Ukraine's 2021-22 wheat exports rise 22% on year

Ukraine's wheat exports from July 1 -- the start of the marketing year 2021-22 -- through Nov. 22 were 21.7% higher on the year at 14 million mt, according to data released by the country's agricultural ministry Nov. 23.

Due to the sharp increase in exports and a promising export campaign anticipated in MY 2021-22, wheat export prices reached a record high of $339.25/mt Nov. 22.

Ukraine's wheat exports gathered pace over the last few weeks as Russia has been increasing the tax on wheat exports amid tightening supplies, traders said.

Export prices of Ukrainian wheat have risen nearly 9% over the past month.

S&P Global Platts assessed FOB Ukraine 11.5% protein wheat at $339.25/mt Nov. 22, up $1.25 from Nov. 19.

Traders, however, expect wheat export prices to rise further as Middle Eastern countries are moving away from Russia to purchase the food grain.

Platts Analytics projected Ukraine to export 22.5 million mt of wheat in MY 2021-22, while the US Department of Agriculture forecast the country's wheat exports at 24 million mt in its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates released Nov. 9.

In MY 2020-21, Ukraine had shipped 16.6 million mt of wheat. The government signed a pact with traders in October to limit wheat exports to 25.3 million mt in MY 2021-22.

Harvest progress

As of Nov. 18, farmers in Ukraine have harvested 32.3 million mt of wheat in MY 2021-22, according to the agriculture ministry. In MY 2020-21, Ukraine had produced 25.4 million mt of wheat, the ministry said.

The agriculture ministry expects Ukraine to produce 33 million mt in MY 2021-22.

Platts Analytics has projected Ukraine's wheat production at 31.2 million mt for the current July-June marketing year.

The USDA pegged Ukraine's wheat output for the year at 33 million mt, up from 25.4 million mt in MY 2020-21.

Farmers in Ukraine have planted winter wheat across 6.2 million hectares for MY 2022-23, accounting for 94% of the forecast area of 6.7 million hectares, according to data released by the agriculture ministry.

Wheat planting has been concluded in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Transcarpathian, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Sumy, Luhansk, Rivne, and Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy and Chernivsti provinces, the ministry said.

In Donetsk, Kyiv, Kirovograd, Mykolayivska, Kherson and Chernihiv provinces, sowing has nearly been completed, the data showed.