The profitability of the main agricultural crops in Ukraine in 2023 exceeded the forecast

The Agrohub company conducted a study of the profitability of growing agricultural crops by the ten largest domestic holdings, which covered an area of 1.7 million hectares in 7 regions of Ukraine. According to his data, the actual EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation expenses) of the main agricultural crops in Ukraine in 2023 turned out to be better than expected and reached $129/ha, while it was forecast at the beginning of the year at the level of $94/ha, and in 2022 it was only $47/ha.

The profitability of corn grew the most - up to $38/ha, although at the beginning of the year it was expected to be unprofitable and have an EBITDA of -47 $/ha. In 2022, this crop was the most unprofitable with EBITDA -$227/ha.

For rape, the EBITDA indicator exceeded the forecast ($155/ha) by 32% and amounted to $228/ha, and for sunflower it exceeded the forecast ($111/ha) by 33% and amounted to $165/ha.

At the same time, EBITDA indicators for wheat and soybeans did not differ from the forecast, since the main volumes of these products were sold in 2023. So, for soybeans, EBITDA was $378/ha, and wheat became unprofitable with EBITDA -$101/ha.

This increase in profitability is due to the increase in actual prices for agricultural products compared to the forecast by 3.3%, in particular, prices for corn - by 6.3%, rapeseed - by 5.2%, sunflower - by 4.3%, wheat - by 0.8%, while soybean prices fell 0.2%.

"The stable operation of the maritime grain corridor, which has replaced exports by overland routes with high-cost logistics, contributes to the increase in prices. In addition, in the third year of the war, producers adapted to the current situation and began to plan production costs more optimally," Agrohub believes.