August 18, 2011

Ukraine to harvest 18 million tonnes of corn

Eighteen million tonnes of corn are expected to be harvested, according to the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.

"The stern test of a large corn harvest awaits Ukraine because 18 million tonnes are expected," Serhii Stoyanov, the general director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, said.

According to him, there is a significant risk that some of the harvest will be lost because there are insufficient facilities for drying grain in Ukraine. Drying facilities with a capacity of 32 tonnes per hour are in operation at the existing 300 elevators, and these will require more than three months to process the entire volume.

Stoyanov said that corn cannot be stored technologically without processing.

He also noted that the USDA is forecasting a reduction in corn production in the US by 14.5 million tonnes this year and added that this would result in an increase in the world prices of corn.

According to the media, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has raised its forecast for the grain harvest by four million tonnes or 8.5% to 51 million tonnes, including 18.08 million tonnes of corn.