MOLDOVA (5 February)
Area planted to winter cereals, at 476 000 hectares, this year is similar to 2002 and no significant damages have been reported to winter crops this year. Winter and spring crops are almost equally important. Preliminary estimates put aggregate grain harvest at about 2.7 million tonnes in 2003, which is similar to the harvest in 2002. The forecast harvest includes some 1.19 million tonnes of wheat, 1.2 million tonnes of maize and 230 000 tonnes of barley. The government of Moldova with the help of the international community is attempting to increase agricultural production, in particular cereals, in the near future. Moldova has already exported about 395 000 tonnes of cereals during the current marketing year, which is a post Soviet record. Consequently, wheat stocks are low and the country might need to import wheat to meet the deficit.