overview
Ukraine is situated in Eastern Europe, southeast of Russia and southwest
of Poland (see Map). Ukraine boasts
one-third of the world's total acreage of "black soil,"
the richest in the world, which explains why agriculture has always
been significant for the country's economy. Ukraine's key crops are
wheat, barley, sugar beets, and sunflower seed. The main livestock
products are milk and meat, especially beef and pork. Before the breakup
of the Soviet Union, Ukraine accounted for about 25 percent of the
USSR's total agricultural output, and exported grain and meat to other
Soviet republics. Russia remains Ukraine's major trading partner.
More overview...
contents
feature
Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency
in Russia and Ukraine: Building on a Decade of Reform reviews
the evidence on the productivity of agricultural production and
explores some of the causes of inefficient practices. Implementing
institutional reforms would allow productivity and efficiency in
the agricultural sector to improve. Consequently, completing the
reform program could allow Russia and Ukraine to emerge as significant
grain exporters in the future.
recommended readings
International
Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns analyzes expenditures
across 114 countries on major consumption categories, including
food and different food subcategories. Results indicate poorer countries
are more responsive to price and income changes and also allocate
larger shares of their total budget to necessities such as food.
Changes in Agricultural Markets
in Transition Economies concludes that declines in output have
been an inevitable part of market reform and that the main goal
of agricultural policy in the transition economies should not be
to return output to pre-reform levels but to increase the productivity
of input use.
Livestock Sectors in the Economies
of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Transition from Plan
to Market and the Road Ahead focuses on the livestock sectors
of Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Russia, along
with Ukraine, has been one of the less successful reformers in the
region. The report examines how incomplete farm-level and institutional
reforms continue to prevent Russia's livestock sector from reaching
its potential.
Could the NIS
Region Become a Major Grain Exporter? indicates that production
costs in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union,
relative to other producing countries, do not currently support
large NIS grain imports or exports. Expected productivity growth
in NIS grain production over the next decade, however, could result
in the region becoming a medium-level grain exporter.
International
Agriculture and Trade Reports: Transition economies contains
discussions of three issues relevant to transition of the former
Soviet block countries from centrally planned to market economies:
restructuring the livestock sector, long-term forecasts of Russian
and Ukrainian agricultural production and trade; and the efficiency
of Russian agriculture during the reform period. Report also contains:
"Ukrainian Land Reform and Farm Privatization: Still a Long
Road Ahead."
International
Agriculture and Trade Reports: Newly Independent States and Baltics
tracks changes in import and export patterns in the post-Soviet
area.
recommended data products
Key statistics contains data
on population, gross domestic product (GDP), employment, consumer
price index (CPI), exchange rate, trade, principal crops, and livestock.
Production, Supply, and
Distribution (PS&D) contains official USDA data on production,
supply, and distribution of agricultural commodities for the United
States and major importing and exporting countries. The database
provides projections for the coming year and historical data for
more than 200 countries and major crop, livestock, fishery, and
forest products.
Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United
States (FATUS) provides U.S. agricultural exports and imports,
volume and value, by country, by commodity, and by calendar year,
fiscal year, and month, for varying periods, such as 1935 to the
present or 1989 to the present. Updated monthly or annually.
WTO Agricultural Trade
Policy Commitments Database contains data on implementation
of trade policy commitments by WTO member countries. Data on domestic
support, export subsidies, and tariffs are organized for comparison
across countries. This queriable database offers various options
for viewing and downloading data.
Agricultural Market Access Database
(AMAD) is a publicly available information tool for analyzing WTO
market access issues in agriculture. It contains data and information
for WTO member countries, including tariff schedules, tariff bindings,
applied tariff rates, country notifications to the WTO, import quantities,
and other data useful in tariff analysis.
Agricultural
Statistics for the Former Soviet Republics and the Baltic States
covers land use, farm structure, population, labor force, agricultural
inputs, grains, livestock sector, and food consumption. Soviet data
generally include 1960-90; data for republics cover 1980-95.
See all recommended data products...
related briefing rooms
Agricultural baseline projections
World Trade Organization (WTO)
Russia
Poland
Hungary
related links
Websites of other USDA agencies, other Government agencies, and
international organizations with information about Ukraine.
See all related links...
for more information, contact:
William Liefert
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: October 17,
2003
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