Ukraine's IMC plants winter wheat on 20,300 ha, finishes sunflower harvest

MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) - Ukrainian agribusiness group IMC planted 20,300 hectares of winter wheat for harvest in 2024 and completed its sunflower harvest in the second half of October, Ukrainian media reported, citing a company filing with the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The group planted 32,100 ha of sunflower in the 2023 season and harvested 92,700 tonnes at an average yield of 2.9 tonnes per ha. The yield was 2.2 t/ha in the northern parts of Chernigov region, which were not cultivated in 2022, while in other parts of this region, as well as in Sumy and Poltava regions the yield was 3.3 t/ha.

IMC planted all of its land for harvest in 2023. The crop structure changed, with the share of land planted with corn decreasing to 40% from 58% a year earlier, while the sunflower area grew to 28% from 22% and the wheat area was expanded to 27% from 18%.

IMC said it completed spring sowing in 2023 on May 22, planting 78,500 ha of spring crops, including 46,300 ha of corn and 32,200 ha of sunflower.

The group completed the harvest of winter wheat on August 24, bringing in 236,000 tonnes from 33,300 ha at a record yield of 7.1 t/ha.

IMC also said it is "developing additional shipping routes - there are contracts for shipment by rail across the western borders of Ukraine, as well as across the Danube."