June 16, 2009
Ukraine 2009 grain harvest seen at 38 million tonnes
Analysts foresee grain harvest in Ukraine is seen to reach total nearly 38 million tonnes.
Alexei Blinov, the economist of the company Astrum Investment Management, said agricultural enterprises had rather limited access to financial resources from the beginning of the crisis and had to use lower volumes of mineral fertilizers compared to 2008. Exports of the harvest-2008 served as the main source of circulating assets, marked the economist. He forecasts that the general volume of agricultural production will decrease by 10 percent in 2009.
Agrarian policy minister Yuri Melnik decreased his grain harvest forecast to the level of 42-43 million tonnes due to April frosts.
According to the Minister, last year several agencies also forecasted the harvest in Ukraine at the level of 39 million tonnes, but the grain crop indeed totalled 53 million tonnes.
