Ukraine: Unusually cold spring may reduce spring barley area

Ukraine is expected to harvest 26-28 million tonnes of maize and 7.7-8 million tonnes of barley in 2018, consultancy UkrAgroConsult said on April 11, warning that unusually cold spring weather had complicated the barley sowing campaign.

"There are risks not all the barley will be sown due to a late spring," it said.

This year farmers started sowing a month later than last year due to a cold and snowy spring and UkrAgroConsult said the best terms for sowing would expire next week.

A very short sowing campaign could also cut the area sown to maize and farmers may prefer to sow more sunflower in a bid to compensate the lost areas of barley and maize.

The consultancy said Ukraine could harvest 26-28 million tonnes of maize this year while its output of sunflower seed could total 14.2 to 14.5 million tonnes.

The harvest of rape seed is likely to reach 2.5 million tonnes, while soybean output could be around 3.7 million tonnes.

UkrAgroConsult said Ukraine's total grain crop could rise to around 62 million tonnes this year from 61.3 million in 2017.

Last year, Ukraine harvested 26.1 million tonnes of wheat; 24.1 million tonnes of maize; 8.3 million tonnes of barley; 12.2 million tonnes of sunseed; 2.2 million tonnes of rapeseed; and 3.9 million tonnes of soybean.

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