In particular, 34.3 million tonnes of early grain and leguminous crops were harvested from an area of 9.9 million hectares with a yield of 3.48 tonnes per hectare; and 22.5 million tonnes of maize from 3.2 million hectares, which accounted for 70% of the projected figure with a yield of 7.03 tonnes per hectare, the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry's press service said. Farmers also harvested 133,000 tonnes of buckwheat from 106,000 hectares (98% of the target) with a yield of 1.26 tonnes per hectare; and 75,000 tonnes of millet from 48,000 hectares (93% of the target) with a yield of 1.55 tonnes per hectare, it said. In addition, 13.1 million tonnes of sunflower seeds were threshed from an area of 5.8 million hectares (96% of the target) with a yield of 2.24 tonnes per hectare. Farmers also gathered 4.1 million tonnes of soybeans from 1.6 million hectares (93% of the target) with a yield of 2.54 tonnes per hectare; and 2.7 million tonnes of rapeseeds from an area of 1 million hectares with a yield of 2.61 tonnes per hectare.
Sugar beets output totaled 10.2 million tonnes from 211,000 hectares (76% of the target) with a yield of 48.6 tonnes per hectare. The sowing campaign is underway simultaneously with harvesting, the ministry said. As of October 30, Ukrainian farmers sowed 6.9 million hectares of winter grain, which accounted for 96% of the planned 7.2 million hectares. As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry improved its forecast for grain yield in 2018 to 64 million tonnes. Ukraine harvested 61.3 million tonnes of cereals and leguminous crops in 2017, which was 7.3% down from 2016, according to the State Statistics Service.
