Ukraine. Harvest 2020

There will be no third record crop in a row: in 2020, Ukraine’s harvest this year will be 10 million tonnes lower on year. UNIAN learned how this could affect food prices, as well as how farmers survived this year, and whether it is worth hoping for the better in 2021.

Ukrainian farmers in most regions have practically completed their autumn harvest campaign. As of the end of November, over 60 million tonnes of cereals and legumes have been harvested from 96% of the sown area.

So far, neither the State Statistics Service, nor the Economy Ministry have released data on the campaign figures. However, it is already obvious that the 2020 harvest will not break last year’s high: spring frosts, an abnormal summer drought, and heavy rains this fall, which spoiled ripe corn quality, have all became an obstacle.

“The rains this fall were welcome, but they came too late. This was especially unfavorable for corn,” a poltavea farmer Stepan has told UNIAN, adding that ripe corn was affected the most.

Taking into account weather conditions and a shortage of corn, the government on November 25 once again worsened its outlook for the grain harvest – down to 65 million tonnes. This is ten million tonnes below the 2019 figure.

In previous years, however, Ukraine also collected a much smaller crop – at 60, 50, and 45 million tonnes. The 2003 harvest stood at 20.3 million tonnes, becoming the lowest in the history of independence.

It’s just that after two harvest records in a row, when 70 million tonnes was harvested in 2018 and 75 million tonnes in 2019, many did not want to lower the bar.

UNIAN

Tags: Ukraine, harvest