Despite the war, according to export indicators of agricultural products, 2022 was one of the best for Ukraine in recent years

UkrAgroConsult

Over the past 4 months, the average monthly export rate of Ukrainian agricultural products actually reached pre-war levels. Thanks to the coordinated activities of farmers, traders, international partners and the work of the “grain corridor”, Ukraine managed to export more than 50 million tons of grain and oil crops and their processing products in 2022. Taras Vysotskyi, the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, stated this on the air of the national marathon “Yedyni Novyny”.

According to him, this is a very good result, considering the fact that the war in Ukraine lasted almost the whole year. However, despite this, according to export indicators, 2022 was one of the best in recent years.

“Ukraine remains one of the main players on the international agricultural market, and the state of production and prospects for the export of agricultural products from Ukraine clearly affect international prices. Currently, they remain high, including due to the continuation of the war, so the prospects for their reduction are still imperceptible,” said Taras Vysotskyi. He added that if Ukraine is not able to fully return its cultivated areas and increase the volume of production of the pre-war period, the situation in the price policy in the world will not change for the better.

At the same time, the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy noted that, unfortunately, the decrease in the area of sowing winter crops is quite significant. In addition to military operations, this was also influenced by weather conditions. “In the spring, farmers are ready to compensate these unsown areas as much as possible. Although, we understand that the sown areas will still be at least 20% smaller than the 2021 figure. First of all, due to the continuation of the temporary occupation of the regions of Ukraine in the Southeast and due to intensive mining by the Russian occupiers of rural lands in the de-occupied Kharkiv and Kherson regions,” he emphasized.

Of course, the main challenge for farmers is to carry out high-quality spring sowing, because you need to find enough financial resources to buy seeds, diesel, mineral fertilizers, and plant protection products, explains Taras Vysotskyi. In order for sowing work to be successful in the spring, the State program “5-7-9 Available Loans” was extended in 2023.

“Actually, farmers were the main users of this program in 2022. It makes it possible to get the necessary funds for sowing. Money for this has already been allocated in the budget. In addition, it is planned to continue the program for the payment of funds for the cultivation of 1 to 120 hectares of agricultural land and for the maintenance of 3 to 100 cows for small agricultural producers. The grant program for the creation and development of gardens and greenhouses has also been continued,” Taras Vysotsky emphasized.

He concluded that the agro-industrial complex is the basis of the Ukrainian economy: “We are grateful to the countries of the EU and the “Big Seven” for this understanding and joint work aimed at the successful restoration of the agricultural sector of our country.”

Tags: Ukraine, export, grain