Sugar-to-sunflowers giant Astarta admitted that it had been caught out by the "harsh weather" which has beset Ukraine's crops, slashing 25-30% from its forecasts for barley and wheat yields.

The agribusiness giant, which farms on 180,000 hectares of Ukraine, said that its wheat crop would average 3.5-4.0 tonnes per hectare, implying a slump of up to 23% on last year's result.

Its barley harvest yields would come in at 2.5-3.0 tonnes per hectare, a fall of up to 17%.

"Harsh weather played down productivity of early grains," the group said, adding that recent conditions had been "extremely hot".

Parts of Ukraine suffered above average rainfall during the spring, before the spread of the heatwave from neighbouring Russia.

Quality hopes

Nonetheless, Astarta said that its yields would come in some 20-30% above the average for Ukraine, which is set to harvest 42m-43m tonnes of grain, according to Viktor Slauta, the country's deputy prime minister in charge of agriculture.

Last year, Ukraine harvested 46m tonnes.

The company also raised hopes for the quality of its grain, with more than 70% of wheat considered of "good" milling standard.

"This, together with rapidly growing international and local prices for crops┘ [will] offset a decrease in tonnage of early crops and secure good levels of revenues from grain sales," Astarta said.

Hot weather, while often causing yield loss in wheat, can raise protein content.

Better beet

The group added that its other crops were in good health, including its key sugar beets, which were gaining more than 10 grammes a day in weight apiece, faster than the pace of growth last year, and had a "high level" of sugar content.

Astarta is Ukraine's biggest sugar refiner, processing in main its own beets.

Shares in the group stood 1.2% higher at 62.60 zloty in lunchtime trade in Warsaw.
 


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