KIEV, UKRAINE — Ukrainian farmers have harvested 6.1 million tonnes of grain from an area of 1.9 million hectares, the press service of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine reported on July 3.

“As of July 2, Ukrainian farmers in 20 regions started harvesting early grain crops,” the report said.

In particular, Ukrainian farmers harvested 3.4 million tonnes of wheat from an area of 1 million hectares (15%); 2.5 million tonnes of barley from 750,000 hectares (30%); and 267,000 tonnes of peas from 128,000 hectares (45%). Also, 539,000 tonnes of winter rapeseed were gathered from an area of 277,000 hectares, with a yield of 19.5 centners per hectare.

Ukraine is coming off a year in which it harvested 70 million tonnes of grain and exported 49 million tonnes. It is believed that Ukraine will surpass neighboring Russia in grain exports for 2018-19, as Russia is estimating exports in the 46- to 47-million-tonne range.