The profit of Ukrainian farmers from the harvest of the first year of the war with Russia was only a quarter of what was predicted

The Ukrainian agro-industrial complex received three quarters less profit from the harvest harvested in 2022. EBITDA for the 2022 major crops is now known to be $47 per hectare as of December 2023. At the same time, in February 2023, the corresponding indicator was forecast at the level of USD 206. The actual result was 77.18% lower.

As noted in a number of analytical reports, due to logistical difficulties, companies were forced to sell the grain of the 2022 crop throughout 2023. Because of this, the actual rate of return on working capital from grain cultivation was only 4%. At the same time, the forecast value for the beginning of 2023 was 19%.

In addition, some crops harvested in 2022 turned out to be unprofitable due to low prices and increased logistics costs. In particular, corn and winter wheat turned out to be such. Farmers lost USD 227 per hectare of corn, and the loss per hectare of winter wheat reached USD 19. However, oil crops remained profitable. It was recorded that the EBITDA of winter rape amounted to $676, soybean $225, sunflower $175. At the same time, in 2023, the prices of some products decreased: corn — by 19%, sunflower — by 11%, rapeseed and soybeans — by 2% and 1%, respectively.

It is worth adding that since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, every third agricultural enterprise has closed.