You're reading: Ukraine reaps record grain harvest

Editor’s Note: Economic Snapshot is a new Kyiv Post feature on the economic situation in Ukraine.Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry said this month said the nation’s farmers harvested a record 54 million ton harvest this season, 31 percent up year-on-year and a couple million tons higher than the previous largest crop gathered.

In a note to investors, investment bank Phoenix Capital said that preliminary results indicate that crop yields increased by about 29 percent year-on-year from 2.84 tons per hectare to 3.65 tons per hectare.

Farmers sowing nearly 15 million hectares of land that represented 96 percent of the territory designated for harvest, according to Phoenix.

Ukraine has in recent years ranked as one of the world’s top producers and exporters of wheat, sun flower seeds and has been number one worldwide in barely.

Citing government figures, the investment bank said that Ukraine has also jumped up the ranks in other crops.

As of Nov. 14, the nation harvested 18.5 million tons of corn, one of the largest results for this crop worldwide. Ukraine also gathered about 2.2 million tons of soybeans and 18.8 million tons of sugar beets.

“This year, Ukraine confidently established as one of the world’s leading grain countries,” President Viktor Yanukovych said on Nov. 18 in praising the results.

Experts have repeatedly said, however, that Ukraine’s promising agribusiness sector – where farms still use old technologies and post yields several fold lower than in Europe – could be doing much better.

Experts say that the nation’s overall crop, grain and value-added food exports could more than double if the nation lures in billions of dollars of investment.

But this will not happen, experts warn, if Ukraine’s government continues restricting exports through non-transparent government measures, much like it did last season.