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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
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Production
Estimates and Crop Assessment Division |
September 16, 2002
USDA estimates 2002/03 Ukrainian wheat production at 21.0 million tons, nearly matching last year's 21.3 million, which was the highest wheat harvest since 1993/94. Barley output is estimated at 10.5 million tons, up slightly from 10.2 million in 2001/02 and the highest level since 14.5 million in 1994/95. Total grain production is estimated at 38.1 million tons, against last year's 39.6 million. Wheat area for 2002/03 is estimated at 6.8 million hectares (6.9 million last year), barley area at 4.3 (3.9) million, and total grain area at 14.7 (15.0) million. Ukraine's record wheat production occurred in 1990/91, when 30.4 million tons were harvested from 7.6 million hectares, with a yield of 4.01 tons per hectare.
Timely rains during the growing season and favorable harvest weather resulted in high yields for 2002/03 Ukrainian wheat and barley. According to preliminary harvest data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, grain yield was lower than last year in southern and eastern Ukraine, the country's main wheat and barley production zone. Early-season dryness had a negative effect on establishment and early spring growth in these oblasts, but rainfall in late May and early June saved the crop, and total grain yield in these oblasts will likely surpass the average of the past five years. Elsewhere in the country, yield was considerably higher than last year, and Ukraine's total grain yield is estimated at 2.60 tons per hectare, down only 2 percent from last year.
Weather has been generally favorable for corn and sunflowers in southeastern Ukraine, except for excessive heat during mid-July when both crops typically are advancing through the heat-sensitive reproductive stage. Sunflowerseed production is estimated at 2.9 million tons (against 2.3 million in 2001/02) from 2.7 (2.4) million hectares. Yield is estimated at 1.07 tons per hectare, up 14 percent from last year, when dryness prevailed during the summer months and heat was more persistent than this year. Corn production is estimated at 3.0 million tons, down from a reported 3.6 million last year. (Official data indicate that the 2001/02 corn crop somehow dodged the effect of the drought that reduced the yield for the sunflowerseed crop, which is grown in the same region of Ukraine.)
