During the first year of the military conflict, the Ukrainian agricultural machinery market saw a significant contraction

The Ukrainian agricultural machinery market in 2022 saw significant contraction compared to 2021.

This information reported by the National Scientific Center “Institute of Agrarian Economics.”

“Before the onset of the war, Ukraine’s agricultural machinery market was saturated with a wide variety of equipment. However, Russia’s aggression has led to fundamental changes in the supply of agricultural machinery to support agricultural production. A significant portion of domestic manufacturing enterprises has been destroyed, remains in occupied territories, or is located in the conflict zone, which has significantly reduced the influx of agricultural machinery into the market,” explained Yaroslav Navrotskyi, Senior Researcher at the Department of Investment and Material and Technical Support of the National Scientific Center “Institute of Agrarian Economics.”

According to the report, in terms of quantity, machines and equipment for soil preparation or cultivation decreased by 35-40%, while in terms of value, the decrease was 50-55%. Machines for harvesting and threshing agricultural crops saw reductions of 30-35% and 40-45%, respectively, and tractors declined by 45-50% in quantity and 40-45% in value.

Negative trends in imports have also been observed, according to the scientists. Tractor imports in 2022 decreased by 45.5% (from 30,622 to 16,689 units) compared to 2021, grain combine harvesters decreased by 30.5% (from 3,029 to 2,104 units), seeding machinery decreased by 34.6% (from 6,825 to 4,465 units), disc harrows decreased by 45.7% (from 819 to 445 units), cultivators decreased by 39.0% (from 61,525 to 37,523 units), and trailed and mounted mowers decreased by 27.8% (from 8,571 to 6,185 units), among other reductions.

In terms of value, the reductions were as follows: tractors decreased by 42.7% (from $548.5 million to $314.4 million), grain combine harvesters decreased by 37.5% (from $283.8 million to $177.4 million), seeding and planting machinery decreased by 51.9% (from $165.7 million to $79.8 million), disc harrows decreased by 51.2% (from $30.7 million to $15.0 million), cultivators decreased by 44.8% (from $53.5 million to $29.5 million), and mowers decreased by 55.0% (from $8.6 million to $3.9 million).

Additionally, the Institute noted that the most significant decline occurred in the category of tractors with a power range of 37-75 kW, with reductions of 64.6% in quantity and 60.4% in value, as well as in the category of tractors with a power range of 75-130 kW, with reductions of 53.3% and 44.7%, respectively.

It’s worth noting that before the war, production of high-demand agricultural tractors with a power output exceeding 59 kW in Ukraine had been steadily decreasing and was nearing the point of extinction. Over the period from 2017 to 2020, it had decreased by almost fourfold, from 3,295 to 827 units. In contrast, the annual import of new agricultural tractors of similar power exceeded 5,000 units, indicating the dominant presence of foreign machinery in this market.