Ukrainian farmers thresh 62.2 mln tonnes of grain, oilseeds

MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - Ukrainian farmers harvesting grain and oilseed crops threshed 62.2 million tonnes of new crop from 16.8 million hectares as of October 11 compared to 56.6 million tonnes from 15.8 million ha week-on-week.

In total, 40.2 million tonnes (37.3 million tonnes) of cereals and legumes, 17 million tonnes (15.8 million tonnes) of oilseeds and 5 million tonnes (3.5 million tonnes) of sugar beets have been harvested, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.

The ministry said that the threshing of wheat has been completed, which brought 22.3 million tonnes from 4.9 million ha with a yield of 42.4 centners per ha, barley 5.5 million tonnes from 1.4 million ha with a yield of 39.2 centners per ha, peas 465.3 million tonnes from 212,200 ha with a yield of 21.9 centners per ha.

Corn harvesting is ongoing, which brought in 10.6 million tonnes (7,700 tonnes a week earlier) from 1.9 million ha (48% of the target), buckwheat 124,300 tonnes (121,800 tonnes) from 85,800 ha (96%), millet 156,100 tonnes (154,800 tonnes) from 82,900 ha (89%).

Harvesting of oilseeds is underway in Ukraine. In particular, 3.5 million tonnes of rapeseed (3.457 million tonnes a week earlier) from 1.3 million ha (100%), soybeans 4.8 million tonnes (4.277 million tonnes) from 2.1 million ha (80%), sunflower 8.8 million tonnes (8 million tonnes) from 4.3 million ha (87%) have already been harvested.

At the same time, farmers in the Odessa region are leading in grain harvesting with 4.2 million ha threshed, followed by the Poltava region with 3.5 million tonnes and the Kirovograd region with 2.7 million tonnes. Farmers in the Khmelnitsky region are still leading in terms of yields with 65.5 centners per ha, followed by the Ternopol region with 63 centners per ha, Cherkassy region with 60.5 centners per ha and the Ivano-Frankovsk region with 60.2 centners per ha.