UKRAINE (30 July)
Cereal harvest has begun and the prospects are now for a much reduced crop than previously estimated. Aggregate cereal harvest this year is estimated at 20.3 million tonnes, which is more than 15.7 million tonnes lower than the harvest in 2002. This year’s harvest includes some 5.5 million tonnes of wheat, 7.0 million tonnes of barley and just over 5.2 million tonnes of maize. The main causes of such significant crop damages this year were severely cold temperatures, thin snow cover, frost and an unusually dry and late spring. Ukraine requires some 23.1 million tonnes of cereals to cover domestic requirements, including 10.3 million tonnes of wheat, 6.3 million tonnes of barley and 3.7 million tonnes of maize.
The aggregate cereal export during the 2003/04 marketing year is forecast at about 1.36 million tonnes compared with 10.5 million tonnes last year. Cereal exports this year include some 500 000 tonnes of barley and 800 000 tonnes of maize. The cereal import requirement for the 2003/04 marketing year is estimated at 2.4 million tonnes. including 2.3 million tonnes of good quality wheat and 70 000 tonnes of rye. In contrast, cereal imports, mainly good quality wheat, totalled 666 000 tonnes during the 2002/03 marketing year.