UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy has cut Ukraine's grain crop forecast to 43.3 million tonnes from its previous estimate of 43.5 million. The consultancy said in a statement on Tuesday it had lowered its wheat harvest forecast to 18.05 million tonnes from 18.74 million, but increased the maize harvest outlook to 11.4 million tonnes from the previous 10.9 million.
The group forecast the grain harvest at 43.95 million tonnes in January. UkrAgroConsult said a smaller wheat harvest area was the main reason for the fall in the crop forecast. It said farms were likely to harvest 6.395 million hectares of wheat in 2010, compared to the estimate of 6.640 million hectares a month earlier.
UkrAgroConsult forecast poor weather could kill about 670,000 hectares of wheat this year. But consultancy revised up its forecast for the area under maize to 2.4 million hectares from 2.3 million. UkrAgroConsult earlier this week said severe frosts and ice had worsened the state of Ukrainian winter grain crop, bringing the amount of winter grain in good condition to 41.2 percent as of the end of last week, from 45.6 percent a month ago. New farm minister Mykola Pryshyazhnyuk told Reuters last week frosts and ice could kill at least 10-15 percent of winter wheat.