Ukrainian farmers have sown 360,300 hectares of winter grain for the 2025 crop as of September 16, representing 6.9% of the expected area, Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday. This is significantly lower compared to the same period last year.
Of the total, 340,300 hectares were allocated to wheat winter wheat, while 16,500 hectares were devoted to winter barley. Winter wheat, in turn, generally accounts for 95% of Ukraine's total wheat production each year.
Although the ministry's statement did not provide direct comparative data, last year, farmers had already sown 514,800 hectares of winter wheat as of September 19, 2023, which represented 11.8% of the expected area.
The ministry also said the planned area for winter wheat in 2025 was 4.7 million hectares, but stressed that Ukrainian farmers could increase the planted area to more than 5 million hectares to offset the decline in the area planted with winter rapeseed.
Impact of prolonged drought on the reduction of planted area
According to an industry source, the area allocated to winter rapeseed could be reduced by 500,000 hectares due to the prolonged drought affecting most of the country.
Record temperatures and lack of rainfall across most of Ukraine in recent months have created adverse conditions for planting winter crops, especially rapeseed. As of September 16, Ukrainian farmers have sown 688,300 hectares of rapeseed, or 61.3% of the expected area of 1.12 million hectares. Over the past 7 days, farmers have sown 153,600 hectares of rapeseed, compared to 88,000 hectares sown between September 2 and 9.
Finally, Ukraine has completed the 2024 wheat harvest, with a total of 21.8 million tonnes harvested. This is a slight drop compared to the more than 22 million tonnes harvested in 2023.
Source: Pavel Polityuk | Notícias Agrícolas
