KIEV: Analyst UkrAgroConsult has raised its forecast for Ukraine’s 2016 grain harvest to 62.7 million tonnes, 1.7 million tonnes higher than a month earlier, it said on Tuesday. UkrAgroConsult said the new forecast was due mainly to high yields of early grain crops and bigger than expected harvests of wheat and barley.
Ukraine could harvest up to 26 million tonnes of wheat and 9.6 million tonnes of barley, UkrAgroConsult said in a report. A month earlier, the consultancy had expected the wheat harvest to come in at 25 million tonnes and barley at 9.0 million tonnes. The agriculture ministry said this month the 2016 grain harvest could total 63 million tonnes, including 25.5 million tonnes of wheat. The ministry said farmers had completed the threshing of early grain crops and started harvesting maize. Overall output had reached 38.1 million tonnes as of August 22.
“Warm weather and precipitation created favourable conditions for maize vegetation. Average productivity is expected to be an all-time high or close to a record high – nearly 6 tonnes per hectare – and gross production may reach 25 million tonnes,” UkrAgroConsult said. It said the bumper harvest could allow Ukraine to export a record 40.7 million tonnes this season. Exports totalled 38.5 million tonnes in the 2015/16 season, or from July to June.
