According to him, 16.2 million tons of wheat, 7.1 million tons of barley, 0.7 million tons of rye have been harvested. "This is enough for domestic demand (5 million tons) and export in spite of extremely unfavorable weather conditions in winter and summer 2012. In total, about 45 million tons of crops are expected to be collected," the official said.
He added that Ukraine is traditionally divided into three agro-climatic zones of grain production. In the steppe zone about 5 million hectares of cereals were planted this year, 3.1 million hectares in forest-steppe and one million hectares in the forest zone. "Thus, the steppe zone is the most important for us, where this season the yield will amount 16.2 c/ha. This is about 9 c/ha less than in 2011," the expert said.
According to him, the harvest of 2012 will allow to export 21-23 million tons of grain including about five million tons of wheat and three million tons of barley. Although, due to the heat this forecast can be reduced. "At the same time we have a good quality of wheat, 70-80% of the crop belongs to the food class. In general, for our country, the standard level of harvest should amount 50 million tons," Kvasha said.
