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Ukrainian ag ministry relies on rapeseed: Ukraine: rapeseed production outlooks
(c) 2006 UkrAgroConsult. All Rights Reserved.
The Agrarian Policy Ministry drew up a Program of buiofuel production development till 2010. It is stipulated to expand the seeded area under rapeseed (used for making biofuel) to 10% of Ukraine’s total seeded acreage by 2010.
Rapeseed area gains
Year areas (Ml ha) crop (KMT)
2007 1.2 2170
2008 1.8 3600
2009 2.6 6600
2010 3.0 7500
According to the Program, the biofuel share in the total diesel fuel amount used in the country must reach 33% in 3-4 years. For this purpose, it is planned to construct three biodiesel plants by 2008 and a further 20 by 2010, with their total capacity coming to at least 623KMT a year.
By the way, if the above-mentioned areas are intended for biodiesel rapeseed only, does the overall rapeseed area have to become even larger? Is this roughly 3.5-4.0Ml ha with exports of both rapeseed and rapeoil taken into account?
The Ministry’s plans are extremely ambitious. Taking into consideration biodiesel taxation problems and its current annual output of 400MT a year, their being realistic is rather doubtful.
UkrAgroConsult specialists believe that the following forecasts are more reliable. Rapseed planted areas may total 1.2Ml ha by 2010 with the crop at 1.8-2.1MMT.
The use of biodiesel can also be increased. However, should this process be turned into an end in itself? Anyway, the consumer will obtain fuel (either from petroleum or from oilseed) for much higher prices than today, not to mention prices seen 2-3 years ago. It should be taken into account that the switching to biofuel also requires some considerable costs.
Date: 15.06.2006
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