3.8 million tons of agricultural products shipped from Ukraine in the first half of March

UkrAgroConsult

From March 1, 2022, to March 15, 2023, Ukraine shipped 54.6 million tons of grains, pulses, oilseeds, and processed products. Of these, 23.4 mln tons of corn and 12.2 mln tons of wheat. The third place is taken by sunflower oil – 4.3 million tons, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.

As a reminder, the grain supply at the beginning of the season was more than 70 million tons due to large transitional stocks that Ukraine accumulated due to the war, when exports were almost impossible in the first months. Since July, the beginning of the new season, Ukraine has exported 34.8 million tons of wheat, corn and barley. Annual consumption is 17.6 million tons, meaning that the country has enough grain for both domestic needs and exports, which generates foreign exchange earnings and keeps the national currency from falling.

In 15 days of March 2023, Ukraine exported 3.8 mln tons of agricultural products. This is only 100 thousand tons more than in 15 days of February. Accordingly, supplies of some crops did not change significantly compared to the last month of winter. Wheat shipments decreased the most among all crops (by 153 thsd tonnes), to 827 thsd tonnes.

However, corn shipments increased slightly. In the first half of March, the company shipped 250 thsd tonnes more of this crop than in the first 15 days of February, to 2 mln tonnes. There was also a slight increase in sunflower oil supplies – by 18 thsd tonnes, to 248.1 thsd tonnes.

At the same time, shipments of meal decreased by almost 80 thsd tonnes: 165.8 thsd tonnes in the first half of March against 246 thsd tonnes in the first two weeks of February.

There was a slight decrease in barley shipments as well. It was shipped by 9 thsd tonnes less in two weeks of March than in the same period of February – 152.3 thsd tonnes. Soybean shipments also remained almost unchanged at 227 thsd tonnes. The growth was only 7 thsd tonnes.

The same insignificant increase applies to rapeseed shipments. During the 15 days of March, 39.6 thsd tonnes were exported. This is 5 thsd tonnes more than in the first two weeks of February.

Sunflower seed shipments in March increased by 25 thsd tonnes to 108 thsd tonnes. Soybean oil shipments increased from 11.5 thou tons to 14 thou tons.

The overall picture of the volume of agricultural products that have already crossed the border of Ukraine in percentage terms for 15 days of March is as follows: 53.3% is corn, 21.7% is wheat, 6.5% is sunflower oil, 5.9% is beans, 4.3% is meal, 4% is barley, 2.8% is sunflower seeds, 1.04% is rapeseed, and 0.4% is soybean oil.

Exports of agricultural products in terms of their transportation in the first half of March: 3 million tons were shipped by ports (sea and river), 508.3 thousand tons by rail, 248.2 thousand tons by road, and 55.3 thousand tons by ferry.

Tags: Ukraine, sunflower oil, corn, export, grain, soybean, wheat, rapeseed