Ukrainian farms have harvested 8.8 million hectares of grain as of August 5, threshing a total of 31.2 million tons of grain by bunker weight, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. The volume includes 21.5 million tonnes of wheat and 8.6 million tonnes of barley, it said in a statement. The ministry said the quality of wheat varied depending on the region.
The share of milling wheat accounted for up to 75 percent in southern regions while the part of food wheat totalled 45-50 percent in central and western parts of Ukraine Ukrainian and foreign analysts and traders said this week the share of feed wheat was likely to rise to around 40 percent this year from 25 percent in 2013 due to wet weather during maturing.
The ministry said this week that too hot weather could also significantly reduce the yield of maize. Analysts and traders have said Ukraine is likely to harvest around 60 million tonnes of grain this year in clean weight, including 21-22 million tonnes of wheat and 7 million tonnes of barley. Ukraine harvested a record 63 million tonnes of grain last year.