Ukraine: Barley sown on 954 thousand ha as of March 31

Ukrainian farmers had sown 1.27 million hectares of early spring grain or 50 percent of the initial area as of March 31, the agriculture ministry said on March 31.

The area included 954,000 hectares of spring barley, 90,000 hectares of wheat and 132,400 hectares of peas, the ministry said in a report.

The ministry said the spring grains, mostly maize and barley, could eventually cover about 7.5 million hectares, including 2.5 million hectares of early spring crops.

Analyst UkrAgroConsult said last month that Ukraine's grain harvest was likely to fall 10 percent to 52.2 million metric tons in 2016 due to a sharp drop in winter wheat output caused by poor weather during sowing.

The wheat harvest is likely to fall to 17.3 million metric tons this year from 24.8 million in 2015, the consultancy said.

01 April, 2016