By KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Corn in Ukraine remains unharvested on another 47% of the sown areas, harvesting the remaining 11-12 million tonnes of corn will last from several weeks to several months.
At the same time, this year’s corn crop will be successfully harvested, since Ukraine already has successful experience of harvesting it in winter, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotsky told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the EBA Infrastructure Day 2022 conference.
"There are still 11-12 million tonnes of corn left in the fields. It will be possible to harvest it, but depending on weather conditions, it can take from several weeks to several months. Ukraine has experience in harvesting it in previous peaceful years. It all depends on weather factors – it can stand in the fields until spring, if there are favorable factors like humidity, then it will definitely be harvested. The harvesting speed will also depend on the weather factor," Vysotsky commented on the harvesting.
Earlier, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported that by November 25, a total of 13.5 million tonnes of corn had been harvested from 2.2 million hectares, or 53% of the sown volumes.
Last week, the GrainTrade grain exchange reported on adverse weather conditions in Ukraine, which increase the likelihood that the unharvested corn crop will be left to winter in the fields. This will lead to a reduction in the supply of new crop corn, which will lead to the instability of deliveries to ports and an increase in purchase prices for it in the domestic market.
The exchange also predicted that by the end of this week the amount of precipitation will decrease in the country, and the air temperature will drop to minus 1-6 degrees Celsius, which will help reduce soil and grain moisture and speed up corn harvesting.
"The probability that part of corn crop in Ukraine remains in the fields for the winter is growing. Heavy autumn rains slowed down harvesting and increased the moisture content of corn to 28-32%, which, amid high drying costs and low prices for corn, makes harvesting impractical. In November, snow stopped field work altogether, and weather like this will continue for at least another two weeks," GrainTrade said last week.
