Ukraine farmers harvest 27.3 mln tonnes of grain

MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Ukraine's farmers harvested early grain and leguminous crops on an area of 6.2 million hectares, and threshed 27.259 million tonnes of grain with a yield of 44.1 centners per hectare, Ukrainian media said, citing the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.

The largest harvest, 3.2 million tonnes, was once again in Odessa region.

To date, barley has been harvested from 1.398 million hectares in Ukraine, which is 94% of the plan; 5.567 million tonnes have been harvested. Wheat was harvested from 4.384 million hectares (94%), yielding .818 million tonnes. Peas were harvested from 152,200 hectares (100%), producing a harvest of 379,100 tonnes.

Farmers in Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and Ternopol regions have started harvesting millet, gathering 2,810 tonnes from an area of 2,320 hectares. Dnepropetrovsk region harvested 100 tonnes of buckwheat from 800 hectares. Other grains and leguminous crops were harvested in the amount of 492,100 tonnes from an area of 249,000 hectares.

In addition, rapeseed harvesting has been completed in 13 regions, and 3.944 million tonnes of winter rapeseed have been harvested on an area of 1.37 million hectares.

The Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry said that the yield of barley over the past week was 39.8 centners / ha, wheat was 47.5 centners / ha, peas were 24.9 centners / ha, winter rapeseed came to 28.8 centners / ha, and millet was at 12.1 c/ha, which exceeds the previous week. The yield of buckwheat remained at the level of 11.3 q/ha.

According to the ministry's adjusted forecast, in 2023, Ukraine's farmers should harvest 20.9 million tonnes of wheat, 5.8 million tonnes of barley, and 28.1 million tonnes of corn. Gross production of oilseeds will reach 20.3 million tonnes: 12 million tonnes of sunflower, 4 million tonnes of rapeseed, and 4.2 million tonnes of soybeans. The sugar beet harvest is projected to reach 13.7 million tonnes.