Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Kyiv, July 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The grain harvest in Ukraine in 2009 is to fall to 37-38 million tonnes, which would still be the second largest figure over the past ten years, according to Kernel Group, a large operator on Ukraine's sunflower seed oil market.

"Taking into account a 37 million tonne harvest and ending stocks exceeding three million tonnes, we expect that 16-18 million tonnes of grain would be exported in the 2009-2010 marketing season," reads a company report on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Kernel explains the cut in the harvest forecast by a lack of rain, the unusual long cold period in April and the negative impact of the global financial crisis, which restricted farmers' access to credit and their ability to buy high-quality seeds and fertilizers.

The company said that the sunflower harvest this year could be around 5.5 million tonnes, which is 15% less than a year ago, although it is more than 4.2 million tonnes – the average indicator for the past ten years.

Kernel said that unfavorable weather cut the rape harvest by one third, and the company forecast a 1.9 million tonne harvest against 2.8 million tonnes last year.

The company said that the earlier forecasts for the harvest in Ukraine in 2009 were too pessimistic. Kernel said that exports and seeds supplies for processing would be higher than the average indicators for the past period of time.

Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry reported that as of July 22, 2009 45% of grain fields were processed and harvested around 16 million tonnes of grain.

The ministry forecasts 42-43 million tonne grain harvest for 2009 against 53.3 million tonnes seen last year.