January 18, 2010

Ukraine 2009 grain production drops 14%

Grain output in Ukraine fell 13.7% to 46 million tonnes in 2009 from a record 53.3 million in 2008, according to the State Statistics Committee on Friday (Jan 15).

The wheat crop fell to 20.9 million tonnes from 25.9 million and the barley crop fell to 11.8 million from 12.6 million. The corn crop reached 10.5 million tonnes.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko last month said the harvest should exceed 48.5 million tonnes, while analysts put the crop at 44.4 million.

The committee said the grain yield averaged 2.97 tonnes per hectare in 2009 against 3.46 tonnes in 2008.