June 6, 2012

Bulgaria's 2012 wheat production to fall 10%

Due to a dry autumn and winter frosts, Bulgaria will reap about 10% less wheat this year compared with a year ago, while farmers brace for bigger crop fall, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov said on Tuesday (June 5).

"The wheat harvest will be around 3.8-3.9 million tonnes," Naidenov said in a statement.

Bulgaria harvested 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in 2011. Naidenov said the Black Sea grain producer needs 1.5 million tonnes for its domestic grain balance, meaning there will be enough wheat for exports, which range between 1.5 million-2.0 million tonnes a year.

Bulgarian farmers see the 2012 wheat crop down by 20-25% this year due to the unfavourable weather, the deputy chairman of the National Association of Grain Producers Radoslav Hristov has said.

Rainfall throughout May helped the plantings, hit by extensive dry weather in the autumn and severe cold snaps in January and February, but will not be able to reverse all damage and match last year's harvest, farmers say.

Unfavourable weather has hit crops across Eastern Europe, particularly in Ukraine.