Buckwheat groats have disappeared from the shelves of some Ukrainian stores due to the boom in demand for groats caused by the desire of the population to stock up on food supplies in the face of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, while after the harvest of buckwheat in Ukraine, the supply of buckwheat groats and its cost will stabilize at the level 65-70 UAH/kg.
The corresponding forecast was published on the website of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine on Monday.
According to her, the demand for buckwheat is caused by the panic of the population, which stocked up large volumes of all types of cereals during the war with the Russian Federation, while retail chains were unable to provide a corresponding increase in supply, as a result of which buckwheat temporarily disappeared from the shelves of some stores.
In addition, Ukrainians consume 3-4 kg of buckwheat per year, which is several times higher than the world average of 1.5 kg per year.
“Our harvest (2022 – IF) will provide up to 2.5 kg of buckwheat per citizen. This is not a critical situation, but we will have to wait for a new harvest. Starting from September, there will be price stability – at the level of 65-70 UAH per kilogram of buckwheat. This is if there are problems with imports. And if we provide enough imported cereals, the price of buckwheat can decrease to UAH 50 per kilogram, perhaps even less,” the NAAN website says.
According to him, in the conditions of a difficult sowing campaign during the war, Ukrainian farmers sowed enough buckwheat, and its harvest will approximately correspond to last year, perhaps by 10-15% less. However, this will be quite enough for the needs of Ukraine.
NAAN stressed that before harvesting its own harvest, Ukraine is forced to buy foreign buckwheat, which it now imports from Poland or Lithuania instead of Russian and Kazakh ones. At the same time, the price of imported cereals will be high due to expensive fuel, since it is imported to Ukraine mainly by road.
As reported, 74.9 thousand hectares have already been sown with buckwheat this season, which is 92% of the previously planned 81.6 thousand hectares.
