On November 11-20, air temperatures were falling in Bulgaria. They dropped to 5-7 degrees C below zero in some areas.
These weather conditions stopped growing processes in winter crops. Winter cereals are mostly at three-leaf stage of plant development. Winter wheat and barley seeded on October 1-10, are at tillering stage. Cereals planted in November are at emergence stage.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, corn was harvested from 408.5 thousand ha as of November 10, that is 96.6% of its projected area (423 thousand ha). Farmers got 2152.3 KMT with an average yield of 5.27 MT/ha.
As of the reporting date, the average corn yield is 2.7% higher than in 2015. But this is not enough to offset a 9.5% contraction of Bulgarian corn plantings for the 2016 harvest.
Thus, the country’s corn output is expected to hit a four-year low in 2016. According to estimates, the 2016/2017 corn harvest in Bulgaria will be 7% lower than last year. (UkrAgroConsult/Business World Magazine)
