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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
October 21, 2002
Conditions are favorable for the newly-emerging winter wheat crop in Ukraine. The fall sowing campaign is about 90 percent complete. According to Ministry of Agriculture data reported by the Reuters news agency, winter wheat had been sown on 6.45 million hectares by about October 9, compared to 6.51 million by the same date last year and against a target of 7.12 million. Rainfall in late September replenished soil moisture for Ukraine winter wheat. Moisture conditions are favorable throughout the country and considerably better than last fall, when drought hampered emergence and establishment of winter grains in southern and eastern Ukraine.
Timely rainfall in the spring of 2002 reversed the dryness of the previous fall and winter, boosting yield potential for the 2002/03 grain crop. USDA estimates Ukraine total grain production for 2002/03 at 38.6 million tons (country's second consecutive bumper crop), including 21.0 (21.3) million tons of wheat and 10.5 (10.2) million barley. Corn harvesting began in mid-September and is roughly half complete. According to harvest data cited by various sources, about 2 million tons of corn had been gathered as of October 9 from about half of the planted area, with yield reported at roughly 3.3 tons per hectare, up 10 to15 percent from last year. USDA estimates 2002/03 Ukraine corn production at 3.5 million tons, against 3.6 million last year, and area at 1.2 million hectares.
The sunflowerseed harvest is approaching completion, with yield up nearly 25 percent from last year. According to Ministry of Agriculture data reported by the Reuters news agency, 3.0 million tons of sunflowerseed was harvested by October 14 from nearly 2.5 million hectares, roughly 90 percent of the sown area. Ministry harvest-progress reports typically cite "bunker-weight" production, prior to cleaning and drying. In 2001/02, Ukraine's total net sunflowerseed output of 2.25 million tons was 93 percent of bunker weight. USDA estimates net 2002/03 sunflowerseed production at 3.0 million tons.
