Ukraine's agriculture ministry raises grain harvest forecast to 59.7 mln tonnes for 2023

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry has raised its forecast for this year's gross grain harvest by 3.8% to 59.7 million tonnes and reaffirmed the forecast for oil crops at 21.6 million tonnes.

According to preliminary estimates, farmers will harvest 22.2 million tonnes of wheat, 5.8 million tonnes of barley and 30.1 million tonnes of corn, respectively 2.3%, 1.8% and 5.6% more than the forecast made in October, Ukrainian media reported, citing a statement from the ministry.

The ministry still expects farmers to harvest 13 million tonnes of sunflower seeds and 4.6 million tonnes of soybeans. The rapeseed harvest has been completed and totals more than 4 million tonnes.

The average grain yield rose to 5.47 tonnes per hectare. "This is a record figure for Ukraine. Before this the highest grain yield was 5.36 tonnes/ha in 2021. Basically, this is what made it possible to again revise this year's harvest amounts upward and, specifically, increase corn production figures from 28.5 million tonnes to over 30 million tonnes," the ministry said.

Furthermore, corn has already been cleared from 87% of the crop area, up from 66% at the same time last year. Given favourable weather conditions, clearing of corn will continue, although part of the harvest will remain in the fields until spring.

The ministry recalled that the total spring and winter grain crop area in 2023 was 10.895 million ha, 980,000 ha less than a year earlier.