October 10, 2012

Due to a smaller-than-expected corn output, Ukraine's 2012 grain harvest forecast was cut by UkrAgroConsult on Tuesday (Oct 9) to 42.4 million tonnes from the previous estimate of 43.4 million tonnes.

UkrAgroConsult said in a report Ukraine was likely to harvest 19 million tonnes of corn this year against the previous forecast of 20 million tonnes.

Ukraine's Farm Ministry had forecast the 2012 corn harvest at 25 million-27 million tonnes but it cut the forecast to 21 million tonnes due to poor weather. Hot and dry weather in most Ukrainian regions has reduced corn yield to 4.13 tonnes per hectare from 5.55 tonnes per hectare a year ago. Ukraine harvested 22.7 million tonnes of corn in 2011.

UkrAgroConsult left unchanged its forecast for wheat and barley. It said Ukraine's wheat harvest could total 14.18 million tonnes, while barley crop was seen at 6.52 million tonnes. The former Soviet republic threshed 20.6 million tonnes of wheat and 8.3 million tonnes of barley in 2011.

The Agriculture Ministry, however, said wheat output reached 15.5 million tonnes this year against 22.3 million tonnes in 2011. It also said that the barley harvest totalled 7.2 million tonnes in 2012 versus 9.1 million tonnes a year earlier.

According to data provided by the Farm Ministry, farms harvested 36.3 million tonnes of grain from 85% of the planted area as of October 8, 15.7% less than at the same date in 2011.