KYIV: Weather conditions in September remained unfavourable for already started winter grain sowing in Ukraine, APK-Inform agriculture consultancy quoted state weather forecasters as saying. “Conditions of soil preparation for sowing and sowing of winter grain crops in most areas remained unfavourable due to a lack of effective precipitation and a lack of productive moisture in the soil,” forecasters said in a report.

An abnormal heatwave dominated most regions since early summer and forecasters say that in almost half of the areas for sowing winter crops the topsoil is extremely dry.

“Dry weather conditions complicated the initial development of already sown winter rape and wheat, in some places the grain did not germinate for a long time,” they noted. Forecasters said conditions were satisfactory only in western regions. Ukrainian agriculture ministry said this week that farmers had sown 1.82 million hectares of winter grains for the 2025 harvest as of Sept. 30, equating to 35.1% of the expected area of 5.19 million hectares.

That included 1.67 million hectares of winter wheat, 119,400 hectares of winter barley and 34,800 hectares of rye. Winter wheat generally accounts for 95% of Ukraine’s overall wheat output each year. Farmers had sown 1.7 million hectares of winter wheat, or 40% of the expected area, as of Oct. 3, 2023.