Winter wheat, barley yields down 5%-7% YoY in Ukraine - agrarian policy ministry

MOSCOW. July 9 (Interfax) - Ukraine's farmers have threshed and milled over 4 million tonnes of winter wheat, barley, and rapeseed, as well as peas, by July 9, though the crop yield is below last year's figure, Ukrainian media reported, citing Taras Vysotsky, acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, with reference to his post on social media on Friday.

"Looking at the figures, we see that over 4 million tonnes have already been threshed. The figure is increasing every day," Vysotsky said.

Vysotsky said that grain harvesting is proceeding at a very active pace, thus allowing forecasting a harvest around 56 million tonnes. Harvesting early winter crops accounts for over 10% of the overall gross harvest, with the largest share of 36 million tonnes to come from corn harvested in the autumn.

Vysotsky also said that the yield of winter wheat and barley is 5%-7% below last year's result, which is attributable to the weather conditions. "There is record dry weather unfortunately in some regions, and the indicators are lower. Meantime, the indicators are higher than last year's figures in the western and central regions. Therefore, the forecast is currently 5%-7% below the previous year's indicator," he explained.

Vysotsky confirmed that the heat could negatively affect the growth of agricultural crops, particularly corn and soybeans. However, the trend is not widespread yet, "which allows us to hope for decent indicators," he added.