It is expected that this season in Ukraine will be distinguished by record soybean production. Our farmers, in line with their colleagues from the USA, Argentina and Brazil, bought seed material in the winter, and it was already clear then that this season would be soybean. Now we will monitor the influence of the weather factor. Natalya Levkonyuk, ASAP Agri trade consultant, attended the All-Ukrainian Field Day on 28 Jun, and talked about the soybean market in Ukraine, trends and expectations for the new season.

"A decrease in supplies is expected for all product groups, except for soybeans. For soybeans, the USDA predicts a record export of 3.5 MMT. UGA is even more optimistic with 4 MMT of export forecast! But a separate question is how to export these 3.5 MMT of soybeans? Because the global demand for it will increase by only 18 MMT, while the global production combined with initial stocks will increase by 36 MMT!" - noted N. Levkonyuk.

Regarding current challenges, there are still cases where exporters are unable to complete customs documents for soybeans. Therefore, at the beginning of the new season, Ukraine will have the second largest ending stocks of soybeans – 355 KMT.

"I should also remind you about the large financial losses of our exporters in October 2023, when the control over the preparation of customs documents was strengthened. Many Ukrainian soybean sellers defaulted on Turkish buyers and this worsened the image of Ukraine. The boats were idle for two weeks at a time, and this hit the pocket of the average Ukrainian trader very hard." - added N. Levkonyuk.