Ukrainian farmers have sown 5.6 million hectares of spring grains or 76 percent of the total area as of Monday, the country's Agriculture Ministry said. Farmers have sown 1.6 million hectares of spring barley, 408,000 hectares of peas, 181,000 hectares of oats, 158,000 hectares of spring wheat and 3.3 million hectares of maize, the ministry said in a statement.
Farmers plan to sow 7.38 million hectares of spring grains this year, including about 4.6 million hectares of maize, 1.6 million hectares of barley, 423,000 hectares of peas, 204,000 hectares of oats and 177,000 hectares of wheat. Ukraine, the world's third-largest grain exporter, said the area covered by spring and winter grains would exceed 14 million hectares this year.
Weather forecasters have said current conditions are favourable for spring and winter crops. The ministry also said farmers had sown 4.4 million hectares of sunflower, or 79 percent of the expected area of 5.56 million hectares.
They sowed 271,000 hectares of sugar beet, 90 percent of the expected 301,000 hectares. About 7.3 million hectares of spring grains were sown last year. The country's 2017 grains harvest totalled 61.3 million tonnes.