Exclusive: Ukraine eyes higher 2025 grain harvest, plans more winter wheat for 2026
Ukraine is a major global grain grower and exporter but its harvest fell sharply after Kyiv lost around a fifth of its territory due to the Russian invasion in 2022.
Taras Vysotskiy, deputy economy minister, told Reuters in an interview that the 2025 wheat output forecast may be raised to 22 million tons from the current 21.2 million tons and to 28 million tons from 26.5 million tons for corn.
The overall harvest could repeat the result of 2024, when 56 million tons of grain was threshed, with 22.7 million tons of wheat and 26 million tons of corn.
In 2021, before the Russian invasion, Ukraine harvested 84 million tons of grain. It included 32 million tons of wheat and almost 42 million tons of corn.
"Previously, the forecast was 26.5 million tons of corn for 2025, but there is potential for growth - optimistically speaking, we could see 28 million tons, provided there are no serious unforeseen circumstances," he told Reuters.
The deputy minister said a higher output would allow the export of up to 40 million tons of various grains in the 2025/26 July-June season.
He said that the export could include 15 to 16 million tons of wheat but some of the volume would be redirected as the European Union has imposed limits on wheat imports from Ukraine to address the concerns of its own farmers.
The move cut imports to 1 million tons from 4 million which Ukraine supplied to the EU.
"These three million tonnes (which Ukraine previously supplied to the EU) are not critical in terms of redirection to other markets," he said.
In addition to the EU, Ukraine traditionally supplies wheat to North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Vysotskiy said that the area under winter wheat, Ukraine's key grain crop, may rise by 6.4% to 5 million hectares in 2026 thanks to high external demand and an expected reduction in the area under soybeans.
Winter wheat accounts for more than 95% of the total wheat harvest in Ukraine, which exports almost two-thirds of its output and before the war ranked fifth among wheat exporters.
"Considering that wheat prices are currently good for both food and feed, 5 million hectares of sown area is possible," Taras Vysotskiy, deputy economy minister, said in the first official forecast for the 2025/26 winter wheat sowing area.
Ukrainian wheat export prices traditionally fall during the mass harvest, but according to the largest Ukrainian farmers' union UAC, prices have remained stable this season, fluctuating around $222-$227 per ton carriage paid to (CPT), supported by demand.
UAC said last week that 3.45 million tons of Ukrainian wheat were contracted for exports in July-August.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
UK hedge fund Marshall Wace posted mixed returns for July, source says
LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - British hedge fund Marshall Wace returned mixed results in two of its funds in July, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Monday. Co-founded by British financier Paul Marshall, the $76.9 billion firm returned 1.6% in July culminating in a 6.1% performance for 2025 so far in its Eureka Fund, the source said. The hedge fund's Market Neutral Tops fund returned -0.22% for July and is up 10.99% year to date the source added. Systematic stock trading hedge funds, like Marshall Wace, are up roughly 10% for 2025 so far, said Goldman Sachs on Monday.
Reuters
14 minutes ago
- Reuters
Netherlands to start NATO's new Ukraine weapons finance scheme with $578 mln payment
AMSTERDAM, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will be the first contributor to NATO's new "Priority Ukraine Requirements List" (PURL) financing mechanism for Ukraine weapons with a 500 million euros ($578 million) payment, the Dutch defence ministry said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said last month the U.S. would supply weapons to Ukraine, paid for by European allies, but did not provide details on how this would work. Reuters reported on Friday that NATO countries, Ukraine, and the U.S. were developing a new Ukraine weapons financing mechanism. ($1 = 0.8649 euros)
Times
14 minutes ago
- Times
Radical legal case could let players terminate their own contracts for free
New legal action that could lead to law changes allowing players to terminate their contracts with clubs without paying huge compensation has been launched across Europe. A class action by a group called Justice For Players is seeking compensation potentially totalling billions of pounds for alleged loss of income due to restrictive transfer rules. The action has been launched against Fifa and the FAs of France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. But the Dutch-based group said any of the estimated 100,000 male or female players who have played for a club in the EU or the UK since 2002 are eligible to join the claim. The English FA is not facing a legal claim at present but has been sent a copy of the legal action by the group. It follows a Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruling in October 2024 in a case brought by the former Chelsea, Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra, who was ordered to pay €10million (£8.7million) by Fifa for leaving the Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow one year into a four-year deal. The CJEU said some of Fifa's rules on player transfers went against EU laws and freedom of movement principles, which led to Fifa adopting an 'interim framework' on transfer rules while it looked at the legal implications of the ruling. Under Fifa's rules, players have in effect been prevented from leaving their clubs unilaterally in the middle of their contract and agreeing a free transfer elsewhere due to the threat of being forced to pay huge compensation. The CJEU ruling means any transfer fee paid for the player cannot form part of the compensation, and the new legal action claims that people in any other profession are allowed to leave their jobs in the middle of a contract. The argument in favour of the existing transfer system is that it benefits smaller clubs who earn income from selling players, and that complete freedom of movement would lead to the richest clubs paying enormous salaries to sign the best players without compensating the clubs who developed them. Franco Baldini, the England assistant manager under Fabio Capello, is one of the board members of Justice For Players. He said: 'As a former professional footballer, agent and someone who has worked in football in various managerial capacities, I have had first-hand experience of how much control and power Fifa has over the players. 'So I am very proud to be part of Justice For Players and to be part of something that could help change the existing system and make football more inclusive and more sustainable.' Justice For Players said it would be advised by the law firm Dupont-Hissel, founded by Jean-Louis Dupont, the Belgian lawyer who won the Bosman ruling in 1995 that cleared the way for players in the EU to move to other clubs at the end of contracts without a transfer fee being paid. The players' union Fifpro Europe said the action was an 'anticipated practical response to the CJEU's Diarra judgment, effectively centralising advocacy for affected players' interests that have broad implications for the football industry'. Justice For Players said its consultancy firm Compass Lexecon had estimated that damages could run into billions of euros.
