A combination of warm temperatures and rain has slightly improved the condition of Ukrainian winter grain crops, but a significant portion of them remain in poor state, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Monday. A severe drought in the summer and autumn in half of Ukrainian regions has forced farmers to stop sowing of winter grains, leaving concerns of a poor grain harvest in 2016.
The share of crops in good condition accounts for 28.1 percent as of November 26 compared with 40.6 percent at the same date in 2014, UkrAgroConsult said in a statement. It said that the share of poor crops rose to 35.6 percent this year from 18.1 percent in 2014. "In the Eastern, partially Central and Southern regions major part of sowings is still weak and badly developed," the consultancy said.
UkrAgroConsult this month cut its forecast for Ukraine's 2016 wheat harvest by about 8 percent to 17.5 million tonnes, citing the poor condition of sprouted crops. Winter wheat accounts for about 95 percent of Ukraine's overall what output. A smaller harvest is likely to cut Ukrainian wheat exports to 3.5 million tonnes in 2016/17, according to traders' forecasts.