May 8, 2012

UN anticipates Ukraine's grain production down in 2012

Compared with other countries, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Organisation is predicting the sharpest reductions in Ukraine's grain production in 2012.

The United Nations Organisation's News Centre announced this in a statement, citing the Food and Agriculture Organisation's monthly food price index.

"...The largest declines [are] forecast for Ukraine, followed by Kazakhstan, China, Morocco, and the EU," the statement says.

According to the statement, the forecast for cereals production indicates a modest expansion this year to a new record of 2,371 million tonnes, compared to 2,344 million tonnes in 2011. The organisation notes that this increase will be observed due to the production of coarse grains.

"However, within the cereals sector, wheat production this year is projected to fall by 3.6% - compared to 2011 - to 675 million tonnes... The expected decrease coincides with prospects of a slight reduction in total wheat utilisation in the 2012-13 marketing season," the statement says.

According to the organisation, rice production is expected to grow by 1.7% in 2012 to 488 million tonnes, global sugar output in 2011-12 is set to increase by 4.6% over 2010-11, reaching nearly 173 million tonnes.

In addition, according to the organisation, global meat output is set to expand by nearly 2% to 302 million tonnes this year and world milk production in 2012 is forecast to grow by 2.7% to 750 million tonnes. Much of this growth will occur in Asia.

The organisation said that sustained demand for fish and fishery products is boosting aquaculture production worldwide and pushing prices higher, despite some consumer resistance in the more traditional markets in southern Europe.

In general, production of such products is expected to increase by 2.1% to 157.3 million tonnes during the year. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers expects a grain harvest of 45-50 million tonnes in 2012.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has raised its forecast for cultivation of spring grain and leguminous crops for the 2012 harvest by 13.4% or 1.18 million hectares to 9.980 million hectares. According data from the State Statistics Service, the grain harvest totalled 56.7 million tonnes in 2011.