REUTERS
Experts of Ukraine's analytical agency ProAgro forecast Ukraine will produce 28 million tonnes of maize production in the 2016-2017 marketing year (MY, July 2016 – June 2017), which is 20% more than last year, according to the agency's press service.
In this regard, maize exports will also increase by 12%, to 18.7 million tonnes, while the domestic consumption of this grain crop will rise by 5% by the end of 2016-2017 MY, to 8.4 million tonnes, the press service reported.
The experts note that these dynamics are primarily due to the high yield of maize. In 2016-2017 MY, the yield indicator of this crop is projected at 6.6 tonnes per hectare (ha), which is 13% higher than the world average.
The acreage under maize in 2016-2017 MY will reach 4.3 million ha, which is 4% more than last year's figure, the press service added.
Read alsoUkrainian agricultural boom: Why it matters to Irish farmers – mediaAs UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian agrarians set a historic record in 2016, collecting 66 million tonnes of grain, which was 5.9 million tonnes up from 2015, according to the Agrarian Policy Ministry.
In general, the average yield of grain crops last year amounted to 4.61 tonnes per ha, which was 0.5 tonnes per ha more than in 2015.
In the 2016-2017 marketing year, agrarians plan to set a new record for grain exports by supplying 41.6 million tonnes of grain on foreign markets.