The average price per hectare of farmland has reached $1,490 (Hr 40,000) with 3,498 of land agreements having been concluded as of Aug. 3.
The total area of land covered by the committed land agreements amounts to 5,324 hectares. The total value of all agreements is Hr 210 million ($7.8 million).
According to the Agrarian Ministry, the largest amount of land was sold in Poltava Oblast – 739.6 hectares, followed by Kharkiv Oblast with a total of 592.6 hectares and Kirovohrad Oblast with 515.6. The least was sold in the Kyiv Oblast – 2.7 hectares.
Ukraine’s moratorium on the sale of agricultural land was finally lifted on July 1. Under the first phase of the market opening, one person or entity can acquire a maximum of 100 hectares. The amount will increase to 10,000 hectares in 2024. Foreigners and companies based abroad are banned from buying farmland in Ukraine.
Prior to the market opening, some 22 million hectares of the country’s 42 million were being used by agricultural firms. Over 5 million hectares were privatized by officials since 2001, Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko said in 2020.
However, Kyiv School of Economics assistant professor Oleg Nivievskyi told the Kyiv Post that the market is, in fact, languid:
“6,000 hectares per month means 72,000 hectares being sold and bought a year – that’s only 0.17% of Ukraine’s total area of arable land. Once everyone gets used to the format and more valuable land plots start entering the market, we should expect an increase of the average price,” Nivievskyi said.
“Its current set-up means that the market will be working under a relatively limited design until 2024. With nearly six thousand hectares registered under the land agreements concluded in the past month, we can easily say that it’s a very slow tempo,” he said.
According to First Deputy Justice Minister Yevheniy Horovets, more than 4,000 notaries now have access to the State Land Cadastre, signaling a gradual increase in trust in the market’s functionality.
