Ukraine – Among World’s Top Potato Producers

Kyiv, August 8, 2012. Ukraine plans to crop approximately 23 million tons of potatoes in 2012, said the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Olexander Sen. This result will put Ukraine in competition with the world’s third largest potato producer – Russia. According to the latest FAOSTAT data, now Ukraine occupies the fourth position among the world’s major potato growers with over 18 million tons of spud produced in 2010.

China is the global leader in potato production with almost 75 million tons in 2010. India is the second largest spud producer – over 36 million tons in 2010. The third place in spud production is currently taken by Russia with more than 21 million tons, whereas Ukraine and the USA occupy the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

The 2012 spud production in Ukraine is expected to reach 23 million tons given the fact that potatoes were planted at over 1.4 million hectares and the current weather conditions in the country can be qualified as satisfactory for potato production. Olexander Sen also noted that Ukrainians consume a third of potatoes the country produces annually. Interestingly, 97 percent of potato production is provided by private households, which consequently sell potatoes to distributors.

Ukraine also focuses on production of other food commodities, including grain. The country will be able to export 20-21 million tons of grain this marketing year, said the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Prysyazhnyuk on July 30^th, 2012.

In 2011, Ukraine joined the world’s top three grain exporters. A year prior – in 2010 – it landed fourth on the list of the leading grain exporters, following the USA, the EU, and Canada. Moreover, Ukraine currently ranks number one in global barley exports. Additionally, the country became the third largest corn supplier in the world in 2011, surpassing Brazil and being the second runner-up to the USA and Argentina.

Notably, in 2011 Ukraine became world’s largest sunflower exporter, according to Erste Bank. Currently, the country is the fifth largest walnut producer in the world (FAOSTAT report data).

Ukraine possesses 30 percent of world’s black soil – the most favorable soil for agriculture. This allows for a certain commercial advantage. Accordingly, agricultural exports brought ten billion dollars to the Ukrainian budget in 2011.