Winter-Wheat Sowing in Ukraine Is Slowed by Dryness, Center Says

Sowing of winter wheat in Ukraine was delayed by dryness that caused average soil humidity to drop to the lowest level since 2000 for this month, increasing crop risks, the national weather center said.

Soil humidity is at a record low for September in the Zhytomyr, Rivne and Volyn regions, Tetiana Adamenko, head of the agrometeorology department at the Kiev-based Hydrometeorology Center, said in a phone interview today. Less than half of planned wheat seeding took place in those areas, where the optimal planting period to allow sufficient crop development for winter ended yesterday, she said.

Farmers sowed 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) with winter wheat as of Sept. 19, Liza Malyshko, a grain analyst at researcher UkrAgroConsult, said by phone today. That compares with 2.17 million hectares on the same date last year.

A lack of precipitation was the main reason for seeding delays, Malyshko said. Rain is unlikely to fall anywhere in Ukraine until Oct. 5 at the earliest, the center’s Adamenko said.

Winter rapeseed that was planted in August also suffered from a lack of soil moisture, according to Adamenko.

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

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