Marchuk: Ukrainian farmers may refuse to harvest corn due to unprofitability

19 August 20:07

YOUTUBE

Some Ukrainian farmers may deliberately choose not to harvest corn this season due to low purchase prices, export problems, and the excessively high cost of drying the crop. In November and December, Ukraine could harvest about 33 million metric tons of corn—but only if all farmers actually proceed with the harvest. Denis Marchuk, deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, stated this in an interview with "Komersant Ukrainian".

According to him, the problem lies not only in the lack of buyers for the finished product, but also in the fact that after harvesting, the corn must be dried and stored somewhere, which requires significant additional electricity costs.

“First, it can’t be sold; second, it has to be stored and dried—and that requires electricity. In other words, the costs of harvesting the corn will exceed the profits from it,” Markchuk explained.

According to the expert’s estimates, this season’s potential corn harvest amounts to about 33 million metric tons.

“Based on our estimates, it should be around 33 million metric tons. But that’s assuming everyone goes out to harvest it,” he noted.

Due to the obvious economic unprofitability, some producers may deliberately postpone harvesting the crop until spring, hoping for an improvement in market conditions.

“So it’s easier to let it sit, so to speak, until spring—by then, the market situation might be better when it’s time to harvest,” Marchuk said.

At the same time, this delaying strategy creates additional systemic risks for the entire agricultural sector: the long-term storage of unsold grain from previous harvests is already overburdening limited storage capacity, and the unresolved export issue leaves farmers without the working capital needed for the next planting season.

“If we’re talking about the entire harvest, the shortage of domestic storage capacity could reach, roughly speaking, between eight and eleven million metric tons—and this needs to be compensated for somehow,” the expert emphasized.