Comparison of Ukrainian and EU production of selected agricultural products

Agriculture is the third largest contributor to Ukraine’s economy, after services and industry. In 2021, agriculture represented 10.9 % of Ukraine’s GDP and employed 2.5 million people, around 14 % of the total. By comparison, the agricultural sector contributes 1.4 % of GDP and 4.2 % of employment in the EU, although the actual share varies considerably across Member States.
Regarding agricultural output, cereals and industrial crops intended for export dominate Ukrainian production. In 2021, 56 % of Ukraine’s sown area was devoted to growing cereals (mostly wheat and maize, and to a lesser extent, barley), while an additional 32.3 % produced industrial crops (primarily sunflower, followed by rapeseed and soybeans). Other noteworthy crops include potatoes and animal fodder, especially in western Ukraine, with less suitable conditions for grains and oilseeds. The 2021 cereal harvest in Ukraine yielded 32 million tonnes of wheat, 42 million tonnes of maize, and 9.4 million tonnes of barley. Comparing the production of the three main crops between Ukraine and the EU, Member States’ combined production in 2021 totalled 130 million tonnes of wheat, 73.5 million tonnes of maize, and 10.3 million tonnes of sunflower. The production of industrial crops in Ukraine was 16.4 million tonnes of sunflower, 10.8 million tonnes of factory sugar beet, 3.5 million tonnes of soya, and 2.9 million tonnes of rapeseed.
Ukraine’s livestock sector has also experienced an intense transformation in the last two decades, marked by a steep increase in poultry production. While in 2000 pork, beef and veal represented 86 % of Ukraine’s meat production, against only 11.6 % for poultry, by 2022 the share of pork, beef and veal had decreased to 42 %, while poultry had climbed to 56.8 % of the total. Nevertheless, compared with the EU, Ukraine’s livestock sector is relatively small. In 2021, Ukraine’s herd consisted of 1.5 million cows, 5.6 million pigs and 202 million heads of poultry, while the EU had 76 million bovine heads, 142 million pigs and 1.63 billion poultry birds. In total, Ukraine’s animal output amounted in 2021 to 310 000 tonnes of beef and veal, 724 000 tonnes of pig meat, 1.37 million tonnes of poultry meat, 7.7 million tonnes of cow milk, and 14 billion eggs. In comparison, the 2021 EU’s livestock production was 6.8 million tonnes of bovine meat, 23.4 million tonnes of pig meat, 13.3 million tonnes of poultry meat, 155.2 million tonnes of cow milk, and 96 billion eggs.