The production acreage in Ukraine in the 2025 season will be identical to last year’s, plus 270,000 hectares of demined land, said First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky.
“Overall, the production areas will be the same as last year. An additional 270,000 hectares have been demined. But in terms of our total sowing area of 20 million hectares, this is 1%. So, for basic crops, to which we will add sugar beets and vegetables, farmers will have 20 million hectares. This confirms that we are working in all possible areas,” he said at a meeting of the Trend&Hedge Club on Wednesday.
According to Vysotsky, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food expects to harvest 21.2 million tons of wheat in 2025, compared to 22 million tons a year ago, which is 5% less. The ministry estimates wheat exports at 15-16 million tons.
According to him, the barley harvest will amount to approximately 4.5 million tons, which is 10% less than in 2024, with exports at 2.2-2.3 million tons.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy does not expect any problems with buckwheat and promises that the domestic market will be supplied and the surplus exported.
The ministry is not yet ready to make final forecasts for grain corn, as the active growing season is still underway. However, departmental analysts adhere to a conservative forecast of 26 million tons, which is also at least 5% less than last season.
“We see grain at around 54.5-53.5 million tons.
This is plus/minus 5%,” Vysotsky emphasized.
He added that the rapeseed harvest in the 2025 season is expected to be 3 million tons, compared to 5.7 million tons in 2024, soybeans – 5.7 million tons, compared to 6.6 million tons, and sunflowers – 20 million tons.
Vysotsky noted that the greatest doubts about harvest volumes currently concern sunflower, as the crop is suffering from drought in the south of the country, and these regions may lose up to 6% of their harvest, which could lead to a reduction in the gross harvest to 15 million tons or less.
In total, the oilseed harvest in Ukraine in 2025 will amount to 20.5 million tons, the first deputy minister of agricultural policy concluded.
The board of directors of Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, has approved a decision to start construction of an oilseeds processing plant, including soybeans and rapeseed, in Khmelnytsky region, in which it will invest $76 million, the company’s press service reports on Facebook.
According to the report, the planned capacity will be 400 thousand tons per year. It is scheduled to be commissioned in 2026.
“Astarta continues to strengthen its position in the processing sector by investing in new production facilities. The growing demand for soybean products in the EU opens up new opportunities, and we are ready to realize them using our experience and expertise.
The new oilseed processing plant will allow us to expand the range of ingredients for the feed base,” said Vyacheslav Chuk, Astarta’s Chief Commercial and Strategic Marketing Officer.
The agroholding noted that the project envisages the efficient use of the existing infrastructure of the agro-industrial holding and will contribute to the development of the agro-industrial ecosystem in the Western region.
“The Astarta team is already actively working on its implementation. Just today we have finalized the agreement with the manufacturer of the extraction equipment and technology. We are waiting for the decision of the Narkevytska territorial community to allocate land for the project. According to our experts, this project meets the requirements of the law “On State Support for Investment Projects with Significant Investments in Ukraine”, so we intend to apply for participation in the program to speed up its implementation,” Chuk added.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR618.93 million.
“In January-September 2024, Astarta increased its net profit by 35.1% to EUR75.60 million, EBITDA by 12.8% to $131.56 million, with revenue up 12.6% to EUR441.46 million.
The total exports of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine in July-January of 2024/25 marketing year (MY) (July 2024-June 2025) are estimated at $11 billion, up 13.4% compared to $9.7 billion in the same period last year, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) reported on Facebook.
According to the report, corn exports are leading in the group of grains, which in July-January of 2024/25 MY is estimated at $2.412 bln against $2.098 bln in the same period of the previous MY, wheat – $2.084 bln ($1.488 bln), barley – $350 mln ($212 mln).
At the same time, in the oilseeds segment, the shipments of soybeans and rapeseed increased to $909 mln ($718 mln) and $1.452 bln ($1.145 bln), respectively, while the exports of sunflower seeds decreased to $22 mln ($57 mln).
In the current season, Ukraine reduced exports of sunflower oil to $2.701 billion ($2.777 billion) and sunflower meal to $682 million ($774 million). Shipments of other vegetable oils decreased to $393 million ($438 million).
