Grain harvest in Ukraine in 2022 will be approximately 65 million tons, including up to 50 million tons of grains and 15-15.3 million tons of oilseeds, which is less than the record previous year, but comparable to the harvests harvested in the country in the current decade.
“Maybe about 48-50 million tons of grain in total. Of course, this is less than in previous years, when we are used to 60-75-85 million tons, but if we take a ten-year history, when we had 40-45 million , then this is not critical,” First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said on the air of the national UA-marathon on Monday.
He specified that this season’s corn harvest is expected to be about 24 million tons, 18-20 million tons of wheat, and about 5 million tons of barley.
According to Vysotsky, it is also expected to produce about 10 million tons of sunflower, 2.5-2.8 million tons of soybeans and about 2.5 million tons of winter rapeseed.
“These are average indicators, looking at the average statistical indicators of previous years, and we will correct them upon the fact of harvesting,” the deputy minister specified.
As reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a report published last week for June, raised its forecast for Ukrainian corn crop this year by 5 million tons compared to a month ago forecast – up to 25 million tons, while maintaining export estimates at 9 million tons.
In early June, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) increased the forecast for grain and oilseeds harvest in Ukraine this season by 5.2% compared to the April forecast of 63 million tons – up to 66.5 million tons.
According to UGA forecasts, in 2022, a wheat harvest is expected at the level of 19.2 million tons (+5.2% compared to the April forecast of the organization); 26.1 million tons of corn (+13%); 6.6 million tons of barley (+6%); 9 million tons of sunflower (-8.8%); 2.1 million tons of soybeans (+16.6%); 1.5 million tons of rapeseed (forecast kept).
Grain crops traffic on the Dnipro River in January-July 2021 decreased by 23.8% compared to the same period in 2020, to 1.19 million tonnes, the total cargo traffic on the river increased by 38.7%, to 6.5 million tonnes, the river information service of the state-owned enterprise Delta-Pilot (Mykolaiv) said on its website last week.
According to the service, construction materials traffic over the specified period doubled, to 4.66 million tonnes, metal products traffic decreased 15.7%, to 733,000 tonnes.
In general, in January-July 2021, 7,803 trips were made on the Dnipro River, which is 58.4% more than in the same period in 2020.
Delta-Pilot is a branch of the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA). The river information service of the enterprise provides data on navigation, the state of navigable inland waterways of Ukraine, as well as factors affecting navigation conditions in the area of operation of the service on the Dnipro and Danube rivers.
The losses of winter crops due to drought in Ukraine in the entire country are estimated at 234,000 ha, which is 2.6% of all areas with winter crops, the Ministry for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture has told Interfax-Ukraine. According to the ministry, the most affected by the drought are winter rape crops – 103,000 ha, wheat – 74,000 ha, barley – 53,000 ha, and peas – 1,300 0 ha.
Potential crop losses in 2020/2021 agri-year for winter wheat are 216,650 tonnes, winter rape – 211,890 tonnes, winter barley – 150,820 tonnes, sugar beets – 50,030 tonnes, peas – 3,050 tonnes, winter rye – 539 tonnes.
At the same time, the Economy Ministry estimates the possible loss of revenue for winter rape at UAH 2.14 billion (19% of the possible income from crops), winter wheat – UAH 0.99 billion (3%), winter barley – UAH 0.63 billion (12%), and sugar beets – UAH 0.03 billion (2%).
“In March-April this year, there was rainfall deficit throughout Ukraine. As a result, spring air drought developed and deepened, which combined with soil drought in many areas of the southern regions,” the ministry said.
