The national seed industry is increasing exports of grain and oilseeds using hybrid seeds of national and foreign selection produced in Ukraine. In 2023, its volume was 1.5 times higher than the previous year's figure of USD 77.2 mln. The volume of exports of seeds of grain and oilseeds amounted to USD 119.5 mln. USD. This was informed by the head of the investment and logistics department of the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics", Doctor of Economics Oleksandr Zakharchuk, UNN reports .
Details
According to him, corn traditionally dominates in the structure of Ukrainian exports of seeds of grains and oilseeds, accounting for 97.4% of the total.
At the same time, for the second military year in a row, the exports of hybrid corn seeds exceeded the imports, said Oleksandr Zakharchuk. In 2023, Ukraine exported 42.5 thsd tonnes of seeds of domestic and foreign selection, which is the highest result since Ukraine's independence. At the same time, supplies from abroad amounted to only 5.9 thou tons, i.e. 7.2 times less than the exported amount. This is the lowest level of imports of this type of agricultural product to Ukraine in the last 15 years.
The decrease in imports of foreign-bred seeds from abroad is due to the ability to produce conditioned hybrid seeds of foreign selection within our country, as well as due to the decrease in seed consumption associated with the reduction of commercial crops as a result of military operations, and the import of only parental and maternal lines of hybrids with further propagation in seed fields in Ukraine.
In 2023, the company sold USD 116.4 million worth of hybrid corn seeds of national and foreign breeding to foreign markets. USD.
At the same time, exports of hybrid corn seeds increased by more than 1.5 times in value. While in 2022, 32.2 thsd tonnes worth 77.6 mln USD were exported. In 2023, the exports amounted to 42.5 thsd tonnes worth 116.4 mln USD. The main importer of Ukrainian seed corn is France, which in 2023 purchased 11 thsd tonnes of this type of agricultural products with the customs value of 32 mln USD. USD.
AddendumAddendum
Ukraine also made significant deliveries of seed corn to other EU countries - Hungary - 9.1 thsd tonnes (USD 26.9 mln), Austria - 7.3 thsd tonnes (USD 19.9 mln), Romania - 6.7 thsd tonnes (USD 21.9 mln), and Moldova - 1.1 thsd tonnes (USD 1.7 mln).
Deliveries to the EU increased more than 30 times compared to pre-war 2021 and exceeded it by more than USD 110.0 million. In addition to corn, 136 tons of millet seeds, 210 tons of rye seeds, 331 tons of sunflower seeds, and 893 tons of soybeans were exported to foreign markets. These crops additionally brought the state about USD 3.1 million in revenue. The revenue from their sale was about USD 3.1 mln, which corresponds to the figure for 2022.
In 2023, exports increased due to additional opportunities for the development of domestic seed production during the war period. On the one hand, this is due to the loss of some of the logistics channels for the supply of seeds from abroad due to the large-scale invasion of our country by Russia, and on the other hand, to the increase in production at the own facilities of domestic seed plants, including large foreign companies in Ukraine. Also, of course, the recognition by the European Parliament in 2020 of the Ukrainian seed certification system as equivalent to EU requirements allowed Ukraine to increase exports of hybrid seeds of national and foreign selection produced in Ukraine for the third year in a row, primarily to the EU countries,