Ukrainian agrarians in 2018 have sown 1709 thous. hectares of soybeans, that is 15% less than in the previous year. The largest reduction of sown areas were observed in the central and northern regions.

Soybean is an export-oriented crop, therefore the decrease in sown areas will lead to the reduction of export revenues by UAH 5,7 bln. In addition, soybeans enrich the soil with nitrogen, so the reduction in areas under this crop will force agrarians to incur additional costs of UAH 0,9 bln for soil fertilization and will adversely affect crop rotation.

«Soybean amendments» became the main reason for the significant reduction and canceled the VAT returns when exporting this crop. Recall that on December 21, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted amendments that temporarily exempt from VAT the export operations beyond the customs territory of Ukraine in the export mode: from September 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021 - soybeans, from January 1, 2020 to  December 31, 2021- rapeseed.

«The reduction of sown areas as a result will be reflected in the volumes of gross collection, processing and export. The producers’ struggle for transparent and fair rules of the game has now remained without a final result, as the President of Ukraine has not yet signed the bill №7403-d, which partially protects soybean producers from forecasted losses», - commented Petro Lakhay, analyst of agricultural markets of the Association «Ukrainian Agribusiness Club».

At the same time, UCAB on behalf of the member companies, called on the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to sign the bill №7403-d in the nearest future and remove the tensions in the sector. «We call to protect the economy of Ukraine from the underpayment of foreign exchange earnings from the export of soybean and products of its processing. This step will provide stable and transparent rules of the game for the Ukrainian farmer and will provide confidence in tomorrow», - says the appeal of the Association «Ukrainian Agribusiness Club».