July 19, 2010

Bulgaria lowers wheat production forecast

Heavy rainfalls have forced Bulgaria to lower its wheat production forecast for this year to 3.5 million tonnes from the previously projected four million tonnes.

"Our latest forecast shows the wheat crop will be some 500,000 tonnes less due to heavy rains," said an Agriculture Ministry spokesman.

Only 69,000 hectares of wheat in Bulgaria had been harvested by July 12, which comprise 6.69% of the total land put to wheat in the country. At some sites, rainfalls of 240 litres per square metre forced harvest to stop, a statement from Bulgaria's Agriculture Ministry said.

Despite the drop, Bulgaria will still have a chance to export wheat as its domestic needs stood at about twi million tonnes, the ministry said.

 
According to local farmers, the deteriorated weather conditions have cut yields and the crop could hardly reach 3.5 million tonnes. The moisture from the rainfalls has affected the quality of the wheat and most of the grain might be sold as feed, chairman of local grain producers' association, Radoslav Hristov said.

Bulgaria's wheat crop fell 14% last year, after the country recorded a four-year high harvest of 4.6 million tonnes in 2008, twice as much as it needs to meet domestic demand.