Harvesting in Ukraine will continue even in January: 4 million tons of corn are still in the fields

As of December 25, Ukraine harvested about 87% of the corn area, with a gross harvest of 27.5 million tons and an average yield of 7.13 t/ha. But at the same time, 4 to 4.5 million tons of corn remained in the fields, according to evaluation of the brokerage company Spike Brokers.

According to her estimates, this creates a basic potential for additional shaft capacity of more than 4.0 million tons.

"The key unharvested areas are not concentrated in average regions, but in regions with significantly higher than average yields. The largest residues are recorded in Sumy region (~93 000 ha; ~8.0 t/ha), Zhytomyr region (~56 000 ha; ~7.7 t/ha), Chernihiv region (~49 000 ha; ~8.8 t/ha), Kyiv region (~29 000 ha; ~9.2 t/ha) and Cherkasy region (~29 000 ha; ~7.0 t/ha)," the report says.

"According to the harvesting potential assessment, taking into account the actual yields of these regions, the total additional shaft in the key regions alone may exceed 2.3 mln tons. Taking into account the rest of the regions, the final harvest potential may exceed the baseline estimate and approach 4.3-4.5 mln tons," Spike Brokers said.

Exports of these volumes are hampered by Russian attacks on seaports.

If the prices for exports through ports drop by another $5, the western border will once again become a competitive alternative for the central regions of Ukraine.

Deals for March-May deliveries through Chop are being made at 180 euros/ton, while the spot index for ports has fallen to $204.

• on December 26, the Ministry of Economy reported that Ukraine harvested 57.6 million tons of grain and 17.3 mln tons of oilseeds. After the corn harvest is completed, the total grain production is expected to reach about 60 million tons.