The land market is being reformatted: the number of large landowners among companies has decreased by a third
2 February 10:47
The number of large landowners among companies has decreased by a third since the opening of the land market in Ukraine. Ninety-one companies have reduced their land banks to less than 100 hectares in two years. Ten landowner companies account for 31% of all land plots owned by businesses.
This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to data from ” OpenDataBot.”
It is noted that currently 192 companies own land banks of more than 100 hectares. For comparison, at the time of the opening of the land market in 2024, there were 283 such companies.
“The list of large landowners decreased by 51 companies during 2024, and last year by another 40 companies,” analysts say.
Almost a third of all land plots in the country belong to 10 companies
According to OpenDataBot, almost a third of Ukrainian land owned by businesses is owned by only 10 companies. Collectively, these ten companies own 18,344.98 hectares. However, even among the leaders, there is a large gap: the largest landowner, the agricultural company Svitanok, owns 10 times more land than Kuyalnik, which ranks tenth.
The Svitanok agricultural company currently unites several settlements in the Kyiv region. According to the YouControl analytical system, the founder and beneficiary of the company is Tetiana Zasukha.
The leader in terms of land bank reduction was Zemletrade: from 3,161.47 hectares to 733.57 hectares, i.e., almost four times. The company Agroforest reduced its area by 8.6 times — from 1,803.09 hectares to 210.44 hectares. At the same time, 103 companies did not change the area of their land holdings at all.
Geography and scope of activity of the largest landowners
Analysts note that 38 companies from the list of large landowners are registered in the Kyiv region. Another 28 companies are registered in the Kirovohrad region, and the same number are registered directly in Kyiv. At the same time, there are no large landowners among companies in the Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, and Chernivtsi regions.
OpenDataBot emphasizes that some of the companies on the list of the largest landowners are registered in areas affected by the war. Thus, 16 companies are registered in temporarily occupied territories. Four companies are registered in areas of active combat operations, where state electronic information resources continue to function. And 14 companies are located in areas of possible combat operations.
Sixty-seven percent of large landowners work in agriculture—129 companies. Another 33 companies, or 17%, are involved in real estate transactions. Eleven companies work in public administration and defense, four in wholesale trade, and three in the financial sector.
Why companies sell land instead of buying it
As noted by Denys Marchuk, deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, in conditions of uncertainty, infrastructure destruction, the complexity of demining territories, and logistics problems, large companies are in no hurry to increase their land bank, which explains the reduction in the number of large landowners.
“For big business, buying land is an investment for decades and billions of dollars. In the current conditions of war, these funds are more often directed towards supporting working capital, covering logistics and export risks, and restoring damaged infrastructure (elevators, warehouses, equipment, etc.). Currently, businesses are choosing a model of mobility — leasing instead of ownership. This allows them to respond more quickly to risks and change regions of presence. Land is mainly purchased by players who have clear long-term plans and choose regions with lower risks, which explains the significant difference in prices between western and southern Ukraine,” the expert emphasizes.
