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outside of Kyiv.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
After last year’s drought caused up to $4bn in crop losses to southern farmers, the Agriculture Ministry is launching a pilot project to restore irrigation systems in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions. Minister Leshchenko writes on Facebook: “We will rebuild and expand reclamation systems with private and public capital.” Two weeks ago, land reclamation responsibilities were returned to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Good rains and expanded cultivation are expected to increase Ukraine’s wheat harvests by 21% y/y during the new July-June marketing year, forecasts Agritel, the consulting arm of Argus Media. The latest forecast is for 30.5mn tons, breaking the record set in 2019-2020.
Well-timed rains are pushing this year’s harvest to a record 100mn tons of grains, oilseeds and beans, Nikolay Gorbachov, president of the Ukrainian Grain Association predicted at the recent International Grains Council’s Grain Conference. “What I can tell you about Ukraine is the conditions are just perfect,” Gorbachov told the online conference, The Western Producer reports from Saskatchewan, Canada. Ukraine’s previous harvest record was 98.3mn tons set in 2019-20. Twenty years ago, this combined harvest was 9.5mn tons.
Gorbachov’s predictions for this year’s harvests: corn – 37mn tons, up 22%; wheat – 30mn tons, up 20%; sunflower seeds – 16.5mn tons, up 28%; and canola – 2.5mn tons, unchanged. The headline on the farming news site from Western Canada was: “Ukraine develops into major grain competitor.”
With the grain marketing year ending on July 1, Ukraine’s exports in tons are down by 22% y/y, to 43.4mn tons. But with global food prices up 40% y/y, Ukraine’s grain exports in dollars are expected to be unchanged from one year ago. Total grain production for the marketing year, ending June 30, is pegged at 65mn tons, with exports totaling 45.8mn tons, the Agriculture Ministry estimates.
The start of a limited farmland market on July 1 should boost Ukrainian harvest yields, Bloomberg reports in a story: Ukraine will introduce long-awaited land reforms next month just as food prices rise to the highest in almost a decade. Harvest yields for corn, Ukraine’s largest crop, are one third below US levels. Starting July 1, Ukrainian individuals will be able to buy and sell up to 100 hectares a year. Trade by corporations is expected to be allowed in coming years. Public opinion polls indicate low support for farmland sales to foreigners, a step that is to be decided by a referendum after 2024.
60 UKRAINE Country Report July 2021 www.intellinews.com