About 88 percent of Ukrainian winter grain crops, which will be harvested next summer, were in good or satisfactory condition as of December 3, UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy said on Tuesday. But it said a drought in July to October had weakened some crops.
"Although the state of winter cereals gradually improves, it is still not ideal. We believe the reseeding area will be larger than in the previous two seasons," UkrAgroConsult said in a report. It said farmers were likely to reseed damaged winter grain crops with maize or sunflower. UkrAgroConsult also said the total grain sowing area in 2010 was likely to fall to 15.72 million hectares from 15.885 million in 2009. The consultancy said a smaller area under wheat and rye was the main reason for the fall.