Ukrainian ports on the Danube today trade mainly in soybeans, the most marginal crop. Despite the steady decline in prices from exporters and local processors, soybeans are profitable for the trade and farmers.

This was discussed on September 19 during a weekly briefing organized by the analytical center of the agricultural cooperative PUSK, created within the UAC.

"Soybeans are being actively contracted for October. There is a huge difference between the prices of Ukrainian soybeans and beans originating from Argentina, the US and Brazil: domestic soybeans are cheaper by 80-100 USD/t. Exporters, including Turkish and Egyptian ones, take advantage of this. However, Ukrainian traders are ready to continue to fix lower prices, i.e., they are "collapsing" the market. For traders, this is a supermarket culture, on which they are making money today," said the analytical department of PUSK. 

But even at low prices, soybeans bring profit to producers through any sales channels: sales to local processing plants, exports to the EU, and deliveries to small ports. 

According to analysts, soybean prices will continue to decline.

"In the next two weeks, the purchase prices of processing plants may fall to the range of 12,500-13,000 UAH/t, and at the Danube ports - to the conditional level of 340 USD/t. At the same time, the supply of soybeans will not decrease," PUSK cooperative added.