Analyst cuts Ukraine's peas harvest

Ukraine's UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy on Tuesday sharply reduced its forecast for the country's 2018 peas harvest to 850,000 tonnes from the previous estimate of 1.1 million tonnes. It also cut the 2018/19 July-June peas exports forecast by 29 percent to 600,000 tonnes. "Soil moisture shortages during the period of pea growing and ripening had an adverse effect on pea yield," the consultancy said in a report.
It said drought in the steppe zone of the country, where more than 50 percent of Ukrainian pea plantings are located, has substantially decreased yield potential of this crop. "In addition, rains that have fallen in Ukraine over the past two weeks will result in heavier losses while harvesting the remaining peas," it said.