A record heatwave in July in most parts of Ukraine could reduce the wheat harvest corn by 2024 by about 6 million tonnes compared to last year's level, the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC) producers' group warned.
The group did not provide a forecast for the total resulting harvest, but its expectation is in line with a projection last week from the Ukrainian grain traders union UGA, which predicted a 2024 corn harvest of 23.4 million tonnes, compared with 29.6 million in 2023.
Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the UAC, said corn output could fall by 30% due to the heatwave, despite government optimism. The acting finance minister said last month that late crop yields could fall by as much as 15% in most regions.
Separately, the APK-Inform analyst group said on Monday that temperatures had cooled slightly in the last days of July, but overall conditions remained unfavorable.
“Agrometeorological conditions have improved slightly, but are still unfavorable for the yield of late crops,” according to Ukrainian state meteorologists.
Meteorologists say prolonged heat and lack of rain have intensified the drought, negatively affecting the growth of late crops.
Source: Pavel Polityuk | Notícias Agrícolas
