The heyday of national seed production: Ukraine increases exports of grain and oilseeds

Ukraine continues to expand its grain and oilseeds industry. In the first 7 months of 2023, the volume of seed exports in this area doubled compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching $69 million from $34.7 million.

According to Oleksandr Zakharchuk, Head of the Investment and Logistics Department at the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics", seed production is focused mainly on corn exports, which account for 98% of the total seed export structure.

Interestingly, for the second year in a row, exports of hybrid corn have exceeded imports of this crop. During the period from January to July 2023, 24.4 thou tons of hybrid corn seeds were exported from Ukraine, while imports amounted to only 4.1 thou tons, which is almost 6 times less.

In just the first 7 months of 2023, the export of hybrid corn seeds almost doubled. If the known data for the previous year indicate the export of 14.6 thousand tons worth $33.5 million, this year it is already 24.4 thousand tons worth $67.4 million.

Hungary became the main importer of Ukrainian seed corn in the period from January to July 2023, having purchased 6715 tons of the crop. Also, significant volumes were delivered to other EU countries, including France (4766 tons), Austria (3823 tons), Romania (3659 tons), as well as to Egypt (1513 tons) and Moldova (995 tons).

In the period January-July 2023, 131 tons of rye seeds, 115 tons of sunflower seeds, 20 tons of soybeans, and 16 tons of flax were also exported to foreign markets. These volumes additionally bring the state about USD 1.5 million in revenue from their sale.

The success of the Ukrainian seed industry is due to both the loss of logistics channels for seed supplies from abroad due to military events and the increase in production at domestic seed plants' own facilities. An important component of the success was also the recognition of the Ukrainian seed certification system as equivalent to the requirements of the European Union, which contributed to the increase in seed exports to the EU.