Ukraine: Ukraine’s wheat and barley harvest now completed

Ukraine has harvested 47.4 million tonnes of grain from 12.3 million hectares, or 80% of the sown area, as of Oct. 19, Ukraine's economy ministry said.

It said farmers had completed wheat and barley harvest and collected 11.1 million tonnes of corn from 2.4 million hectares, or 44% of the sown area.

The ministry expects the grain crop could fall to around 68 million tonnes in 2020 from a record 75 million tonnes in 2019 due to severe drought across most parts of the country.

The ministry also said farmers had sown 6.2 million hectares of winter crops, or 76% of the forecast. The area included 4.6 million hectares of winter wheat, or 76% of the expected area, and 628,300 hectares of winter barley that is 66% of the forecasted area.

Weather forecasters have said the weather conditions in Ukraine were the worst in 10 years and only 10% to 15% of arable land was suitable for sowing winter crops for the 2021 harvest because of the severe drought.

20 October, 2020