Is Ukraine facing a buckwheat shortage? An expert’s forecast
18 March 20:05
There is enough buckwheat to meet domestic demand in Ukraine. There is more than enough of it. There will be no shortage of this grain. Economist Oleg Pendzin stated this in an exclusive comment to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the expert, last year’s gross buckwheat harvest amounted to 70,800 tons. In 2024, the harvest was 127,000 tons. Although the harvest has significantly decreased, this will not create any shortage.
“Let’s figure out how much buckwheat we eat. Currently, the average Ukrainian consumes 3 kg of buckwheat per year. There are approximately 27 million of us right now. Take 27 million, multiply by 0.003, and we get that we need 81,000 tons of buckwheat per year. How much did we harvest in 2024? 127,000 tons minus 81,000 tons. That means we had 46,000 tons of carryover stock,” explains Pendzin.
The expert says Ukraine did not export buckwheat. Because, according to him, this grain is not a popular product.
“Because buckwheat is eaten only by Ukrainians, Belarusians… meaning we have 146,000 tons of carryover stocks left. Plus the 70,000 tons we’ve hypothetically harvested this year. That gives us 116,000 tons. How much do we need? 81,000 tons. What kind of shortage are we talking about? So, will this buckwheat be enough to meet domestic needs? More than enough,” says Pendzin.
In addition, Oleg Pendzin notes that there are also carryover stocks. And typically, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy prepares balance sheets that account for them.
“The Ministry has always accounted for roughly—note, roughly—about three months’ worth of carryover stocks. So, roughly speaking, there are about 20–25 thousand tons of carryover stocks in any case. We currently have 40,000 tons of carryover stock. Why is this important? Let me explain. I’m hearing a lot of people shouting that we’ll have a buckwheat shortage and we’ll have to import from Kazakhstan, and that this will supposedly be Russian buckwheat. Where did you see a shortage? They’re hyping it up to the max,” says the expert.
As for the price, it has started to rise. According to the Ministry of Finance website, the average price of buckwheat is currently 54.07 UAH per kg. The cheapest buckwheat can be bought at Auchan (46.90 UAH per kg), and the most expensive at Megamarket (67.50 UAH per kg). At Metro, a kilogram costs 50.90 UAH, and the price is the same at Novus. Oleg Pendzin explains that the price has risen not due to a shortage, but for other reasons
“When you go to the store, you don’t buy buckwheat in a bag, do you? You buy it pre-packaged. And the price of buckwheat isn’t rising because there’s a shortage right now. It’s because—please excuse me—packaging is expensive. Because of rising electricity prices. Because of blackouts. In other words, if there were the shortage that the buckwheat sellers are telling us about, the price would already be close to 90,” says Pendzin.
As a reminder, the rise in buckwheat prices since the beginning of the year has been attributed , particularly by the Institute of Agricultural Economics, to a shortage caused by a sharp reduction in cultivated areas. The average consumer price of buckwheat in December 2025 was 44.88 UAH/kg. The price increase compared to December 2024 was 27.5%; at that time, buckwheat cost 35.19 UAH/kg. According to statistics, buckwheat has been getting more expensive every month since April 2024, when the price was around 26.36 UAH/kg.
