Russia & Ukraine: The sowing campaign for the 2005/06 winter grain crops in Russia and Ukraine is nearing completion, USDA revealed in a statement on October 13. In Ukraine barley comprises 5% of winter grain area. In Russia, the USDA estimates a relatively small amount of winter barley, about 0.5 million hectares, which is grown in the Southern District. Spring barley accounts for about 95 % of Russia's total barley area and is grown throughout the country's grain production zone.

Reports from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture indicate that large agricultural enterprises, which account for roughly 85 percent of the country's grain production, had sown 10.8 million hectares of winter grains by October 5 against 10.9 million by approximately the same date last year. In Ukraine, official data place sown area at 6.7 million hectares (against a target of 7.9 million), including 5.7 (6.5) million hectares of wheat. Winter grain planting in both Russia and Ukraine is typically 80 to 85 percent complete by early October. Moisture conditions are generally favorable throughout Ukraine except for a band of dryness in the southeast that includes several important winter wheat oblasts.

20 October, 2004