The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in February improved its forecast of a grain yield in Ukraine in the current marketing year (July 2015 through June 2016 MY) by 0.3% as compared with the January forecast, to 60.5 million tonnes, according to a posting on the agency's website.
USDA forecasts the yield of coarse grain in Ukraine at 33.25 million tonnes, the same as in January forecast, while a projection of grain exports was revised upwards by 0.2%, to 20.19 million tonnes.
The forecast for the yield of Ukraine's 2015/16 wheat crop was upgraded by 0.9%, to 27.25 million tonnes, while the forecast for wheat exports in the current MY remained unchanged at 15.5 million tonnes.
The maize harvest in Ukraine is estimated at 23.3 million tonnes, according to the USDA February forecast, which is lower by 0.9% as projected in January. Maize exports are projected at 15.5 million tonnes, in line with the previous forecast.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine threshed 59.96 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops last year (excluding the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone), which was 6.1% down on 2014, the Ukrainian State Statistics Service reported.
In particular, Ukrainian farmers harvested 26.5 million tonnes of wheat in 2015, which was 9.9% up on 2014. Last year, the yield of barley decreased by 8.5%, to 8.3 million tonnes, while that of maize fell by 18.5%, to 23.2 million tonnes.
At this, Ukraine harvested 63.8 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops in 2014, which was a record high level since Ukraine's independence.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food forecasts grain exports in the current marketing year at over 36 million tonnes. Ukraine exported 34.8 million tonnes of grain in the 2014-2015 MY.