Page 54 - UKRRptMar20

9.1.6​ Agriculture sector news
Ukrainian farmers will harvest about 65-70 mmt of grains in 2020​, according to the Economy ministry forecast published by Deputy Minister Taras Vysotskyi on Facebook on February 24. The weather conditions are favorable for grains, Vysotskyi said. Ukrainian farmers harvested ​75.1 mmt of grains in 2019​.​ ​Ukrainian farmers sowed 8,952 kha under winter crops, or almost flat y/y. The sowed area under winter wheat slid 0.6% y/y to 6,408 kha, while farmers sowed 1,046 kha of barley, or 3.9% more y/y in 2020 season.
Ukraine’s farmers are saving money to buy their rented fields ahead of the land market liberalisation. ​They are cutting purchases of combines and other farm machinery by up to 40%, says Alex Lissitsa, CEO of IMC, a major agrobusiness. He said: “Investments in technology will be suspended in the next two years. Everybody started to save all their money, as it’s likely that the banks won’t give big loans.” This spring the Rada is to pass a limited law allowing Ukrainian farmers to buy and sell up to 10,000 hectares. The market would start in October.
Ukraine quadrupled grain exports in the last decade​, according to Mykola Pugachev deputy director of the National Scientific centre’s Institute of Agrarian Economics. In 2019, 56.7mn tons of grain were exported to foreign markets – four times more than in 2010 and 36% more than in 2018. Egypt, China, Spain, Turkey, Bangladesh were the top five purchasers of Ukraine’s grain exports in 2019
The sunflower harvest in Ukraine, the world's biggest sunflower oil exporter, rose by almost 8% y/y, to 15.3mn tons in 2019​, reports the State Statistics Service. Ukraine has increased its sunflower oil exports by about 60% so far in the marketing year that started in September, to almost 2mn tons. Last year, it exported 6mn tons. The national crop of canola, another source of cooking oil, increased by 20% y/y in 2019, to 3.3mn tons.
Spelling relief for Ukraine, Europe’s largest sugar producer, global sugar prices surged 12% in the first six weeks of this year​, reports Bloomberg. Behind the rise, drought cut crops in Thailand, frosts wrecked crops in the US, and Brazil channeled more of its cane crop into ethanol. Facing weak prices, Ukraine’s sugar refiners cut their production last fall by 19%, to 1.5mn tons. Then last week, Indonesia, the world’s largest sugar importer, announced plans to increase imports 11-fold to build a 1.3mn ton stockpile. Commodities trader ED&F Man Holdings Ltd. forecasts that last year’s world surplus will switch to a 10% deficit this year.
54​ UKRAINE Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com