In 2022, the market of agricultural machinery in Ukraine experienced a significant decline due to the aggression of the Russian Federation, which began on February 24, 2022 and captured part of the country's territory.

This was reported by the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics".

According to the center, the volume of imports and production of machinery and equipment for tillage, sowing, harvesting and processing of crops, as well as agricultural tractors, decreased the most. This is due to a drop in demand for agricultural machinery as a result of the loss of some markets, lower prices for export products, higher energy prices, and inflationary processes that have worsened the efficiency of agricultural production. In addition, many agricultural machinery manufacturers have been destroyed, ended up in the occupied territories or in the frontline areas, which has led to a decrease in the supply of Ukrainian agricultural machinery to the market.

According to Yaroslav Navrotskyi, Senior Researcher at the Investment and Logistics Department of the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics", before the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian agricultural machinery market had a wide range of domestic and foreign-made machinery that met the needs of buyers, taking into account the technology and financial condition of farms. The most popular types of agricultural machinery included the following:

- tillage equipment for planning, cultivation, harrowing, plowing, etc. This type also included machines for fertilizing, herbicide treatments, and weeding. Among the most desirable brands were: John Deere, Case IH, Kverneland, Lemken, Horsch, etc. Among the specific models, we could single out: John Deere 8370R, Case IH Magnum 380 CVX, Kverneland EG 100, Lemken Rubin 12, Horsch Pronto 6 DC, etc.

- planting - for planting seeds of various crops. This type also included machines for seedbed preparation, field marking, seed sowing, soil compaction, etc. Among the most popular brands were: Kinze, Great Plains, Amazone, Vaderstad, Monosem, etc. Among the specific models, we could single out: Kinze 3600, Great Plains YP-2425A, Amazone ED 602-K, Vaderstad Tempo L 8-24, Monosem NG Plus 4, etc.

- harvesting - for harvesting various crops. This type also included machines for threshing, cleaning, sorting, transportation, storage, etc. Among the most popular brands were: Claas, New Holland, Massey Ferguson, Rostselmash, Geringhoff, etc. Among the specific models, we could single out: Claas Lexion 8900, New Holland CR10.90, Massey Ferguson Delta 9380 AL, Rostselmash Torum 760, Geringhoff Rota Disc Elite XL 800/8, etc.

However, the situation has changed dramatically since the beginning of Russia's military aggression, the expert noted. Negative changes are observed in the structure of imports: imports of machinery have significantly decreased; the share of used machinery and cheap and low-quality technological machinery has increased; prices for high-quality and productive machinery from leading manufacturers have increased.

In 2022, compared to 2021, imports of tractors decreased by 45.5% (from 30622 to 16689 units), grain harvesters by 30.5% (from 3029 to 2104 units), and sowing equipment by 34, 6% (from 6825 to 4465 units), disk harrows by 45.7% (from 819 to 445 units), cultivators by 39.0% (from 61525 to 37523 units), mounted and trailed mowers by 27.8% (from 8571 to 6185 units), etc. In terms of value, the reduction was as follows: tractors - by 42.7% (from $548.5 million to $314.4 million), combine harvesters - by 37.5% (from $283.8 million to $177.4 million), sowing and planting machines - by 51.9% (from $165, 7 to $79.8 million), disk harrows by 51.2% (from $30.7 to $15.0 million), cultivators by 44.8% (from $53.5 million to $29.5 million), mowers by 55.0% (from $8.6 to $3.9 million).

At the same time, in 2022, there was a significant increase in imports of plows in quantitative terms - by 37.2%. While in 2021, only 2026 units of this type of agricultural machinery were imported, last year it was 2779 units. Their customs value in 2022 decreased significantly - by 56.5% compared to 2021. The increase in imports of cheap plows to mini tractors and walk-behind tractors, in particular those made in China, has significantly changed the ratio between the quantity and value of imported machinery.

The largest drop was in the category of tractors with a power of 37-75 kW - 64.6% in quantity and 60.4% in value terms, as well as in the category of tractors with a power of 75-130 kW - 53.3% and 44.7%, respectively. The smallest decline in tractor imports occurred in the 25-37 kW category - 24.8% and 25.6%, respectively. The average customs value of a tractor increased the most in the 37-75 kW category - from $14.9 to $16.7 thousand (+12.0%). In addition, there was a noticeable increase in the customs value in the categories of tractors with a capacity of 75-130 kW - from $33.48 to $37.15 thousand (+10.9%), as well as in the category up to 18 kW - from $2.33 to $2.49 thousand (+6.9%) per unit.

At the same time, the share of used equipment in the category of tractors with a capacity of 75-130 kW increased from 7.1% to 8.7% in quantitative terms and from 3.7% to 4.9% in value terms, and in the category of more than 130 kW - from 17.9% to 18.5% in quantitative terms and from 10.1% to 11.2% in value terms, respectively.

"In order to overcome the negative consequences of the impact of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the agricultural machinery market and logistics of agricultural production, it is necessary to improve the investment climate to attract foreign partners to organize joint production of machinery, implement protectionist policies aimed at protecting domestic production, restore state support for domestic agricultural machinery and the development of technical support for small and medium-sized enterprises business in rural areas, to take measures to preserve the human resources potential of the machine-building industry," summarized Yaroslav Navrotskyi.