Recent severe frosts across Ukraine's northern and eastern regions could reduce this year's grain and oilseed harvest, analyst APK-Inform has said.
The consultancy quoted agricultural scientists as saying that the air temperature early in May decreased to minus 2 Celsius degrees (28.4 Fahrenheit) and to minus 9 Celsius (15.8 Fahrenheit) in some areas.
Frosts have damaged crops of wheat, barley, rapeseed and peas, they said, adding that 20% to 30% of the yield could be lost.
The agriculture ministry told Reuters its crop forecast was unchanged but it could review it in June.
Ukraine Grain Exports
Elsewhere, data from Ukraine's agriculture ministry showed that the country's grain exports in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season had reached 44.4 million metric tonnes by 20 May, compared with 44.6 million as of May 24 last year.
This season's exports included 3 million tonnes so far in May, the data showed, including 16.6 million tonnes of wheat, almost 25 million tonnes of corn and 2.3 million tonnes of barley.
Ukraine typically sends about 95% of its grain exports via its Black Sea ports.
The Ukrainian government expects a harvest of 81.3 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds this season, with a 2023/24 exportable surplus of about 50 million tonnes.
The ministry has said the 2024 combined grain and oilseed crop could fall to 74 million tonnes, including 52.4 million tonnes of grain.
Ukraine's grain exports through Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta fell by a third on the year to 3.05 million metric tonnes in the first four months of 2024, its port authority told Reuters last week, as more Ukrainian exports went from Odesa. Overall, grain exports via Constanta were up by almost 15%.
