Ukraine Spring Grain Sowing 84 Percent Complete

(Agriculture.com) –Ukrainian farmers have sown 6.2
million hectares of spring grains or 84 percent of the total
area as of Friday, the country’s Agriculture Ministry said.

Farmers have sown around 1.5 million hectares of spring
barley, 412,000 hectares of peas, 185,000 hectares of oats,
163,000 hectares of spring wheat and 3.8 million hectares of
maize, the ministry said in a statement.

Farmers plan to sow 7.4 million hectares of spring grains
this year, including about 4.6 million hectares of maize, 1.6
million hectares of barley, 423,000 hectares of peas, 204,000
hectares of oats and 177,000 hectares of wheat.

Ukraine, the world’s third-largest grain exporter, said the
area covered by spring and winter grains would exceed 14 million
hectares this year.

The ministry also said farmers had sown 4.9 million hectares
of sunflower, or 88 percent of the expected area of 5.56 million
hectares.

They sowed 275,000 hectares of sugar beet, 92 percent of the
expected 301,000 hectares.

About 7.3 million hectares of spring grains were sown last
year. The country’s 2017 grains harvest totalled 61.3 million
tonnes.