Grain harvest expected to be only 45-45.5 million tonnes

The Agricultural Policy Ministry of Ukraine has downgraded its forecast for the grain harvest from 46-47 million tonnes to 45-45.5mn t.

“We now expect the harvest to be around 45-45.5mn t,” said Agricultural Policy Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk at a press conference in Kyiv on June 24. “Our forecast calculations have been downgraded.”

The Minister said it was possible that by the time the crop was harvested completely, the forecast could be reviewed in the direction of an increase, which he pointed out is the case nearly every year. Mr. Prysiazhniuk also announced that the forecast for grain exports for the new marketing year, July 2010 through June 2011, was being lowered to 21 million tonnes. Earlier, it had been projected to be 22-24mn t.

In addition, Mr. Prysiazhniuk noted that bad weather in recent days had caused some damage to the crop but that it was unlikely to significantly affect the overall volume of crop harvested in these grains.