5,000 facilities. KMZ Industries silos with a total volume of more than 12.5 million cubic meters are in operation.
TAS Agro agricultural holding is completing the harvest of late crops, with an average corn yield of 9.6 tons per hectare, the agricultural holding’s press service reported on Facebook.
“In recent years, we have been steadily improving the quality of this crop. The company’s average yield exceeds the planned indicators and the average for Ukraine,” the agricultural holding said, adding that this result was achieved through the use of modern cultivation technologies and balanced agronomic decisions.
TAS Agro added that in 2026, it plans to allocate 9.2 thousand hectares for corn cultivation.
TAS Agro was established in 2014. Its land bank includes 88,000 hectares in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, and Mykolaiv regions. It specializes in crop production, and the agri-holding’s elevator capacity is about 250,000 tons. The livestock business is represented by a herd of 5,500 head of cattle, of which 2,500 are dairy cattle.
The agricultural holding is part of the TAS group, founded in 1998. Its business interests cover the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacies, as well as industry, real estate, and venture projects.
Serhiy Tihipko is the founder of TAS and the beneficiary of the TAS Agro agricultural holding.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised its forecast for global corn exports in the 2025-2026 marketing year by 1.63 million tons to 205.10 million tons, despite the expected reduction in Ukrainian supplies.
According to the December report, with global exports growing, the estimate of global corn carryover stocks, on the contrary, has been reduced by 2.19 million tons to 279.15 million tons, reflecting more active use of grain and the maintenance of a fairly tight supply and demand balance.
For Ukraine, the USDA has lowered its corn harvest forecast from 32 million tons to 29 million tons due to a reduction in acreage and yields, as well as difficult weather conditions during harvesting. The export forecast has been lowered from 24.5 million tons to 23 million tons, domestic consumption from 7 million tons to 6 million tons, and carryover stocks from 1.55 million tons to 0.85 million tons. This means that additional growth in global corn exports will be provided by other major market players.
In Ukraine, approximately 1 million tons of capacity for processing corn into bioethanol is currently being built within industrial parks, which will require 3 million tons of corn annually to meet their raw material needs, according to Taras Mykolayenko, director of the Ukrainian Association of Bioethanol Producers.
“As soon as there is talk of creating a new industrial park, every second one envisages the production of bioethanol. We have 1 million tons of capacity that is just starting to be laid. If we convert (these figures – IF-U) into corn, we need 3 million tons. So, in an optimistic scenario, at full capacity (of bioethanol plants – IF-U), corn will be processed here,“ he said at the conference ”Agribusiness in Ukraine” in Kyiv on Thursday.
Mykolaienko specified that Europe currently consumes 6 million tons of bioethanol per year, so Ukrainian products could definitely be exported to the European Union. As part of the updated trade agreement, the EU, under the influence of its own producers, planned to set a quota for Ukraine at 100,000 tons, which, as a result of negotiations, the Ukrainian side was able to increase to 125,000 tons. The industry plans to increase it to 300,000 tons by 2026.
At the same time, he recalled that in July 2025, a bill was registered in the Verkhovna Rada, which provides for the introduction of a mandatory addition of more than 7% bioethanol to fuel in Ukraine from July 2026, the share of which should ideally be 10%. A similar requirement will apply to imported goods. Accordingly, bioethanol consumption in the domestic market will increase.
In addition, Mykolaienko said that the industry association will try to protect its own domestic market in 2026.
“We are faced with the fact that, in addition to quotas, there are technical regulations in the European Union. These are real non-trade barriers that work well. (…) If necessary, Europeans have a mechanism to stop exports. We plan to develop the same mechanisms, develop and implement a domestic environmental certification system, and we will also protect the Ukrainian market,” concluded the head of the Ukrainian Association of Bioethanol Producers.
Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, sold 499,000 tons of grain and oilseeds in July-September 2026 (FY, July 2025-June 2026), sold 499,000 tons of grain and oilseeds, with wheat accounting for 89% of the volume, the agricultural holding reported in its quarterly report.
“Profitability was further supported by favorable price conditions on the grain market, which helped to compensate for uneven yields in different regions,” the agricultural holding noted.
The agricultural holding named unfavorable weather conditions, which shifted the development phases of both grain and oilseeds, among the main features of the 2025 season. Two late spring frosts affected the growth of winter and early spring crops. A prolonged cool spring and summer with sharp fluctuations in day and night temperatures slowed plant growth in the northern regions. In the central regions, a constant shortage of soil moisture and limited rainfall hampered crop development and contributed to their premature wilting and early ripening.
According to published statistics, Kernel allocated 172,000 hectares to corn in the 2025 season, which is 98% more than last year. and thanks to a yield of 9.2 t/ha compared to 8.4 t/ha a year earlier, a gross harvest of 1,584 thousand tons was obtained, which is 18% more than last year.
In 2025, 94,000 hectares were planted with wheat (+1% compared to 2024), with a yield of 5.9 tons/hectare (-3%), resulting in 552,000 tons (-1%). The agricultural holding allocated 46 thousand hectares (-31%) for sunflowers, with a yield of 2.7 t/ha (-4%) and a gross harvest of 124 thousand tons (-33%). The area under soybeans was reduced by 44% to 22,000 hectares this year, while the yield increased by 7% compared to last year and amounted to 2.3 tons/hectare, which allowed for a gross yield of 54,000 tons (-65%). In 2025, the agricultural holding allocated 22,000 hectares for the cultivation of rapeseed, other secondary crops, and fallow land, which is 44% less than last year’s volumes.
As of the end of September, Kernel had completed the harvesting of wheat, sunflower, and soybeans on 100% of its production areas, while corn was harvested from 87% of the areas.
At the same time, the agricultural holding completed the sowing of winter crops for the 2026 harvest and sowed winter wheat on 84,000 hectares and winter rapeseed on 38,000 hectares.
Before the war, Kernel was the world’s leading producer of sunflower oil (about 7% of global production) and its exporter (about 12%). It is one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. In addition, it is engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
