Kyiv, March 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine in 2014 will harvest about 53 million tonnes of grain, including 19.6 million tonnes of wheat, 7.8 million tonnes of barley, and 23 million tonnes of corn, the UkrAgroConsult consulting agency forecasts.

"Our forecast for the grain harvest is 53 million tonnes, compared to 57-58 million tonnes last year. Our estimate is slightly lower than the official one [according to the State Statistics Service, 63 million tonnes of grain was harvested in 2013]," UkrAgroConsult analyst Yelyzaveta Malyshko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

According to her, the wintering of winter crops was the most successful in a few last years. Some 350,000 hectares, which should have been sown with winter wheat last autumn, will be sowed with maize and spring barley.

The analyst also noted that due to the early spring the rate of sowing barley is the highest in the last six years. According to her, areas under this crop this year will be extended, as its cultivation is less expensive than, for example, corn, and it more quickly brings revenues, first exported. Areas under spring wheat will remain unchanged at about 150,000 hectares, she said.

Relative to corn, Malyshko forecasts that areas under this crop will at least remain at last year's level - 4.8 million hectares.