Current Ukrainian harvest to ensure record export of grain – Agrarian Policy Ministry

Acting Agrarian Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Maksym Martyniuk said this at a press conference in Kyiv on December 19, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

“70.1 million tonnes of grains is a record harvest in the entire history of observations. And, respectively, it gives a chance to predict a larger than usual export volume of Ukrainian grain. We forecast 47 million tonnes. Traders predict that they will be able to sell 50 million tonnes of grain,” the official said.

According to the press service of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine, the largest harvest of grain totaling 70.1 million tonnes was harvested in 2018, which is a record-high over the times of independent Ukraine.

In particular, the Ukrainian farmers gathered 35.5 million tonnes of corn, which is 44% more than last year (the previous record was set in 2013 - 30.9 million tonnes).

Also, records were set for harvesting some oilseeds.

In 2018, 13.7 million tonnes of sunflower seeds was harvested, which is 12% more than in 2017 (the previous record was set in 2016 - 13.6 million tonnes). Also, 4.4 million tonnes of soybeans was gathered, which is 13% more than in 2017 (the previous record was set in 2016 - 4.2 million tonnes).

As of December 18, 2018, about 21 million tonnes of grains were exported (compared with 19.3 million tonnes recorded on the corresponding date in 2017), In particular, Ukraine exported 10.02 million tonnes of wheat and flour (11.1 million tonnes in 2017); 3.1 million tonnes of barley (3.8 million tonnes in 2017); 7.5 million tonnes of corn (4.4 million tonnes in 2017); 0.4 million tonnes of other grain crops (0.06 million tonnes in 2017).