Ukrainian farmers will have to reseed 6-10% of winter crop plantings in spring 2014, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center Director Mykola Kulbida said on Monday. “This year we expect winter crops to be damaged on 6-10% of area, depending on the region. But this is less than occurs on average in Ukraine,” Kulbida said. According to him, winter crops are now in the worst condition in Luhansk region, where 15-20% of plantings are weak and sparse, and in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Poltava, and Sumy regions (11-15%).

The meteorologist says the best crop condition is observed in Western Ukraine, Zhytomyr region and Crimea, where the portion of damaged crops is at most 5%. Kulbida also pointed out that this condition of winter crops allows predicting their yield to rise by 10-20% from 2013. “This condition of winter crops suggests that their yields will be 10-20% higher than last year’s 26.5 MMT,” he said.

Source - http://www.blackseagrain.net/