Crisis in the Corn Market in Ukraine: Excess Moist Grain and Overloaded Dryers

The situation in Ukraine’s corn market is worsening due to a significant surplus of moist grain and overloaded drying capacities. This trend creates serious difficulties for farmers, especially for those who do not have their own drying facilities.

This is reported by AgroReview

Grain Moisture and Limited Drying Capabilities

According to Vitaliy Rachun, the CEO of Brooklyn-Trading, the current season for corn producers has turned into a real “roulette”. The market is experiencing an oversaturation of offers for moist grain, and a large portion of the harvest still remains in the fields. Due to the overload of dryers, farmers without their own drying complexes find themselves in a difficult situation — they simply have nowhere to put the moist corn. It is expected that frosts may partially help resolve this issue.

“After the situations in the corn and barley markets in August-September, we decided not to play long anymore. Last summer, we couldn’t even harvest 500 tons of corn — that was a signal,” says Rachun.

Impact of Prices and Competition in the Market

Rachun notes that prices for dry corn remain unjustifiably high due to limited supply. At the same time, large batches of corn available on the market have increased moisture — sometimes reaching 25%. Such grain requires step-by-step processing to prevent overheating and quality loss, which further increases production costs for producers.

Another challenge for Ukrainian farmers is the growing competition in traditional sales markets. This is due to record corn harvests in North America and a decrease in demand in Asian markets, creating additional pressure on prices and export opportunities for Ukrainian producers.