Ukraine expands winter crop area 5.6% as of mid-Nov

MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Ukrainian farmers had planted almost 5.7 million hectares of winter crops as of November 14, 170,000 ha more than a week earlier and 300,000 ha or 5.6% more than a year earlier, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.

Planting of winter crops has been completed in eight regions and is nearing completion in others, a ministry report on Telegram showed. Farmers have already planted more than 90% of the forecast area in most regions, it said.

Winter grains have been planted on more than 4.6 million ha, including 3.968 million ha of wheat, 469,000 ha of barley and 77,000 ha of rye, up from, respectively, 4.386 million ha, 3.867 million ha, 442,000 ha and 76,000 ha a week earlier. Winter rapeseed has been planted on 1.151 million ha, up from 1.144 million ha a week earlier.

In 2022, Ukrainian farmers had planted 4.4 million ha of the main winter grains, or 92% of the forecast area of 4.5 million ha, as of November 15, including 3.7 million ha of wheat, 600,000 ha of barley and 79,100 ha of rye. They had also planted 999,000 ha of winter rapeseed.

A survey conducted by the ministry earlier showed that the overwhelming majority of farmers planned to significantly change planting areas for winter crops compared to last season.