Foreign media, Oct. 18: Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture released a report on Tuesday, raising the area sown for winter wheat for the 2023 harvest to 4 million hectares, up from a previous forecast of 3.8 million hectares.
The ministry said that as of Oct. 18, Ukrainian farmers had sown 2.5 million hectares of winter wheat, equivalent to 61 percent of the expected area. For comparison, the area sown in the same period last year was 5 million hectares.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture did not give a reason for the year-on-year delay in sowing area. Local officials and analysts said that rains in most parts of the country and lack of funds were the main reasons for the delay.
The area sown with winter wheat in Ukraine in 2022 is more than 6 million hectares. But due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and other reasons, only 460 king hectares of wheat have been harvested so far. This week Ukraine’s national weather forecasting agency said that due to poor weather, less than 30% of winter cereals sown this year were planted at the optimal time, significantly lower than the percentage in previous years. In addition, crops sown in October may enter winter at the initial stage of development, which makes the crop vulnerable to adverse winter conditions.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture said last week that farmers have completed the 2022 wheat harvest with 19.2 million tons of production, down from 32.2 million tons in 2021.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Taras Vysotsky said last month that the country’s 2023 wheat harvest could fall to 16-18 million tons due to an expected decline in the area sown to winter wheat.
Source: Beer Industry Information Network
Post time: Oct-25-2022