Ukraine's grain exports in the 2016/17 July-June season are likely to fall by 9.5 percent to 32.4 million tonnes due to a smaller harvest and a decrease in feed usage, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Tuesday. Ukraine is likely to harvest 54.9 million tonnes of grain in 2016 compared with 57.9 million tonnes a year earlier, the consultancy said in a statement.
It said grain exports could total 35.8 million tonnes this season. Ukraine exported 34.9 million tonnes of grain in 2014/15. A severe drought during the summer and autumn, affecting half of Ukraine's grain region, forced farmers to halt winter grain sowing, leading to concerns of a poor harvest in 2016. But warm and wet weather over the last six weeks has improved the condition of Ukrainian winter grains, UkrAgroConsult said this week.
It noted the proportion of sprouted winter wheat crops in good condition was an estimated 42.5 percent as of April 21 versus 35.0 percent as of March 10. The proportion of poor crops fell to an estimated 19.5 percent from 29.9 percent. Ukraine sowed 7.1 million hectares of winter grains, including about 6 million hectares of winter wheat, for the 2016 grain harvest.