According to the results of the spring sowing season 2023 in Ukraine, farmers increased the areas under grain crops, particularly corn, and reduced the areas under oilseeds, particularly sunflower, and will get 61.4 million tons of gross crop of these crops, according to the website of the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB) on Tuesday.
It is specified that such changes are fixed compared to the previous UCAB forecast, but not to the previous year. The forecast also raised yield expectations for winter crops.
UCAB estimates that the 2023 crop area will be 10.1 million hectares (4.4 million hectares of wheat, 3.8 million hectares of corn and 1.4 million hectares of barley). As a result, it is expected to harvest 42.5 million tons of cereals, of which 16.3 million tons of wheat, 21.1 million tons of corn and 4.2 million tons of barley.
Experts estimate the area under oilseeds at 8.9 million hectares, including 5.7 million hectares of sunflower, 2 million hectares of soybeans and 1.2 million hectares of rape. It is noted that Ukraine can expect to get the gross yield of oilseeds at 18.9 million tons, including 12.2 million tons of sunflower, 3.8 million tons of soybeans and 2.9 million tons of rapeseed.
“According to preliminary estimates, this harvest will fully meet domestic demand and get the export potential at 43 million tons of grains and oilseeds,” forecasts UCAB.
Analysts attributed the lion’s share of last year’s corn harvest, which was in high demand, to the positive factors of the current season. The expansion of area under this crop will contribute to the world tendency to reduce prices for fertilizers, which will be felt in Ukraine as well and this will provide maize with their sufficient quantity.
They advised to remember that the introduction of corn production has certain technological difficulties for farmers: the current high saturation with oil-bearing crops, the possible further disease pressure, increased load on combines because of the overlap of harvest periods of other crops, the lack of quality seeds of other crops, etc.
The UCAB also pointed out that since the beginning of the war, the main consumers of oilseeds were EU countries, primarily neighboring countries. However, because of the temporary restrictions on imports of some grains by them, further increase of areas sown with oil-bearing crops looks risky.
According to analysts, Ukraine managed to survive the Russian energy terror and adapt to the new realities, gives hope to the ability of farmers to withstand a possible repetition of the situation.
