UGA improves crop 2023 projection

The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) has improved its 2023 grains and oilseeds harvest estimate by 1 million tons to 69 million tons. In 2022, according to the UGA, the harvest totalled 73.8 million tons of grains and oilseeds.

Carry-over stocks at the beginning of the new season amounted to almost 10 million tons of grains and oilseeds, which is 2.5x higher than in previous seasons, except for 2022/23 MY, when the stocks were at their highest — about 25 million tons.

The estimate of the wheat harvest in 2023 remained unchanged at 17.9 million tons (20.2 million tons in 2022 and a record 33 million tons in 2021).

The barley harvest estimate also remained unchanged at 4.4 million tons (10.1 million tons in 2021 and 5.8 million tons in 2022).

Estimates for the corn harvest in the new season were slightly increased from 23.3 million tons to 24.2 million tons (2021: 37.6 million tons, 2022: 27.3 million tons).

The sunflower harvest in 2023 is expected to reach 12.7 mln tons (2021: 16.9 million tons, 2022: 11.1 million tons). The volume of sunflowerseeds processed into sunflower oil may reach 11.5 million tons.

The rapeseed harvest is preliminarily estimated at 3.8 million tons, and the soybean harvest at around 4.4 million tons.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, Ukraine's grain harvest in 2023 is expected to reach around 46 million tons, 5-7% down from the previous year.