Ukrainian farms have harvested 97 percent of the 2005 sunflower area, with the crop reaching a record 4.743 million tonnes bunker weight, the Farm Ministry said on Tuesday.
Official data showed farmers had harvested 3.503 million hectares of a total area of 3.593 million. Yields reached a record 1.35 tonne per hectare.
The country harvested 3.207 million tonnes bunker weight from 3.272 million hectares at the same date last year and yield stood at 0.98 tonne per hectare.
Farm Minister Alexander Baranivsky said last month Ukraine was likely to boost its sunseed clean weight crop to a record 4.8 million tonnes in 2005 from 3.05 million in 2004.
Analysts say Ukraine is likely to harvest 4.3 million tonnes of seed and the rise in output could allow a resumption of major exports in the 2005/06 season.
They said the country could sell abroad about 350,000 tonnes of seed in 2005/06 from 75,000 in 2004/05.
Ukraine exported a record 930,000 tonnes of sunseed in 2003/04, 339,000 in 2002/03 and 82,000 in 2001/02.
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