Explained | What makes Ukraine a ’breadbasket’ to many countries

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Ukraine is the fifth largest exporter of wheat in the world.

Other than concerns about oil and finance, Russia’s geopolitical actions in the Ukraine have unsettled the latter’s services as the ‘breadbasket’ to several countries. According to United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Ukraine is the fifth largest exporter of wheat in the world. It held a global market share of 10% between 2016-17 and 2020-21.

Additionally, the U.N. Comtrade data shows Ukraine’s total cereals export in 2020 was $9.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $9.2 billion in the segment. Its top countries of import in the cereal segment were China ($1.9 billion), Egypt ($1.1 billion), Indonesia ($546.7 million) and Spain ($543.2 million).  

The Ukranian Ministry of Agrarian Policy & Food’s latest data for the marketing year 2021-22 stated, as of Feb 23, 17.9 million tonnes of wheat, approx. 5.62 million tonnes of barley, and 18.9 million tonnes of maize was exported. 

The State Statistics Services of Ukraine (SSU) informs the country produced 32.7 million metric tons (MMT) of wheat, 9.6 MMT of barley, 39.8 MMT of maize, 616,120 MT of rye and almost 40 MMT of corn, as of Dec 31, 2021. Total area under harvest for wheat stood at 7.1 million hectares, barley at 2.5 million hectares, about 5 million hectares for maize, under 5 million for corn and 172,000 hectares for rye.  

The FAO forecasts that Ukraine would export 6 million tonnes of wheat and 16 million tonnes maize for the remainder of the 2021-22 season (March 1-June 30). FAO cautioned the estimates do not include the impact of the ongoing geopolitical tensions. It informed that Ukraine represented 9% of the global market share in the segment in 2021. Russia, on the other hand, is expected to export 8 million tonnes of wheat and 16 million tonnes of maize during the same period. 

30% grains from Ukraine are exported to countries in the European Union whereas half of the overall export volume reaches Asia and North Africa, the UN organisation had stated earlier.  

Amongst the largest importer of wheat globally, Egypt draws most of its supplies from Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Russia and Ukraine collectively cover approx. 70% of Egypt’s imported wheat demand.