Ukrainian farmers will start the 2017 spring grain sowing in a few days, expecting to sow a total of 7.2 million hectares of various spring grains, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. Last year, Ukraine, the global third-largest grain exporter, started spring sowing on February 24, taking advantage of favourable weather. Farmers sowed around 7.0 million hectares of spring grain last year and the ministry said this year's sowing area could rise to about 7.2 million hectares.
It said the area under spring and winter grains would total 14.4 million hectares this year. Ukraine harvested a record 66 million tonnes of grain in 2016, including 28 million tonnes of maize and 26 million tonnes of wheat. The ministry has said the grain exports could reach 41 million tonnes in the current 2016/17 season which runs from July to June.