Ukrainian farmers thresh over 50 mln tonnes of grain as of Oct 18

Ukrainian farmers threshed 50.3 million tonnes of grain from 12.5 million hectares as of October 18.

In particular, 34.3 million tonnes of early grain and leguminous crops were harvested from an area of 9.9 million hectares with a yield of 3.48 tonnes per hectare; and 15.3 million tonnes of maize from 2.3 million hectares, which accounted for 51% of the projected figure with a yield of 6.54 tonnes per hectare, the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry's press service said.

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Farmers also harvested 125,000 tonnes of buckwheat from 102,000 hectares (94% of the target) with a yield of 1.23 tonnes per hectare; and 74,000 tonnes of millet from 48,000 hectares (91% of the target) with a yield of 1.54 tonnes per hectare, it said.

In addition, 12.2 million tonnes of sunflower seeds were threshed from an area of 5.5 million hectares (91% of the target) with a yield of 2.22 tonnes per hectare. Farmers also gathered 3.4 million tonnes of soybeans from 1.3 million hectares (79% of the target) with a yield of 2.53 tonnes per hectare; and 2.7 million tonnes of rapeseeds from an area of 1 million hectares with a yield of 2.61 tonnes per hectare.

Production of sugar beets totaled 7.2 million tonnes from 149,000 hectares (53% of the target) with a yield of 48.3 tonnes per hectare.

The sowing campaign continues simultaneously with the harvesting of grain, the ministry said.

As of October 18, Ukrainian farmers sowed 6.5 million hectares of winter grain, which accounted for 91% of the planned 7.2 million hectares.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry kept its forecast for grain yield in 2018 at 60 million tonnes.

Despite the fact that the 2018 sowing campaign began a week later, its pace is 16% ahead of that in 2017.

Ukraine harvested 61.3 million tonnes of cereals and leguminous crops in 2017, which was 7.3% down from 2016, according to the State Statistics Service.