February 12, 2008

Ukraine expects 44 percent increase in wheat harvest for 2008

Ukraine is likely to harvest 19.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2008, up 44 percent from 13.5 million tonnes in 2007, the leading national agrarian markets analyst APK-Inform said in a report in Kiev Monday (February 12, 2008).

Winter wheat harvest is forecast to increase 46.5 percent to 18.6 million tonnes from 12.7 million tonnes in 2007 due to a 14.5 percent increase in planted area to 6.3 million hectares. Average yield is expected to increase 27 percent to 2.9 tonnes a hectare from 2.27 tonnes/ha in 2007.

Spring wheat harvest is expected to increase close to 20 percent to 861,000 tonnes despite a 41 percent reduction in planted area to 410,000 hectares. This is due to an expected 21 percent increase in yield from 1.8 tonnes/hectare in 2007 to 2.18 tonnes/hectare in 2008.