As of November 8, farmers in all regions of Ukraine have harvested 71.4 million tons of new crops from 19.2 million hectares, compared to 68.9 million tons and 18.9 million hectares a week earlier. As reported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, 52.1 million tons (49.9 million tons) of grains and 19.3 million tons (19 million tons) of oilseeds have already been harvested. The Ministry specified that the harvest of wheat has been completed, with 22.3 million tons harvested from 4.9 million hectares at a yield of 42.4 c/ha, barley – 5.6 million tons from 1.4 million hectares at a yield of 39.2 c/ha, peas – 470.4 million tons from 212.2 thousand hectares at a yield of 21.9 c/ha, and rapeseed – 3.5 million tons from 1.3 million hectares at a yield of 27.3 c/ha. Corn harvesting continues, with 22.4 million tons harvested (20.2 million tons a week earlier) from 3.5 million hectares (88% of the plan), buckwheat – 127.2 thousand tons (126.9 thousand tons) from 87.8 thousand hectares (99%), millet – 161 thousand tons (160.3 thousand tons) from 88.1 thousand hectares (95%). Agrarians in 16 regions are harvesting sugar beets, which have been dug up on an area of 238.1 thousand hectares (92%), with 11.4 million tons of sweet roots. Grain harvesting is led by farmers in Odesa region, who have threshed 4.6 million hectares, Chernihiv region – 4.2 million tons, and Poltava region – 4.1 million tons. In terms of yields, farmers in Khmelnytsky region are ahead with 76.9 c/ha, Chernihiv region – 69.1 c/ha, and Ternopil region – 66.8 c/ha.
Revenues from exports of grains, oilseeds, meal and oil in the first quarter of the 2024/2025 season (July-October this year) amounted to $6.1 billion, up $1.6 billion, or 35.6%, compared to the previous season, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) reported on Facebook.
“Over 4 months, Ukraine has received significantly more export revenue from the sale of wheat, barley, rapeseed and soybeans compared to last season,” the industry association stated.
According to the chart below, in July-October 2024, sales of wheat on foreign markets brought Ukraine $1.456 billion, which is 1.9 times more than a year earlier, while revenue from rapeseed exports increased by 50.6% to $1.119 billion, corn by 32% to $849 million, soybeans by 2.1 times to $477 million, and barley by 3 times to $286 million.
At the same time, the revenues from sunflower oil exports in July-October 2024 decreased by 0.7% to $1.356 bln, and sunflower meal by 9.2% to $344 mln compared to the same period last year.
“Kernel, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings, processed 684 thousand tons of oilseeds in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024-2025 (July-September), up 12% year-on-year, a record high for the first quarter, according to the company’s annual report released on Monday evening.
“This growth was driven by the additional capacity of our new plant, which was commissioned in February 2024, and the earlier start of sunflower harvesting, which improved the availability of seeds in the reporting period. To maximize capacity utilization, Kernel processed oilseeds from third parties under tolling contracts, as well as rapeseed along with sunflower. Out of the total volume, 132 thousand tons were supplied under tolling contracts,” the report says.
According to the agroholding, in the first quarter of 2024-2025, it has already processed 589 thsd tonnes of sunflower seeds and 95 thsd tonnes of rapeseed.
At the same time, oilseed processing volumes decreased by 28% due to a one-month break for maintenance of processing plants in the summer and preparation for the new season.
“Taking into account the quarterly decline in oilseed processing volumes, Kernel reduced sales of edible oil by 30% in July-September 2024-2025 MY to 269 thousand tons, of which 18 thousand tons were bottled sunflower oil.
Kernel Agro Holding is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, one of the largest producers and sellers of bottled oil in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the cultivation and sale of agricultural products.
Kernel’s net profit for FY2023 amounted to $299 million, while the company ended the previous year with a net loss of $41 million. The agricultural holding’s revenue for FY2023 decreased by 35% to $3.455 billion, but EBITDA increased 2.5 times to $544 million.
In the first nine months of FY2024, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 53% to $204 million, while revenue decreased by 4% to $2.595 billion, and its EBITDA decreased by 36% to $384 million.
