The pace of harvesting and its export from Ukraine is significantly lower than last year

Harvesting in Ukraine is slower than last year, and average moisture values are very high due to long rains in September and October. Farmers hope that the frost will reduce the moisture content of corn from 22-28% to an acceptable 16-20%, so they plan to postpone its harvesting to winter or spring, especially in case of blocking exports from Black Sea ports, which will lead to lower prices.

In the current season, the cost of grain drying has increased by 3-3 times compared to last year, from 60-100 UAH/t% to 160-250 UAH/t% due to the increase in the price of gas and diesel fuel.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, against the background of unfavorable weather between October 28 and November 3, corn was threshed on another 7% of the area, and in total, 6.3 million tons of corn were harvested from 27% of the area or 1.14 million hectares with a yield of 5.54 tons/ ha, while last year on this date 61% of the area or 3.3 million ha was threshed, and the yield was 6.86 t/ha.

As of November 3, 32.6 million tons of grain and leguminous crops were harvested from 72% of the area or 8 million hectares, with a yield of 4.07 tons/ha, in particular:

• 19.4 million tons of wheat from 4.7 million hectares or 100% of the area with a yield of 4.12 tons/ha,
• 5.6 million tons of barley from 1.6 million hectares or 100% of the area with a yield of 3.51 tons/ha,
• 261 thousand tons of peas from 111.5 thousand hectares or 100% of the area with a yield of 2.34 tons/ha,
• 6.3 million tons of corn from 1.1 million hectares or 27% of the area with a yield of 5.54 tons/ha,
• 151 thousand tons of buckwheat from 42.6 thousand hectares or 95% of the area with a yield of 1.36 tons/ha,
• 98 thousand tons of millet from 42.6 thousand hectares or 95% of the area with a yield of 2.31 tons/ha.

In addition, the following was collected on the specified date:

• sunflower – 9 million tons (-8% compared to last year) from 4.1 million hectares or 87% of the area (+7% for the week) with a yield of 2.2 tons/ha (1.7 tons/ha last year),
• soybeans - 3.1 million tons from 1.3 million hectares or 85% of the area with a yield of 2.39 tons/ha,
• rapeseed - 3.2 million tons from 1.1 million hectares or 100% of the area with a yield of 2.89 tons/ha,
• sugar beet – 6.4 million tons from 131.4 thousand ha or 73% of the area with a yield of 4.88 tons/ha.

Farms in the Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi regions have finished harvesting sunflowers, while only 42% of sunflower crops have been threshed in the Kharkiv region. Farmers of Khmelnytskyi region collected the most soybeans - 380,000 tons, and most sugar beets - 1.9 million tons were collected in Vinnytsia region. The highest yield of grain and leguminous crops – 6.22 t/ha – was achieved by farmers of Khmelnytskyi region.

According to the State Customs Service, in 2022/23 MR as of November 4, Ukraine exported 13.87 million tons of grain and leguminous crops, in particular in November - 668 thousand tons, while last year these figures were 20.434 million tons and 1.024 million tons, respectively.

Compared to the same period of the previous season, exports decreased in 2022/23 MR:

• wheat - from 12,815 to 5,211 million tons,
• barley - from 4.52 to 1.164 million tons,
• rye - from 69.9 to 6.3 thousand tons,
• of corn - increased from 2.831 to 7.44 million tons.