Ukraine's KSG agroholding completes harvesting sunflowers, yield within forecast

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine's KSG Agro business has completed harvesting sunflowers from an area of 7,360 hectares at a yield of 24 c/ha, Ukrainian media reported, citing the agroholding's press service.

"The results of the harvesting campaign have been positive for us, and the weather conditions with sufficient precipitation have helped. We had forecast a final yield within 23-25 c/ha, though received 24 c/ha in fact. The current harvest campaign was delayed, given that we partially used seeds with a late ripening period," Dmitry Yemelchenko, head of KSG's plant growing division, was quoted as saying in the press release.

Yemelchenko also reported that the holding's farms sowed winter wheat on 2,000 hectares and rapeseed on 1,500 hectares at the same time as harvesting sunflowers.

"The feature of the current sowing of winter crops has been that we have sown practically dry as a result of weather conditions. Nevertheless, the emerging shoots obtained at the end of October are in satisfactory/good condition," Yemelchenko noted.

KSG Agro is a vertically integrated holding that breeds pigs, as well as produces, stores, processes and sells grains and oilseeds. KSG has a land bank of approximately 21,000 hectares.