Weather Center: Ukraine's gross winter wheat crop could drop 37-46% in 2012

The gross harvest of winter wheat in Ukraine this year could be 37% to 46% smaller than the previous one due to unfavorable weather conditions, according to the head of the agricultural meteorology department of the Ukrainian Weather Center, Tetiana Adamenko. "The preliminary estimates are that the gross winter wheat crop this year could be eight to ten million tonnes smaller than last year," Adamenko said during a press conference in Kyiv on March 30.

According to the State Statistics Service, Ukraine harvested 21.6 million tonnes of winter wheat last year.

Estimating the amount of crop death, Adamenko noted that Weather Center's early figures indicate that from 35% to 40% of the planted winter wheat has been killed by bad fall and winter weather, 20% of winter rye, from 60% to 70% of winter barley, and from 50% to 60% of winter rapeseed crops.

Updated figures, she said, will be available after April 10 subsequent to a survey of the fields. "It is not possible today to do a representative evaluation. More active spring processes have to begin," she said.

Furthermore, Adamenko said, according to the observations of weather stations the over-winter planting of winter crops was extremely uneven and irregular. "This does not give hope for a good harvest. There are completely dead fields," she said.

According to her, a mere about 40% of young crops could produce a good yield, the remaining will be low productive.