Ukrainian farms had harvested 49.5 million tonnes of grain from 93% of the expected area as of 6 January 2023, the agriculture ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement on Friday (6 January) that farmers had harvested 10.7 million hectares of crops, with the grain yield averaging 4.64 tonnes per hectare.
It said farmers had completed the 2022 wheat and barley harvests, threshing 20.2 million and 5.8 million tonnes respectively.
The total volume also included 22.1 million tonnes of corn, harvested from 81% of the expected area with a yield of 6.48 tonnes per hectare.
Fall In Output
In 2021, Ukraine harvested 32.2 million tonnes of wheat and 9.4 million tonnes of barley. The ministry has said a fall in output in 2022 was caused by hostilities in the country's eastern, northern and southern regions.
Ukraine sowed more than 6 million hectares of winter wheat for the 2022 harvest, but a large area was occupied after Russia's invasion and only 4.9 million hectares were harvested in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The ministry said farmers also harvested 10.5 million tonnes of sunflower seeds from 99% of the planted area, and 9 million tonnes of sugar beet from 99% of the area.
The government has said Ukraine could harvest around 51 million tonnes of grain this year, down from a record 86 million tonnes in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower yields.
Elsewhere, a surge in the cost of most food commodities last year, as the disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised concerns of shortages, sent the UN food agency's average price index to the highest level on record.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM – your source for the latest supply chain news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
