News From Agro-Industrial Complex

As of January 12, 2023, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on an area of 10.9 million hectares (94%) with a yield of 4.7 t/ha, 50.965 million tons of grain were threshed, including:

ccording to preliminary estimates of the Ministry of Economy, in accordance with the trade balance methodology, exports of goods to the EU countries in 2022 increased by 4.2% compared to 2021 and amounted to about USD 28 billion.  

In December 2022, consumer inflation remained at the level of the previous month - 0.7% per month. Annual inflation amounted to 26.6%. This figure was significantly lower than the figures predicted in the first half of the year. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine told what put pressure on prices and gave a forecast for the coming months.

On October 29, Russia announced it had quit the “grain deal” brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to allow Ukraine to export grain by the Black Sea. Moscow presented its move as a response to an alleged attack by Ukraine on the Russian fleet around Sevastopol city. Despite Russia’s warnings, a group of ships loaded with grain nonetheless exited through the safe corridor, exporting grain that had been loaded in Ukrainian ports. Shortly thereafter, Russia made a U-turn and announced it would return to the agreement after negotiations with Turkey. Moscow cited “written guarantees” from Ukraine that Kyiv would not use this corridor for military purposes or attacks against Russia.

This brief spat over the deal, which to that point had worked for all parties, left a mixed impression. On the one hand, Russia’s actions underscored that the agreement was vulnerable and weak, and made clear Moscow’s readiness to abandon it at any moment it saw fit. On the other hand, Turkey’s intervention, which secured the continuation of the deal and convinced the Kremlin to rejoin it, illustrated the significant influence Ankara wields in the Black Sea, both as a key interlocutor between parties and as a counteracting player to Russia.