UkrAgroConsult in the current year expects a recovery in barley production, an increase in wheat production and a slight decrease in corn production.
“In 2019, the focus will probably change. We expect recovery in barley production, growth in the wheat harvest and, most likely, some decline in corn production. But the overall supply of grain from Ukraine will remain in a growing trend, Ukraine will remain a strong player in the global agricultural market,” founder and CEO of UkrAgroConsult Serhiy Feofilov said.
According to him, four seasons in a row Ukraine has been collecting record grain yields. After a slight decrease in harvest in 2017, the gross grain harvest showed a record high again.
“Of course, if to exclude weather disasters, there is every chance to further increase production. Technologies do not stand still and help reduce the risks of farmers,” he said.
The director general said that the record high harvest revealed weak points in Ukrainian logistics, which in the conditions of the record harvest could not cope with the efficient transportation of grain to elevators and ports. The second “problem area” was insufficient storage capacity, especially in the midst of harvesting a record harvest of corn and sunflower.
Ukraine boosted exports of grain and leguminous crops 11.5% in the 2018/2019 agricultural year (July-June) so far (by January 2, 2019) to 23.098 million tonnes, as compared with the same period last year.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, 10.47 million tonnes of wheat, 3.15 million tonnes of barley, and 9.11 million tonnes of corn were exported.
Flour exports stood at 122,008 tonnes.
It was reported, citing the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, that Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 agricultural year. Grain exports in the 2018/2019 agricultural year are projected at 47.2 million tonnes.
Gross grain harvest in 2018 totals around 70.1 million compared with 62 million last year, the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has reported. According to a press release of the ministry, the country threshed 35.5 million tonnes of corn, 24.5 million tonnes of wheat, 7.3 million tonnes of barley, 0.41 million tonnes of rye and 0.13 million tonnes of buckwheat.
In addition, some 13.7 million tonnes of sunflower, 4.4 million tonnes of soybeans, 2.6 million tonnes of rapeseeds were harvested and 13 million tonnes of sugar beets were dug. The largest grain harvest was recorded in Poltava region (6.4 million tonnes). Some 6.1 million tonnes was harvested in Vinnytsia region and 4.8 million tonnes in Cherkasy region.
The highest yield for grain and leguminous crops was in Cherkasy region (7.28 tonnes per ha), as well as in Khmelnytsky region (7.16 tonnes per ha) and Vinnytsia region (7.13 tonnes per ha).
The ministry predicts that grain exports in 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) would be 47.2 million tonnes compared with 39.9 million tonnes in 2017/18 agri-year.
As of December 18 of this year, from the beginning of the 2018/2019 agri-year, Ukraine exported 21.02 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, in particular, 10.02 million tonnes of wheat, 3.1 million tonnes of barley, 7.5 million tonnes of corn and 0.4 million tonnes of other cereals have been exported so far.
Ukraine in 2018 threshed over 70 million tonnes of grain and hit a record over all years of the country’s independence, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Oleh Churiy has said.
“We have a record grain harvest in all years of our independence – over 70 million tonnes. If we take into account oilseeds, this is over 100 million tonnes,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
Currency income from agricultural products along with tough monetary and moderate fiscal policies was the key factors of strengthening of the national currency, he said.
Acting Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Maskym Martyniuk wrote on his Facebook page that in Ukraine the forecast for grain exports in 2018/19 agricultural year (July-June) was revised upwards from 42.5 million tonnes to over 45 million tonnes. Gradual exhausting of the agricultural infrastructure could hinder the implementation of the agriculture’s potential, he said.
Martyniuk said that the country has 170 markets where it sells agricultural products.
“In the past eight years Ukraine added 50 countries to the list of trade partners, losing one (but large one),” he said.
Nibulon (Mykolaiv), one of the largest grain traders in Ukraine, intends to build a port in the village of Oleksandrivka (Kherson region) in five years, the company said in a statement.
“This port is a great prospect for the development of the entire Kherson region. This is an extremely difficult task and very large investments, but our company can do this only in five years,” CEO of the company Oleksiy Vadatursky said.
According to him, Nibulon continues the implementation of the investment program in Kherson region. There are already two transshipment terminals of the company in the village of Kozatske and Hola Prystan, while next year the company plans to increase the capacity of the Hola Prystan transshipment terminal by 20,000 tonnes, as well as to expand the capacity of this enterprise for accepting rice.
The company plans in the next two years to reorient almost all of its cargoes to the Dnipro River and transport by water up to 4 million tonnes of products per year, which will allow reducing the load on the roads.
Nibulon cultivates 83,000 hectares of land. It exports agricultural products to more than 60 countries. The annual export volume exceeds 4.5 million tonnes.
Ukraine since the beginning of the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) as of December 5 had exported 19.050 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which is almost 9.2% more than on the same date of the previous MY.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the country exported 9.5 million tonnes of wheat, 3 million tonnes of barley, and 6.2 million tonnes of corn.
Some 98,600 tonnes of flour had been exported on the date.
In addition, the 2018 harvesting campaign is being completed in Ukraine: Ukrainian farmers harvested 69.3 million tonnes of grain from an area of 14.6 million hectares (99% of the forecast) with a yield of 47.4 centners per ha. Grain harvest in Ukraine has already exceeded the historical maximum.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 MY. Grain exports in the 2018/2019 MY are projected to be 42.5 million tonnes. The grain harvest in Ukraine in 2017 amounted to 62 million tonnes.
