Analysis of the grain market in Ukraine in the context of land reform

Abstract

Introduction. The aim of this research is to identify the main disproportions in the development of the grain market in Ukraine in the implementation of land reform. Materials and methods. The Ukrainian grain market is researched in the context of land reform. The compliance of the implemented transformations with the international dimensions and the concept of market regulation is monitored. A logical-Abstract method was used to group national and international analytical results. Results and discussion. In 2018, the production of grain crops in Ukraine was the highest within the period from 1991 to 2018. In general, the positive dynamics of growth in grain crop production is observed since 2003. The growth of grain crops production was achieved by increasing the crop production area and increased yields. The main cereals are wheat, corn, sunflower, barley, soybeans and rapeseed. The profitability of wheat in Ukraine corresponds to the level of major producer countries, and averages 26.8% Sunflower production volumes during the period from 2011 to 2019 demonstrate positive dynamics of growth. The highest yield was in 2016, 2018 and in 2019. The highest indicators of soybean production were recorded in 2016 and 2018, which is associated with significant yields. Since 2016, there has been a gradual positive dynamics of rapeseed production. According to the national balance of supply and demand for grains and legumes, it should be noted that Ukraine consumes not more than 30 40 centners of grain crops and oilseeds out of 92 million tons of harvested products. Therefore, further increasing of production is only possible by means of increasing exports of Ukrainian grain to the world market that, in spite of tough requirements applied by it to quality and safety of Ukrainian grain, is characterized by a rapidly growing demand. The volume of foreign currency earnings from exports of grain crops by Ukraine within the period from 2011to 2019 has a positive upward trend, except for 2013 and 2015 There are 32,214 economic entities in the field of grain growing, of which 71.3% are farms. At the same time, their share in the areas from which the harvest is harvested is only 15.8%, which indicates a low level of land concentration in farms. The main risks of opening the land market for legal entities is massive buying of land by large agricultural holdings and fall of investment attractiveness of Ukraine. Financial risks will increase for small farmers due to the lack of the credit history and unavailability of financial instruments for the purchase of land. Conclusions. The introduction of the land market requires the improvement of state regulation and mechanisms for the support of production, strengthening of exports capacity, formation of the adequate infrastructure of the grain market, etc.