The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine expects that the production of cereals will decrease in 2023, and that of oilseeds will increase

Data on the autumn sowing of winter crops and the sowing of spring crops for the 2023 harvest allow the Ministry of Agriculture to make the first forecasts for the future harvest.

It is planned to sow 19.3 million hectares with grain and industrial crops for the 2023 harvest on the territory controlled by Ukraine, which will almost correspond to last year's 19.8 million hectares. At the same time, the area of sowing winter crops decreased by 1 million hectares compared to the previous season, while the area of sowing spring crops is planned to increase by 556 thousand hectares.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, the area of grain and leguminous crops will decrease by 1.409 million hectares to 10.24 million hectares compared to 2022, in particular:

• winter wheat - by 834 thousand hectares to 4.166 million hectares,
• winter barley - for 255 to 536 thousand hectares,
• corn - by 451 thousand hectares to 3.618 million hectares.

At the same time, the area of sowing of spring grain and oil crops will increase:

• spring wheat - from 67 to 285 thousand hectares,
• spring barley - by 111 thousand hectares to 1.041 million hectares,
• sunflower - by 476 thousand hectares to 5.641 million hectares,
• rapeseed - by 110 thousand hectares to 1.374 million hectares,
• soybeans - by 334 thousand hectares to 1.841 million hectares.

In addition, the area of sugar beet sowing will grow from 180,000 ha in 2022/23 MR to 220,000 ha in 2023/24 MR.

The reduction of sowing areas against the background of the expected decrease in the average yield, due to the sharp increase in the price of the means of production, will negatively affect the total harvest.

According to forecasts, the gross harvest of grain and leguminous crops will decrease compared to the previous season from 53.1 to 44.3 million tons, in particular:

• wheat - from 20.5 to 16.6 million tons,
• barley - from 5.6 to 4.8 million tons,
• corn - from 25.6 to 21.7 million tons.

At the same time, the gross collection of oil crops will increase compared to last year by 1 million tons to 19.2 million tons, in particular:

• sunflower - from 11.1 to 11.5 million tons,
• rapeseed - from 3.7 to 3.8 million tons,
• soybeans - from 3.4 to 3.9 million tons.

Sugar beet production will grow from 9.7 to 11.3 million tons.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy stated that forecasts of the future harvest are preliminary and will be adjusted during the year in accordance with circumstances, primarily weather conditions.