Ukraine plans to export 37 million tonnes of grain / Photo from wikipedia.org
First Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Yaroslav Krasnopolsky reports that Ukrainian farmers' losses due to drought this autumn when they were sowing winter crops totaled UAH 11 billion, or about $460 million.
"According to our estimates, farmers have already lost about UAH 11 billion because sown crops either have not sprouted or have been damaged. These are irrecoverable losses," he said at a press conference.
The ministry earlier projected that about UAH 80 billion, or $3.35 billion, was to be spent on the autumn sowing campaign.
Krasnopolsky said that 1.1 million hectares out of the 7.4 million hectares planned to be sown with winter crops this autumn remained unsown.
"Of them, 250,000 hectares should have been sown with rapeseeds. The remaining area was allocated for winter wheat and winter rye," he said.
In his words, crops sprouted only on 60% of the sown areas. Most of the crops are in bad condition. In spring, farmers will have to carry out a new sowing campaign on the areas where the crops have been damaged or have not been sown.
"And we'll need UAH 11 billion for this again," he added.
At the same time, the ministry did not lower its projections for grain exports in the 2015-2016 marketing year, which started in July 2015.
"One way or another, 37 million tonnes is the amount we plan to ship for export," he said.
This export poses no threat to Ukraine's food security, he said. The ministry and grain traders plan to agree targets for grain shipments onto domestic and foreign markets and will sign a corresponding memorandum by the end of November.
As was reported earlier, high air temperatures and the lack of the moisture in the soil in August through September considerably slowed the pace of the autumn sowing campaign in Ukraine. As a result of delayed field works and the dry soil, winter crops are now weak, which may translate into a loss of the harvest if winter is cold. What is more, farmers cannot sow the remaining areas as the optimal sowing period for some crops is over now.
The ministry planned that areas under winter crops for the year-2016 harvest should cover 7.4 million hectares. As of today, the ministry forecasts that the yield of wheat in 2016 will be 10 million tonnes less than the target.
The gross yield of grain crops in 2015 is expected at between 58.5 million and 60 million tonnes. In 2014, Ukraine harvested 63.8 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which was 2.4% up on 2013.