Ukrainian winter grain losses could exceed average levels this year due to poor weather last autumn, but a mild winter and spring gives ground for an optimistic forecast for this year's harvest, the agriculture minister said on Monday. "According to our preliminary estimates, the rate of winter kill could reach 13 percent, but an increase in the sown area by 7 percent last autumn could partially compensate for the fall," Oleksiy Pavlenko told Reuters.
Ukraine's grain winter losses usually amount to up to 10 percent. "Now everything depends on the weather in March and May, critical months for our grain plants," Pavlenko said. Farms increased the area sown for 2015 winter grain harvest by 7 percent to 8.0 million hectares, according to the ministry. The area under winter wheat, which accounts for around 95 percent of overall wheat production, rose by 12 percent to 6.8 million hectares, the ministry has said. Pavlenko said that most of remaining grain crops were in good condition.
The condition of Ukrainian winter crops, mostly winter wheat, will effect the volume of permitted Ukrainian grain exports this season, which have already been limited. The government and traders have agreed that no more than 1.2 million tonnes of milling wheat will be exported in the first half of 2015 and the government can impose restrictions if exports exceed specified volumes. The exports of feed wheat should not exceed 3.4 million tonnes between January and June but the government said volumes could be reviewed depending on the situation of winter grain crops.
Comments
Comments are closed.