Ukraine to Harvest 45 Million Tons of Grain, Minister Says

Ukrainian farmers will harvest “at least” 45 million metric tons of grain and the country won’t limit exports this year, First Deputy Agriculture Minister Mykola Bezuhlyi said.

The harvest will include 20 million tons of wheat and 8 million tons of barley, Bezuhlyi told reporters today in Kiev. Corn output may be as much as 17 million tons after farmers planted a record amount of fields with the crop, he said.

The harvest will be better than last year and the cabinet won’t limit exports in the year starting July 1, when outbound shipments are expected to be 25 million tons, he said. Ukraine restricted grain exports in October after it lost around 6 million tons of the commodity due to the 2010 summer drought.

About 100,000 tons of winter barley has been harvested, Bezuhlyi said. Winter wheat quality will be “very good” with around 60 percent of it suitable for milling, he said.

Grain exports will be taxed from July through December.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net