Based on European experience, Ukrainian rich black soil is projected to increase in price tenfold, but not earlier than in decades, in the situation of economic growth, prudence in soil and the availability of affordable credit. The UAC Deputy Chairman Denys Marchuk announced this in a comment to the “Telegraph”.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, since the start of the land market until August 9 - 4,987 agreements on land sale (total amount of 9,670 hectares) have been concluded in Ukraine. The most ones - 1222 hectares were sold in Poltava region, 1095 hectares in Kharkiv region and 855 hectares in Kirovograd region.

4,532 notaries submitted applications for access to the State Land Cadastre. Slightly more than 5,000 applications were received, and almost 600 of them were denied.

The Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko said that the average cost of a hectare of Ukrainian rich black soil is almost UAH 40,000.

The UAC Deputy Chairman Denys Marchuk said that such statistics were not surprising and it fully confirmed the expectations of the law on the launch of the land market.

"As you know, until 2024, it is prohibited to carry out transactions for the purchase of agricultural land for legal entities. Only individuals and not more than 100 hectares. The UAC supports this version of the land market, as it will identify problems in launching the market - for example, imperfect access to the Land Cadastre (which is a huge problem for notaries) and solve them. It will also limit the concentration of land and abuse, which requires a transition period," the interlocutor said.

However, such restrictions will not give any fast increase of number of contracts or land prices. "With the launch of the land market, the price of agricultural land has stabilized at USD 1,500, which is a bit more than the nominative monetary valuation, and that is fine - during the transition period we will not have a lot of persons to invest in land. It is another matter that legal entities will be a part of the land market - in this case we should expect an increase of demand for land and its price," Denys Marchuk said.

According to the expert, Ukraine can follow the path of Lithuania, where in the decade since the opening of the land market, the price per hectare has increased tenfold – from 500 to 5,000 euros. "However, it will depend not only because of the land market conditions, but also including other factors - crops to be grown, soil condition, availability of loans for land purchase, general economic situation, and at last - desire of a landowner to sell it and what price he will post,” the UAC Deputy Chairman said.

In general, he predicts a slow and stable development of the land market until 2024, with a simultaneous increase in the cost of rent, which averaged about UAH 3,400 per hectare in 2020.