Ukraine's rapeseed crop likely to fall

Ukraine's 2012 rapeseed crop is likely to fall to 933,000 tonnes from 1.42 million tonnes in 2011 after severe frosts damaged a large area sown for the grain, UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy said on Tuesday. "The harvest area reduction by nearly 32 percent and a year-on-year decline in yield will slash Ukraine's 2012/13 rapeseed output substantially," the consultancy said in a report.
"We expect domestic rapeseed processing to decline in the new season due to a small crop and no demand for processed rapeseed products", it said. Ukraine traditionally exports almost all its rapeseed mostly to Europe. UkrAgroConsult said the former Soviet republic could sell abroad no more than 951,000 tonnes in 2012/13 and a part of the volume would be rapeseed from the 2011 harvest. Ukraine is likely to export 1.25 million tonnes of rapeseed in the 2011/12 season. UkrAgroConsult said that 50,000 tonnes of rapeseed would be crushed inside Ukraine next season against 75,000 tonnes in 2011/12.