You're reading: Rain in Ukraine damages almost 8% of grain crops, says agriculture ministry

The prolonged rainy spell late in June and early in July damaged almost 8% of Ukraine's grain crops, according to Oleksandr Demidov, the director of the crop markets department at Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.

Grain sprouted on 1.5% of the areas under crops, 5.2% of the crop fell over and 1% died, he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

He said certified warehouses have already received 650,000 tonnes of newly harvested grain, including 11% of second-grade wheat, 34% third-grade wheat, and 10% fourth-grade wheat. He said that the ratio of food and coarse grain is about 50 to 50.

The quality of the new crop could be realistically judged when Ukraine’s central regions actively launch the harvesting campaign, he added.

As reported, it rained heavily in Ukraine, sometimes with thunderstorms and strong gusts of wind, late in June and early in July. The ministry previously reported that the rain worsened the quality of the grain in the country.

According to the ministry, Ukraine threshed 3.8 million tonnes of early grain and leguminous crops from 1.3 million hectares as of July 8, 2011.

The ministry still forecasts that Ukraine will harvest 45 million tonnes of grain, against 39.3 million tonnes harvested in 2010.