The rains expected for the period July 15 through 20 will be beneficial for the crops incorporated in the II group, such as corn, sunflower, sugar beet, and vegetables, but will delay the harvest of grain crops, the deputy chairman of the Farmers' Union “Uniagroproiect”, Alexandru Slusari, told Info-Prim Neo. According to him, the rains will do good in the case of the II group crops, as no drop of rain has fallen since May on quite a part of Moldova. The rainfall will be just on time to help these crops come into flower. On the other hand, the precipitations will be an impediment to the harvest of grains. Traditionally, the rain-related harvest delay will be most sensed in northern Moldova. But overall, this year's harvest is expected to be better than last year when Moldova was hit by drought. The forecast for this year is 1 million tonnes of grain crops in the I group (wheat, rape, barley). Yet Slusari believes the harvest will disappoint the expectations. “The weather conditions, the farmland left idle and the delayed harvest will bear on the output”, said Slusari. Ilie Boian, a senior official of the State Weather Service, told Info-Prim Neo that the below-average temperatures recorded over the recent days are common for July. Isolated rain showers are expected to occur throughout July 20, except for July 18. Yesterday, much of the rain fell in the northern part of the country, as few showers poured over the southern area. In Chisinau and central Moldova, the rainfall was also scarce.