Despite the war and challenges, Ukraine remains the world leader in the grain and oilseeds market. From July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, exports of grains, oilseeds, vegetable oils and meal amounted to almost 68 million tons. This is 10% more than a year earlier. What to expect next and what support measures for Ukrainian farmers were told by Forbes Ukraine Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko, writes agronews.ua. 

Which countries buy Ukrainian wheat, corn and sunflower oil

The export geography of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds is very wide. We are interested in the markets of Asia, Europe and Africa. The latter buy mainly wheat. At the same time, sunflower oil became the export leader among Ukrainian crops in 2022-2023. It was bought by 131 countries of the world.

At the same time, we exported wheat to 65 countries, corn to 58 countries. Soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, other oilseeds, soybean and sunflower meals, buckwheat - each of these crops was sold to more than 40 countries around the world.

Wheat

The top 5 countries where Ukrainian wheat is exported are Turkey (21%), Romania (15.8%), Spain (14%), Bangladesh (6.2%) and Poland (5.5%).

In Bangladesh, where about 170 million people live, Ukraine sold more than 1 million tons of wheat in a year. Ukraine actively exported grain to African countries, where there are problems with the population's access to products. 234,000 tons were delivered to Kenya, 180,000 tons to Ethiopia, 65,000 tons to Sudan and 53,000 tons to Somalia.

This is a significant part of wheat consumption in these countries. Consequently, Ukrainian exports are a significant contribution to the fight against hunger.

Corn

The top five countries buying Ukrainian corn are China (19.8%), Romania (16.2%), Spain (10.5%), Egypt (6.3%), Italy (6.9%). %).

Ukraine exported 5.5 million tons of corn to China in 2022-2023, becoming one of the main suppliers of this crop to China. In addition, Ukrainian corn is in demand in Southern Europe. In Spain and Italy, it is used in animal husbandry, where, due to drought, pastures are not able to feed livestock.

Sunflower oil

The top 5 sunflower oil export destinations are Turkey (19.3%), Romania (12.1%), China (11.9%), India (7.2%) and Poland (7.2%).

Plans to support Ukrainian farmers

Although Ukraine exported more grain in the 2022-2023 marketing year, it earned less than in the previous period - $20.7 billion against $22.1 billion in 2021/2022 ($1.4 billion less).

The answer is predictably related to a full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian agrarians are forced to reduce prices so that foreign partners agree to conclude contracts, despite possible military or logistical risks.

Our priority task for the next year is to improve the access of Ukrainian farmers to foreign markets. To do this, we need to solve problems with delivery by sea and across the western border. This will help to quickly return to balanced trading, as it was in 2020 and 2021. It is important to give the business room to grow. How to achieve this?

The first component is security. We are engaged in humanitarian demining of Ukraine in order to clear fields, roads and production facilities of mines and other explosive objects as quickly as possible.

Experts have already checked and returned to use more than 150,000 hectares of farmland out of 470,000 hectares. Farmers can already work for them, create new jobs and, as a result, contribute to the development of the economy.

Source:agronews.ua