Page 75 - BNE_magazine_12_2019 dec19

bne December 2019 New Europe in Numbers I 75
Ukraine on course to smash its 2019 grain harvest record, remain world’s biggest grain exporter
Ben Aris in Berlin
With the winter grain harvest still underway Ukraine’s farmers have already brought in more grain this season than in all of last year and are on course to smash the previous record.
Ukrainian farmers have threshed a record 70.8mn tonnes as of the middle of November, reports UBN, more than the 70.1mn tonnes threshed during all of last year – also a record year.
By the end of this year Ukraine’s grain harvest is expected to be up by 5.5%, to 74mn tonnes, predicted Timofei Milovanov, Minister of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture.
The bumper harvest has been helped by the extremely mild autumn weather in Eastern Europe, where temperatures are the highest on record.
Last year’s record breaking crop allowed Ukraine to export 50.4mn tonnes of grain, just beating out Russia to claim the title of the world’s biggest exporter of grain and earn over $20bn from the trade as a result.
This year’s exports of grain will almost certainly be higher at circa 25mn
tonnes, which easily allows it to hold on to its biggest exporter title.
Kyiv-based brokerage ICU predicts
this year’s grain harvest will be 75mn tonnes – 7% above last year’s bumper harvest of 70mn tonnes. In the mix, corn remains king, dropping only 1% from last year’s record harvest, hitting 35.3mn tonnes. The dynamic crops
are barley – up 23% to 9mn tonnes, and
wheat – up 14% to 28.2mn tonnes.
This season also saw the Rada begin debating new laws that would allow for the buying and selling of land. Analysts predict that if the legislation goes through and a land market
is established then the investment that agriculture could attract will result in grain production as much as doubling.
Ukrainian farmers have threshed a record 70.8mn tonnes as of the middle of November, more than the 70.1mn tonnes threshed during all of last year.
Ukraine grain production, exports mn tonnes
www.bne.eu