Ukraine grain harvest forecast unchanged despite reduced sowing area

Ukraine’s combined spring and winter grain crops are still expected to total 44.5 million tonnes this year despite a reduced sowing area, the country’s agriculture minister said on Friday.

Ukraine harvested 53 million tonnes of grain in 2022.

Mykola Solsky told Reuters the harvest could include 18 million tonnes of winter grains and about 26.5 million tonnes of spring crops.

Winter wheat dominates Ukraine’s winter harvest output while corn accounts for the bulk of the spring grain harvest.

Ukraine’s deputy farm minister this week said that the spring grain sowing area could total 13.5 million hectares this year. The ministry initially expected the area to be about 14 million hectares.

Ukraine is a major grain grower and exporter but its production has fallen sharply since Russia invaded the country in February last year.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk Editing by David Goodman)