Farmer Oleksandr Chumak, who has cultivated crops in the Odesa region for 11 years, said about 80% of his grain cannot currently be sold at a profit and he is out of cash. Andrii Dykun, chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council, echoed the sentiment: "For the farmers, it's very difficult because we need to pay taxes, we need to pay rent for land, and now we are not able to do this because we are not able to sell anything." Dykun noted that only rapeseed and sunflower seeds are currently saleable, but volumes are insufficient. "So why should we plant if today we have no profits at all?" he asked.
Storage facilities across Ukraine and Russia are overflowing. The Ukrainian harvest of grains and oilseeds is forecast to reach 85 million tonnes this year, up from 80 million tonnes, but carryover stocks from last season are straining warehouse capacity. Long plastic silobags and grain elevators are increasingly vulnerable to military strikes.
PrivatBank, Ukraine's largest lender, disbursed 1.53 billion hryvnia ($34.2 million) in working capital loans to agribusinesses between June and August, more than double the amount in the same period last year. Yevhen Zaihraiev, chief corporate and SME business officer at PrivatBank, said funds remain tied up in grain inventories while farms need to cover operating expenses and finance next season's sowing. Some producers are selling early at low prices to maintain liquidity; others are waiting for better prices.
Black Sea attacks continue into October, with fatal strikes on commercial shipping making insurance impossible. Turkey is ramping up ceasefire efforts, but prospects remain slim.