The beginning of 2024 was intended to be an important stage for the land market in Ukraine, when opportunities for legal entities opened up. However, instead of actively acquiring new land, large landowners showed little interest and preferred a divestment strategy.

During the first two weeks of 2024, 207 hectares of land were put up for sale by companies. In particular, Dolyna and Ekor Garden CTS sold their land banks, reducing their holdings to less than 100 hectares and leaving the top landowners, where they previously owned 388 and 120 hectares, respectively.

The new legislation allows companies to purchase up to 10 thousand hectares of land, but most have chosen the strategy of selling their land ownership. Currently, 281 companies are registered in Ukraine, each of which owns more than 100 hectares of land.

The leaders of land ownership in Ukraine are Svitanok with more than 5 thousand hectares, Druzhkovske Ore Mining with 3.3 thousand hectares, and Zemletrade with 3.1 thousand hectares. Out of the top 10 companies that own the most land in the country, only Zemletrade has sold 20 hectares since the land market was opened, while other companies have so far refrained from land transactions.

It should be noted that the land market reform launched on July 1, 2021, has experienced its own difficulties. The original plan was to allow both individuals and legal entities to purchase land. However, due to protests by farmers, politicians and NGOs, a compromise decision was made - a limit of 100 hectares for individuals from July 2021 and 10,000 hectares for legal entities from January 1, 2024.