Ukraine has almost completed winter grain sowing for the 2018 harvest, leaving some area unsown because of unfavourable weather, agriculture ministry data showed on Tuesday. The ministry has said farmers planned to sow 7.2 million hectares of winter grains, including 6.1 million hectares of winter wheat, 924,000 hectares of winter barley and 158,000 hectares of rye.
However, the final data shows the sown area totalled 6.9 million hectares, 4 percent below original expectations. The sown area includes 5.9 million hectares of wheat, 822,000 hectares of barley and 147,000 hectares of rye. The ministry said there could be a marginal increase from additional area sowed by producers in southern regions. It also said that 97 percent of the sown area had sprouted as of November 23 and 82 percent was in good or satisfactory condition.
The ministry also provided detail on the 2017 harvest, saying that farmers had harvested 59.7 million tonnes of grain from 14 million hectares, equating to 96 percent of the sown area, with a yield of 4.25 tonnes per hectare against 4.54 tonnes a year earlier. Ukraine has completed the 2017 wheat harvest, threshing 26.6 million tonnes and concluded the harvests of barley, rye, oats, peas and other minor cereals.
Farmers continue to thresh maize, harvesting 21.4 million tonnes of the grain from 89 percent of the sown area. Ukraine harvested a record 66 million tonnes of grain in 2016 and exported 43.9 million tonnes in the 2016/17 season, which runs from July to June. This season Ukraine expects to harvest 62 million tonnes of grain and 2017/18 exports could reach 45 million tonnes.