Ukrainian spring wheat planting half done, rain slows progress

Ukrainian farmers have already finished spring wheat sowing on half of the planned areas, while the total spring campaign progress reached 13% as of April 13, with precipitation over most of Ukraine slowing down progress, official data from the agriculture ministry showed Friday.

To date 142,800 ha were planted with spring wheat, which accounts for 50% of the estimated 285,400 ha – this is 34% higher than the area planted last year.

Spring barley planting progressed by four percentage points to 42% of the planned area or 436,000 ha of a total of 1.04 million ha.

That is also 13% higher than last year’s spring planting area.

Sunflower sowing was only done on 1% or 37,200 ha of the planned 5.6 million ha, which is also 13% up on what was planted in 2022.

Corn planting has only started in the Sumy region in the northern part of Ukraine, with less than 1% of the areas completed, while the ministry estimates the area planted with corn will drop by 14% in 2023 to 3.6 million ha, partly because around 5-6% fields are left unharvested, according to the official data.

Soybean planting has not yet started, but the ministry estimates the area will increase by 22% in the 2023/24 marketing year to 1.84 million ha.

Above-normal precipitation over Ukraine has slowed spring field works, while a lack of sun has also slowed grain development but at the same time has improved the moisture level of all soil layers, according to the national meteorological agency.