Ukrainian corn seed flows to Europe in further farm trade shift

Ukraine has rapidly expanded exports of corn seed to the EU in the past two years in rare good news for its war-hit agricultural sector but adding to European farmers’ grievances about what they say is unfair competition from Kyiv. It is ramping up shipments under free trade terms granted by the European Union following Russia’s invasion, partly reversing the bloc’s longstanding seed exports to Ukraine. That has injected some income into its farm industry which is struggling with losses from destruction of land and infrastructure in the war with Russia. Ukraine’s total seed exports, mostly for corn (maize), reached $121 million last year against a pre-war level of just $22 million in 2021, according to the Seed Association of Ukraine, an industry group. Its share of the EU corn seed market has gone from zero to around 10% share since 2021, French corn growers’ group AGPM estimates. Although seeds represented a fraction of an estimated $23 billion in Ukrainian agricultural exports ...