Ukraine's winter wheat crop likely to rise

Ukraine's winter wheat harvest is likely to rise to about 21 million tones in 2011 from about 17 million in 2010, UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy said on Thursday. The consultancy said in a report that farms were likely to harvest 6.5 million hectares of winter wheat next year and the yield could reach 3.23 tonne per hectare.
In 2010 farmers harvested about 6 million hectares of winter wheat with a yield of about 2.8 tonne per hectare. The winter wheat harvest traditionally amounts to about 90 percent of Ukraine's overall wheat crop. Ukraine's grain crop is likely to fall to about 40 million tonnes in 2010 from 46 million in 2009 due to a severe drought. Ukraine consumes about 26 million tonnes of grain per season.