PHOTO: AMBAR EXPORT
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Most of Ukraine’s food industry capaci- ties are being destroyed.
the market, Silchenko said, admitting that a slump in demand currently looks like a big challenge. “I can’t estimate the proportion of working farms. You can un- derstand the scale of the catastrophe when 10% of the popu- lation left the country, a lot of people remained in occupied territory, consumer demand fell due to job losses and due to the uncertainty, so many farms, although they did not sus- pend operations, have significantly reduced production vol- umes,” Silchenko said. Ukrainian feed businesses are grateful to the EU for supporting the country during these terrible times. Silchenko said that the best way Europe can help is by continuing to purchase Ukraine goods and assisting in un- blocking Ukrainian seaports. “I think that for now, the indus- try will remain in waiting mode, looking forward to what’s going on at the frontline, which means there will not be major developments for the time being,” Silchenko said.
The sowing campaign is in jeopardy Huge concerns are also associated with the future of the Ukraine grain industry. Ukraine is the breadbasket of the world. In a normal year, it grows enough food (mostly wheat, maize, and cooking oil) to feed 400 million people. Nine- tenths of that is shipped through the Black Sea. This year nothing is moving by sea, and not much by land, though some efforts have been made to export grain by train. The looming food crisis partly caused by the lack of Ukrainian grain can directly affect 1.7 billion people in more than 100 countries, according to the United Nations. Of these 43 million are on the brink of famine, and 570,000 are facing starvation. Ukrainians are doing everything in their power to prevent this from happening. “Now in Ukraine, the spring seeding campaign is ending on the territory comprising about 75% of the area sown in 2021,”
34 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 30, No. 5, 2022
Lytvyn said, admitting that the sowing campaign cannot be carried out in much of Ukrainian territory, particularly in areas that are under occupation by Russian troops. “In addition, in part of the territory of the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions [we] did not have time to put in order some of the fields due to significant contamination with mines, as well as significant destruction of the material and technical base. It is too early to talk about the expected yield, but farm- ers are making every effort to carry out all the necessary tech- nological processes. We also hope the weather will be on our side. At least the winter crops overwintered well,” Lytvyn said. Although Ukraine managed to redirect some shipments to be taken out of the country by train, the available capacities are clearly insufficient. “Fortunately, damage to the transport infrastructure has not yet significantly hampered export shipments, since Ukraine has an extensive network of rail- ways. However, the lack of capacity of alternative export channels is a matter of greater concern,” Lytvyn said. Before February 24, Ukraine exported 5-5.5 million tonnes of grain and 500,000-600,000 tonnes of vegetable oils through seaports. On the other hand, the maximum capacity of alter- native routes is 1-1.5 million tonnes of grain per month. Ukraine farmers are doing their best to ensure that the 2022 harvest is not a complete disaster, but there is no under- standing of how to export new grain, as by autumn the country is unlikely to get rid of even half of the current reserves. “Taking into account that the current reserves of maize in- tended for export (about 12 million tonnes) and soon a new harvest is expected, it is clear that the alternative options are inadequate. In terms of infrastructure, the situation is more complicated, with storage facilities (silos) which may now be in short supply when new crops arrive,” Lytvyn said.
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