January 20, 2011

Ukraine agriculture ministry forecasts 2011 grain crop

Ukraine's 2011 grain crop is forecast to be at 45 million tonnes, according to Alexandr Demidov, director of the Agriculture Ministry's Crop and Food Market Department.

"We are planning to annually harvest 60-80 million tonnes of grain in three to four years, we have all possibilities. Of course, it is difficult to plan it this year, but I believe we must get 45 million tonnes because it is average volume harvested in the past five to six years," said Demidov.

Agriculture and Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk claimed that 39.6 million tonnes of grains were harvested in 2010 (6.9 million tonnes less than in 2009).