Ukraine to sow winter crops for 2014 harvest on 3 m ha in current weather conditions, says UAC

Kyiv, September 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) forecasts that winter crops for the 2014 harvest will be sowed on only 3 million hectares due to bad weather conditions, President of the Confederation Leonid Kozachenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

"I think we will not be able to plant crops on more than 3 million hectares, however we planned to sow winter crops on about 8-8.5 million hectares," he said.

According to the UAC head, Ukraine will sow winter wheat on about 2 million hectares and winter rapeseeds on one million hectares. Kozachenko specified that farmers have sowed 20-25% of the planned area, and the weather forecast for the coming weeks is disappointing. If crops are not sowed in the planned terms, wheat will not have time to spring, and the hydrometeorological center forecasts an early winter.

"We need to adjust the crop rotation for next year," said the expert.

The UAC president also said that the moisture of corn due to the rainy weather exceeds the permissible level. In Cherkasy region, the figure is 30% with the norm being 15%.

Director General of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club Volodymyr Lapa believes that the load on grain drying warehouses will significantly increase in such conditions.