Sowing in Ukraine is reaching the equator, and grain exports have already exceeded 40 million tons

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of April 25, 2.546 million hectares or 45.5% of the planned 5.601 million hectares were sown with grain and leguminous crops in Ukraine, in particular:

• wheat - 223.3 thousand hectares or 90.7% of the planned 246.1 thousand hectares,
• barley - 761.5 thousand hectares or 93.1% of 818 thousand hectares,
• peas - 159.2 thousand ha or 99.6% of 159.9 thousand ha,
• oats - 146.6 thousand ha or 90.1% of 162.7 thousand ha,
• corn – 1.189 million hectares or 30% of 3.912 million hectares,
• buckwheat - 0.7 thousand ha or 1% of 124.8 thousand ha,
• millet - 3.7 thousand ha or 4% of 85.3 thousand ha.

Oil crops were sown on the specified date:

• sunflower – 2 million hectares or 38% of the planned 5.288 million hectares,
• soybeans - 28.6 thousand hectares or 10% of 1.99 million hectares.

238.7 thousand hectares or 93% of the planned 256.5 thousand hectares have already been sown with sugar beets.

According to the State Customs Service, in 2023/24 FY (as of April 26) Ukraine exported 40.289 million tons of grain and leguminous crops, in particular in April - 5.238 million tons, while last year on this date 41.149 million tons of grain was shipped, of which in April – 3.173 million tons.

The following crops were exported:

• wheat – 15.404 million tons (in April – 1.562 million tons),
• barley - 2.178 million tons (207 thousand tons),
• rye - 1.2 thousand tons (0.2 thousand tons),
• corn - 22.231 million tons (3.461 million tons).

Also, in the current season, 85,700 tons of flour were exported (126,300 tons last year on this date), in particular, 81,000 tons of wheat flour, while in April - 6,500 and 5,900 tons, respectively.

In order to achieve the USDA forecast, Ukraine needs to export another 2.4 million tons of wheat, 2.3 million tons of corn, and 350 thousand tons of barley in May-June. But it is worth considering that in recent months, USDA experts have been raising export forecasts and lowering the estimate of grain reserves for Ukraine.

Analysts of UkrAgroConsult estimate the export potential of grain and oil crops together with the products of their processing in the current season at the level of 12 million tons, which they told at the Black Sea Grain 2024 conference.

Improvements in weather conditions around the world, particularly in Ukraine, are putting pressure on prices for the new crop and encouraging sales of large stocks of the old crop by farmers experiencing reduced demand.

According to the State Statistics Service, in 2023 the area of grain and leguminous crops in Ukraine decreased by 8% compared to the previous season to 10.84 million tons, but their gross harvest grew by 11% to 59.77 million tons thanks to an increase in productivity by 21 % up to 5.52 t/ha.

So, compared to last year, the harvest grew:

• wheat - by 4.3% to 21.63 million tons,
• corn - by 18% to 31.03 million tons,
• buckwheat - by 43% to 210.7 thousand tons,
• millet - 2.2 times to 203.5 thousand tons,
• oats - by 13% to 427.3 thousand tons,
• barley - by 2% to 5.5 million tons,
• sunflower – by 13% to 12.76 million tons,
• rapeseed - by 26% to 4.18 million tons,
• soybeans - by 38% to 4.74 million tons,
• rye - decreased by 26.4% to 231.2 thousand tons.

The total production of legumes grew by 38% to 460.6 thousand tons, and sugar beets - by 32% to 13.13 million tons.