KYIV: Ukraine’s 2021 grain harvest could reach record volumes above 75 million tonnes thanks to favourable weather, Ukrainian agriculture officials, weather forecasters and analysts said on Thursday.

“We see a record harvest, which will exceed 75 million tonnes and together with oilseeds could be around 100 million tonnes,” agriculture minister Roman Leshchenko told Reuters.

He decline to give detailed forecasts, saying that the next two weeks would be critical for harvest volume.

Earlier on Thursday state weather forecaster Tetyana Adamenko told a farming conference that Ukraine could harvest 75.8 million tonnes of grain this year, up from 65 million tonnes in 2020.

She said the harvest could include 37.1 million tonnes of corn, 28.5 million tonnes of wheat and 8.3 million tonnes of barley.