Ukraine spring crop sowing nearly complete

: Agriculture
25/05/23

Ukrainian farmers had sown 5.32mn hectares (ha) of spring grains and pulses by 22 May, covering 94pc of the total national projected area of 5.68mn ha. Meanwhile, oilseed crop planting was completed on 6.38mn ha, representing 85pc of the projected area of 7.47mn ha.

Grains

Ukrainian farmers sowed about 258,000ha of corn in the week to 22 May, bringing overall planted areas for 2025-26 to 3.76mn ha, or about 93pc of the total national projected area of 4.02mn ha, agriculture ministry data show see data and charts.

At the same time, this was slightly below last year's 3.81mn ha sown by 23 May 2024. The planting campaign has already reached projected figures in most of main producing regions, but there is some delay between planting progress reports and the situation in the fields.

The ministry continued to report spring wheat and spring barley sowing progress in the week ending on 22 May, but planting of early spring crops is likely to have finished in the fields, market participants said. Ukrainian farmers sowed only 500ha with spring barley in the past week, down from 9,700ha the previous week, with overall spring barley planted areas at 743,600ha, or 96pc of the 776,100ha projected for 2025-26. About 782,200ha were planted at the same time last year.

Spring wheat planted areas rose by only about 100ha in the week to 22 May to 215,300ha, or about 95pc of the national projected area of 227,500ha. This was below the 252,500ha planted at the same time last year.

Oilseeds

Ukraine's farmers kept a mixed pace of oilseed planting in the week to 22 May, with soybean areas surpassing those of a year ago, while sunflower seed (SFS) areas lag behind.

Ukrainian farmers sowed 431,100ha with SFS in the reporting week, slightly above the 411,200ha sown in the previous seven days. Overall SFS area planted by 22 May reached 4.35mn ha, or about 86pc of the projected area for 2025-26 of 5.06mn ha. This was below the 4.96mn ha planted at the same time last year.

As for soybeans, Ukrainian farmers sowed 292,800ha of the crop in the week to 22 May, bringing overall planted areas to 2.03mn ha for 2025-26, or about 84pc of the total projected area of 2.41mn ha, compared with 2.64mn ha a year earlier. This was above the 1.83mn ha planted at the same time a year earlier.

By Alexey Yeromin

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EPA proposes record US biofuel mandates, foreign limits

25/06/13

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New York, 13 June (Argus) — President Donald Trump's administration today proposed requiring record biofuel blending into the US fuel supply over the next two years, including unexpectedly strong quotas for biomass-based diesel. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal, which still must be finalized, projects that oil refiners will need to blend 5.61bn USG of biomass-based diesel to comply with requirements in 2026 and 5.86bn USG in 2027. That's a 67pc increase in 2026 and a 75pc increase in 2027 from this year's 3.35bn USG requirement, above what most industry groups had sought. The proposal alone is likely to boost biofuel production, which has been down to start the year as biorefineries have struggled to grapple with uncertainty about future blend mandates, the halting rollout of a new clean fuel tax credit, and higher import tariffs. 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