Tendencies of grain production and processing in the regions of Ukraine

Abstract

The volumes and changes in grain production in the regions of Ukraine are analyzed. The grain production volumes are revealed to have increased by 11.11% in 2013-2018. Poltava, Vinnytsia and Chernihiv regions were the leaders among the regions, where they produced about 24.5% of the total grain in Ukraine. The paper determines that high levels of grain production have led to an oversaturation of the domestic market and increased exports of this product. At the same time, the volumes and growth rates of wheat or wheat-rye flour, which is the basis of deep processing, decreased. The production of this grain processing product is concentrated in Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytsky regions. In total, more than 50% of flour from the total production in Ukraine were produced in these regions in 2018. According to trends in grain production and its processing, regions of Ukraine are grouped into: regions with high levels of grain production and processing (Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Khmelnytsky); regions with high levels of grain production and low volumes of its processing (Poltava, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Sumy, Odesa, Kirovohrad oblasts); regions with a tendency to increase the volumes of grain processing (Zhytomyr, Lviv and Volyn oblasts); regions that increase grain production, but the volume of its processing decreases (Ternopil, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk and Mykolaiv); regions with a tendency to decrease the volume of grain production and processing (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zakarpattya and Chernivtsi regions. The ways of further development of these regions in terms of grain production and processing are suggested. The following measures will contribute to consolidation of positive trends in grain production: updating of technological support of grain production in order to reduce its cost and increase the opportunities for creating an ecological product that will be competitive in the world market; increase of elevator capacity, which will prevent the risk of losses due to poor storage of products.