Gross grain crop harvest in Ukraine during the 2016-2017 agricultural year could be 56.8 million tonnes, according to projections of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB).

This is almost 2.8 million tonnes less than last year, UCAB President Taras Vysotsky said in Kyiv on Tuesday.

UCAB said that the decline is mainly linked to the decrease in wheat production. Wheat planted areas were narrowed due unfavorable weather conditions during the autumn sowing campaign.

UCAB experts said that winter grain crops will be harvested from 6.9 million ha. Some 13% of winter crops could be re-sowed. Spring crop planted area would be 7.8 million ha, including 4.8 million ha with corn and 2.1 million ha with barley. Total grain crop planted area will be 13.6 million ha (a drop of 2% year-over-year).

Grain exports could decrease by 2.1 million tonnes to 32.2 million tonnes compared to 34.3 million tonnes projected for 2015-2016 agri-year.

Grain crop exports income is estimated at $5.4 billion for 2015-2016 agri-year. It could increase by $400 million in 2016-2017 agri-year, to $5.8 billion driven by the better price expectations compared to the current season.

Gross oilseed harvest in 2016-2017 agri-year could be 17.2 million tonnes. This is 800,000 tonnes more than last year thanks to the expansion of sunflower and soybeans planted areas by 2% and 17% respectively.

Oilseeds and sunflower oil exports in 2015-2016 agri-year would total $5 billion. Experts hope that it would decrease by $157 million in 2016-2017 agri-year, to $4.87 billion.

This is the preliminary report that would be revised.