Ukraine Sows More Wheat Than Expected Despite Dry Weather

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine has planted a bigger-than-expected wheat crop, but there are still concerns that dry weather damaged some fields due for harvesting next year.

There have been worries that farmers wouldn’t sow as much wheat as planned because of little rain since the planting window started in August, according to consultant APK-Inform in Dnipro. The latest government data suggests that farmers were able to overcome the poor sowing conditions, but analysts aren’t convinced the problems are over.

The condition of plantings in some of Ukraine’s southern regions has suffered and there’s a “big risk” that farmers will have to plant something else on those fields in the spring, according to Andrii Novoselov, chief analyst at Ukrainian consultant Barva Invest, which held a crop tour across the country this month.

As of Dec. 1, farmers planted 6.4 million hectares of wheat for the next season crop, about 8% more than the area estimated by the government’s agriculture portal. Compared with last year, the acreage is about the same.

“That’s considerably higher than the market had expected,” said Maria Kolesnik, deputy chief of consultant ProAgro in Kyiv. “It’s interesting how much of the plantings will emerge in good or satisfactory condition after winter.”

Winter wheat seeds need moisture to grow into young plants that are robust enough to endure the cold season. The winter crop makes up more than 90% of Ukraine’s total wheat harvest.

Russia faced a similar bout of dry weather, but it wasn’t bad enough to hurt crop conditions. The winter wheat area may have risen to a record, analysts estimated.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anatoly Medetsky in Moscow at amedetsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Liezel Hill

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