Sales of farmland in Ukraine up 29%, size of farmland sold up 39% in Q3 - analysts

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) - The number of purchase-and-sale transactions for agricultural land in Ukraine reached 28,400 and the overall size of such land purchased and sold was 62,700 hectares in July-September 2024, which is 29% more in terms of their number and 39% more in terms of their size compared to the same period in 2023, Ukrainian media reported citing the findings of a survey conducted by the Kiev School of Economics (KSE) under a contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Both the number of such transactions and the size of farmland in circulation were also 3% higher in Q3 than in Q2 2024, even though Q2 had seen a record volume of such transactions since the start of the crisis.

"As is seen, the market has been growing steadily in 2023-2024 [...] Bearing in mind its seasonal nature, it would be reasonable to expect its volume to grow significantly in Q4 2024, as it was considerably higher than in Q3 in the previous two years," it said.

While the market is continuing to recover after coming to a standstill amid the crisis, its recovery has slowed down, and its volume itself is still lower than it was prior to February 2022, the report says. The average monthly market volume is currently around 37% down from that seen before the crisis.

The KSE anticipates that 0.78% of the entire amount of farmland in Ukraine will be in circulation in 2024, which is 28% lower than is typical for developed markets.

Considering that the crisis is continuing, it looks unlikely that the size of farmland in circulation could grow significantly anytime soon, even though the farmland market still has the potential to grow in the medium term, as the average monthly amount of farmland in circulation before the crisis was significantly larger than 32,200 hectares, the KSE said.