As of June 25, harvesting was already in progress in most of the Steppe zone of Ukraine. The average yields there are lower than last year; the harvest areas are comparable with 2017. On average, winter barley and winter wheat yields are down by 3% and 5%, respectively. For now, only Odesa region shows higher yields against last year. It partially offsets the more significant decline in the average grain yields in the Steppe.
The first yield figures for spring barley in the south of the country are also noticeably lower than in 2017. Droughty weather conditions slashed grain yield potential in South Ukraine. The situation in the west and north of the country is not so adverse. The average grain yields in Ukraine may somewhat improve once large-scale harvesting advances into these regions.
Harvest of winter rapeseed in Ukraine is gathering pace. According to the Ag Ministry, apart from the Steppe zone (Zaporizhia, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk regions), this work has already begun in the Forest-Steppe zone: farmers in Vinnytsia region have harvested the first parcels of this crop.
As of June 25, growers have brought in 130.4 thousand tons of winter rapeseed from 74.8 thousand ha (8% of this year’s forecast harvest area of 983 thousand ha) with an average yield of 1.74 ton/ha. (UkrAgroConsult/Business World Magazine)