Industry news

The shortage of qualified personnel in Ukraine affects not only agricultural production itself, but the entire agri-food sector, including processing and food manufacturing, where many processes still cannot be fully replaced by automation. This view was expressed by Rodion Rybchynskyi, Director of the Union Millers of Ukraine, during the press conference “International Partnership for the Development of Training in Ukraine’s Agricultural Sector”, held on March 31 at Interfax-Ukraine.

The Union Millers of Ukraine is pleased to welcome its newest member, ZAKHIDNYI BUH — a leading representative of the national agricultural sector, which has been consistently developing its crop production and deep processing divisions since 2003.

Stolychnyi Mlyn LLC, a long-standing member of the Union Millers of Ukraine, has shipped 504 tonnes of wheat flour to Syria under the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine. The programme was launched in 2022 by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyyto strengthen Ukraine’s role in addressing the global food crisis. The programme is implemented by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The Director of the Union of Flour Millers of Ukraine, Rodion Rybchynskyi, explained to Telegraf the mechanisms behind buckwheat price formation, the logic of farmers’ decisions, and the dangers of artificial market hype, which could hit consumers’ wallets harder than a poor harvest.

During July–February of the 2025/26 marketing year (MY), Ukraine exported 41.7 thousand tonnes of wheat flour, which is almost 7% lower than during the same period of the previous season, when 45.0 thousand tonnes were shipped to foreign markets. The top five importers of Ukrainian flour during the first eight months of the 2025/26 season were Moldova (12.9 thousand tonnes), Palestine (7.7 thousand tonnes), Israel (3.8 thousand tonnes), and Spain (3.4 thousand tonnes).

In 2025, the TOP-14 milling enterprises that are members of the Union “Flour Millers of Ukraine” produced 527.2 thousand tonnes of flour, which is 4% below the previous year’s figure and represents 33% of the country’s total estimated flour output. This was reported by Serhii Sakirkin in his flour market review for APK-Inform News Agency.

From 26 to 30 January 2026, the Millers of Ukraine is taking part in the international trade exhibition Gulfood 2026.

The annual standalone tariff quota of 30,000 tonnes for Ukrainian flour exports to the EU, granted for the first time in 2025, creates meaningful long-term planning opportunities for Ukraine’s milling industry. This was stated by Rodion Rybchynskyi, Director of the Union “Millers of Ukraine,” during the panel discussion “The Voice of the Sector: from Advocacy to Partnership in Shaping Agri-Food Policy” at the XVII International Conference “Doing Agribusiness in Ukraine.”

At the “Grain and Processing 2025: Flour, Groats, Feed” forum in Lviv, a ceremony was held to recognize the companies whose performance and consistent work throughout the 2024/25 marketing year set new benchmarks for the Ukrainian grain processing industry.

On November 21, participants of the forum “Grain & Processing 2025: Flour, Grocery, Animal Feed” visited the production sites of two companies that set the technological benchmark for Ukraine’s processing industry — Enzym and Kormotech.

On September 9, Rodion Rybchynskyi, Director of the Union “Millers of Ukraine,” spoke at the panel discussion “Ukrainian Flour: Challenges and Prospects for Bakers and Restaurateurs” during the PRO TISTO forum.

The availability of food-grade wheat and rye for Ukraine’s flour milling industry was the central theme of the address delivered by Rodion Rybchynskyi, Chairman of the Union Millers of Ukraine, at the Khlib.ua Conference.

During the 2024/25 marketing year, Ukrainian producers exported 66.7 thousand tonnes of wheat flour. This volume is lower than the 92.5 thousand tonnes exported in the previous season.

“There must be a clear balance between the interests of different market players: farmers who grow, traders who export, and processors who both process and export. Everyone should have equal access to raw materials, financing, logistics, and other resources,” said Rodion Rybchynskyi, Director of the Union “Millers of Ukraine”, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, responding to a question about the potential to increase Ukrainian flour exports.

As part of the Bakery Industry Forum, which this year is hosted by Uman National University, the Union “Millers of Ukraine” and the university signed a memorandum of cooperation. This document establishes a strategic partnership between the grain processing sector and higher education aimed at strengthening human capital and developing relevant industry competencies.