Ukrainian farmers harvest nearly 52 mln tonnes of grain, have yet to reap crops from 5% of farmland - ministry

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Ukrainian farmers have harvested 77.3 million tonnes of key crops (+1.4 million tonnes over the past week alone) from 18.3 million hectares of farmland (+0.1 million hectares) as of January 20, including 51.9 million tonnes of grains and legumes, Ukrainian media reported referring to the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry website.

The total area from which crops have been harvested over the past week has increased by one percentage point (pp) to reach 95% of the projected area, it said.

In terms of particular crops, the harvesting of wheat, barley, peas, rapeseed, soybeans, and sugar beet has been completed. The area from which corn has been harvested has grown by 2 pp to 87% of the projected figure, while the farmland from which buckwheat, millet, and sunflower have been harvested did not change (98%, 99%, and 99% respectively).

The final wheat harvest this year amounted to 20.2 million tonnes reaped from 5 million hectares, barley 5.8 million tonnes from 1.7 million hectares, soybeans 3.7 million tonnes from 1.5 million hectares, rapeseed 3.2 million tonnes from 1.1 million hectares, peas 269,000 tonnes from 118,000 hectares, and sugar beet 9 million tonnes from 180,000 hectares, the ministry said.

As of January 20, farmers harvested 24.4 million tonnes of corn (+0.9 million tonnes over the past week) from 3.7 million hectares (+0.1 million hectares), 10.5 million tonnes of sunflower from 4.8 million hectares, 158,000 tonnes of buckwheat from 116,000 hectares, and 102,000 tonnes of millet from 45,000 hectares.

The average yield for all crops this year was 4.73 tonnes per hectare, including 6.61 tonnes per hectare for corn, 4.05 tonners per hectare for wheat, 3.47 tonnes per hectare for barley, 2.86 tonnes per hectare for rapeseed, 2.43 tonnes per hectare for soybeans, 2.28 tonnes per hectare for peas, 2.28 tonnes per hectare for millet, 2.17 tonnes per hectare for sunflower, 1.37 tonnes per hectare for buckwheat, and 50.1 tonnes per hectare for sugar beet, the ministry said.

As reported earlier, Ukraine yielded a record harvest of grains, legumes, and oilseeds totaling over 106 million tonnes in 2021, including 84 million tonnes of grains and legumes and 22.6 million tonnes of oilseeds.

In particular, Ukraine last year harvested 32.4 million tonnes of wheat, 40 million tonnes of corn, 10 million tonnes of barley, 581,500 tonnes of peas, 191,000 tonnes of millet, 110,000 tonnes of buckwheat, as well as 16.3 million tonnes of sunflower, 3.4 million tonnes of soybeans, and 2.9 million tonnes of rapeseed.