February 23, 2011

Ukraine's winter grains survive hard frosts 

Hard frosts across Ukraine have not affected the country's winter grain crops, Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said Tuesday (Feb 22).

"Everything is going well. There is nothing to be concerned about. We have some worries about winter rapeseed, but not about grains," Prysyazhnyuk said.

Temperatures fell last week to as low as negative 20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) in most Ukrainian regions, but analysts said winter grain crops are protected by snow.

UkrAgroConsult said Tuesday, however, that frosts might damage part of winter barley and winter rapeseed crops as well as poor crops of winter wheat.

"Cold snaps could have damaged poor crops of winter grains and winter rapeseed, therefore farmers should keep in reserve some seed for possible partial reseeding of winter crops," the consultancy said in a report.

According to Farm Ministry data, more than 90% of winter grains were in good or satisfactory condition as of February 18.

"Winter grain conditions are much better than last year. Snow is protecting crops from frost. Crops are in one of the best conditions seen in the past years," UkrAgroConsult said.

The consultancy also said good crop conditions allowed the country to expect a jump in grain harvests to 46.2 million tonnes in 2011 from 39.2 million in 2010.

UkrAgroConsult forecast that Ukrainian wheat harvest could rise to 21 million tonnes from 16.9 million in 2010.