Drought decreasing Ukraine’s barley and wheat production potential

Spring planting in Ukraine is drawing to an end. Smaller-than-projected areas have been planted to almost all cereals, both major and niche ones.

A precipitation deficit combined with record high air temperatures in May leads to rapid exhaustion of soil moisture content. The latter is now at a few-year low, shrinking every day due to insufficient precipitation. [2]

These agrometeorological conditions will cause a decrease in potential barley and wheat yields in Ukraine. Its Steppe zone, which accounts for some 40-50% of the country’s barley and wheat production, was affected to the greatest extent by weather adversities during the past short spring.

Taking all the above into account, UkrAgroConsult is cutting its forecast for Ukrainian wheat and barley production in 2018. Most likely, barley crop will fall to a six-year low.

Ukraine’s wheat crop potential in 2018 may drop to a four-year low.

IC UAC