Ukraine. The area under corn has almost halved this year compared to pre-war levels

The range of estimates of future corn acreage is very wide due to uncertainty about future export prospects. There are estimates of 3.3 mln hectares and below on the market, which is almost two times less than before the full-scale invasion.

This was stated by Maryna Marynych, an analyst at UkrAgroConsult, at the international conference EURO GRAIN HUB Exchange & Forum 2023.

“After the end of the war, we can return to the previous levels, but the transition period may take 5 years to reach the level of corn production of almost 5-6 mln ha. It is impossible to reach such figures now. We still have 5 million tons of corn that we are not sure we will export. That’s why farmers don’t want to plant corn,” Marynych said.

Because of this, farmers are abandoning corn and planting oilseeds instead. They are easier to export than large quantities of corn.

“And as for oilseeds, they are easier to export, they have a good price compared to grain crops. We still have processing, we have processing plants that can handle these volumes. Moreover, sunflower and rapeseed are in demand in European markets. Bulgaria has utilized all its processing capacities with our sunflower,” added Yulia Garkavenko, UkrAgroConsult analyst.

It is worth noting that in addition to the growth of the sunflower harvest in Bulgaria, which exceeded 2 mln tonnes (for the first time since 2018/19 MY), the first three months of 2022/23 MY showed the decline of sunflower exports and the growth of imports. The share of Ukraine in the imports of sunflower exceeds 73%.

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Tags: corn, sunflower, UkrAgroConsult, prices, rapeseed, sown area, EURO GRAIN HUB Exchange & Forum, Ukraine, Bulgaria