Food wheat shortfall expected at 70,000 tonnes, ministry

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry anticipates a total output of autumn wheat of 780 to 795 thousand metric tons, of which food wheat will constitute 250 to 280 thousand tonnes. As the country's demand for food wheat is estimated at 345 thousand tonnes, the deficit will stand at 70 to 95 thousand tonnes, said the ministry in a communique, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. The estimated output rate for wheat will be around 2.5t/ha. Some 80 thousand tonnes of wheat will be left for future use as seeding material. Autumn crops occupy a total area of around 438.3 thousand hectares, including autumn wheat – 311.7 thousand hectares and autumn barley 66.9 thousand hectares. The shortage of rainfall in April and May led to a differentiation into three categories of the autumn crops: 130 thousand hectares of good quality, 170 thousand hectares of satisfactory quality and 131 thousand hectares of poor quality.