Ukrainian farmers had sown 2.4 million hectares of spring grain for 2015 harvest as of April 22, or 34 percent of the initial sowing area, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. The acreage includes 1.5 million hectares of spring barley, 139,000 hectares of spring wheat, 204,000 hectares of oats, 168,000 hectares of peas and 324,000 hectares of maize.
The ministry had previously said spring grains, mostly maize and barley, could cover 7.6 million hectares this year, almost the same as last year's area. But it said this week that the area sown for maize was likely to shrink by about 8 percent this year to 4.0 million hectares. Ukraine harvested 28.5 million tonnes of maize from 4.36 million hectares in 2014.
Traders have said a lack of funds is forcing farmers to switch to sowing cheap oilseeds from more expensive maize. Analysts have said Ukraine's grain harvest is likely to fall to around 53 million tonnes from a record 59.2 million in 2014 due to lower yields.