Ukraine grows 81 mln tonnes of grain, or 5%-6% of global production, in 2023 - Ukrainian Grain Association

MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - Ukrainian farmers have grown 81 million tonnes of gross grain harvest in 2023, which accounts for 5%-6% of worldwide production, Ukrainian Grain Association President Nikolai Gorbachev said.

"Ukraine is located on such soils that we depend on weather factors more than on technology. Although technologies in Ukraine have advanced over the last 20-30 years, and we, previously growing 30 million tonnes, have already started growing 100 million tonnes. This year we were lucky with the weather, and the yield for all crops was above average. We achieved, we can say, a record yield for each of the crops," Ukrainian media quoted Gorbachev as saying at the Forbes Ukraine business breakfast on Wednesday.

This helped Ukraine make up for the loss of 6 million hectares of cropland, which is not cultivated by farmers due to the crisis, he said.

"The world produces more than 2.5 billion tonnes of grain, of which Ukraine grew more than 80 million tonnes this year. If we take grain trade in absolute figures, Ukraine accounts for around 5%-6%. This is a serious influence [on the global market]," Gorbachev said, adding that this share of produced grain does not allow Ukraine to control the global market.

The farmers do not depend on the quantity of products but on prices, he said, expressing hope that the 2023-2024 marketing year will make it possible to level the global prices and Ukrainian agricultural producers will not be at a loss.

As reported, the winter wheat crops were sown at 4,166 million hectares this season, down 834,000 hectares year-on-year, the winter barley crops at 536,000 hectares, down 255,000 hectares year-on-year, and rapeseed at 1,374 million hectares, up 110,000 hectares year-on-year.

According to the Agrarian Policy Ministry's adjusted forecast, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds in 2023, including 57.5 million tonnes of grain and 21.6 million tonnes of oilseeds.

The Ukrainian Grain Association updated its 2023 potential harvest estimate on November 3, raising it to 81.6 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which is up 10.6% from 73.8 million tonnes in 2022.