Ukrainian farmers have harvested 37.5 million tonnes of grain from the 2015 crop, with an average yield of 3.59 tonne per hectare as of September 8, agriculture ministry data showed on Tuesday. Farmers have harvested 10.44 million hectares so far this year, or 71 percent of the intended area, it showed. Farmers had harvested 36.3 million tonnes from 10.0 million hectares by the same date last year.
The ministry said farmers had started the 2015 maize harvesting, threshing 177,000 tonnes from 43,000 hectares that is about 1 percent of the sowing area. Ukraine plans to harvest about 24.5 million tonnes of maize this year against 28.5 million in 2014. Agriculture Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko has said Ukraine is likely to harvest around 60 million tonnes of grain this year, including 24 million tonnes of wheat. Ukraine harvested 63.8 million tonnes of grain in 2014. The ministry also said farms had sown the first 78,000 hectares of winter grain for the 2016 grain harvest. Ukraine plans to sow 7.4 million hectares of winter grain this year, including 6.2 million hectares of winter wheat and 1.05 million of winter barley.