Almost all 2024 harvest collected in Ukraine, will be smaller than last year - ministry

MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - Ukraine's harvest of grain and oilseeds in the 2024 season will stand at 75 million tonnes, which is 11.2% less than the year before, Ukrainian media cited First Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Taras Vysotsky at Media Center Ukraine on Friday.

"As regards the main crops, such as wheat, barley, rye, oats, as well as pulses, the harvest has already been collected completely. Sixty-seven percent of corn have been harvested, and its harvesting campaign will finish soon. All rapeseed has been collected. Sixty-five percent of sunflower and soybeans have been harvested. Almost all sugar beet has been collected. Obviously, we can sum up the results," Vysotsky said.

Ukraine's wheat production in 2024 stood at slightly over 22 million tonnes, which is similar to last year's, he said. This year's barley harvest of 6 million tonnes is also similar to what it was in 2023. The rapeseed harvest in Ukraine is quite good this year.

"The soybean harvest will also hit an all-time high. It is expected at 6 million tonnes. This is a historical record. Ukraine has never had such a large harvest before. This is the absolute maximum," Vysotsky said.

The Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry also expects to gather 1 million tonnes of sunflower and 24 million tonnes of corn this year, he said.

"These are good figures. But, at the same time, there is a certain decline compared to the previous year. In all, 85 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds were harvested last year. The total figure in 2024 will be 75 million tonnes," he said.

The smaller harvest this year is due to adverse weather conditions, such as high air temperatures and the absence of precipitation, as well as due to the redistribution of agricultural land by planting soybeans on a larger area. The yield of soybean is lower than that of corn, standing at 6,000-8,000 tonnes per hectare, but its cost is higher.

"Soybean is an important crop for land rotation as a precursor, as it is a nitrogen-fixing one. Due to the difficult financial situation, farmers do not always have enough money to buy fertilizers due to their high price, whereas soybean needs a smaller amount of fertilizers and then leaves nitrogen in soil for the next season," Vysotsky said.

Transportation costs have also increased because of the crisis, affecting farmers' choice of crops for cultivation, he said. Farmers now prefer soybeans because this crop costs $450-$500 per tonne, or 2.5 times more than corn, but logistics costs are the same for all crops, standing at $30-$40 per tonne, he said.

Ukraine is able to process a third of soybean harvest and will export the rest, Vysotsky said. The key buyers of Ukrainian soybeans are the European Union, Turkey and China.

"Bearing in mind all challenges, except for the weather factor, because it's very hard to influence that [...], farmers still managed to cover our domestic consumption needs, and not only them. In terms of grain and oilseeds, they total 25 million tonnes, or a third of the entire harvest. And we also have quite a significant amount that will be exported," Vysotsky said.