Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry has cut its forecast for the 2014 grain harvest to 60 million tonnes from the previous estimate of about 63 million, the agriculture minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "Our landmark is 60 million tonnes," Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Ihor Shvaika as saying. He gave no explanation for the 5 percent decrease in the forecast but said the figure took into account lower harvests due to fighting in the east of the country and the loss of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia earlier this year.
Shvaika said last month that favourable weather conditions would allow Ukraine to harvest its second record grain harvest in a row this year of at least 63 million tonnes. Analysts and traders have put the 2014 harvest at around 60 million tonnes. The ministry said this week farmers had harvested 40 million tonnes of grain so far from 73 percent of the planted area, although it gave no comparable data for the same time period last year. It said the yield had averaged 3.69 tonnes per hectare versus 3.22 tonnes a year ago.