KIEV: Ukrainian farmers had sown 2.3 million hectares of early spring grain, or 92 percent of the initial area as of April 18, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. The volume includes 156,000 hectares of spring wheat, 1.7 million hectares of spring barley, 204,000 hectares of oats and 217,000 hectares of peas. The ministry has said the spring grains, mostly maize and barley, could eventually cover about 7.5 million hectares, including 2.5 million hectares of early spring crops.
Analyst UkrAgroConsult said this month that Ukraine’s grain harvest was likely to fall 8 percent to 53.3 million tonnes in 2016 due to a sharp drop in winter wheat output caused by poor weather during sowing. The wheat harvest is likely to fall to 18.5 million tonnes this year from 24.8 million in 2015, the consultancy said.
