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January 7, 2002
Ukraine winter wheat emerged largely undamaged from the latest episode of cold weather. Minimum temperatures dropped as low as -20 degrees Celsius throughout the country's prime winter wheat zone during the third week of December, but adequate snow cover reduced the likelihood of damage to the crop. Temperatures were lowest in eastern Ukraine, where the extreme minimum temperature approached -30 degrees. The weather was milder -- but still cold -- in northern, western, and southern Ukraine. In Krasnodar, one of Russia's prime winter grain regions, temperatures seldom dropped below -10 degrees and there was no threat of damage.
Snow cover had diminished in south-central Ukraine by January 1, but increased in other prime winter grain areas in Ukraine and Russia, including the Southern District, one of Russia's prime winter wheat zones. So far this season, conditions have been generally favorable for winter grains throughout the region, despite localized dryness in southern Ukraine during crop establishment. (See December 11 assessment.)
According to SovEcon, an independent Moscow-based agricultural research institute, Russian farms planted 16.1 million hectares of winter grains for 2002/02, up about 10 percent from last year. In Ukraine, sown winter crop area is forecast to match last season's 7.1 million hectares, according to data from the government press service cited by the Reuters news agency.
For more information, contact Mark Lindeman with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division on (202) 690-0143.
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