Ukraine to harvest 5.6-5.7 mln tonnes of sunflower in 2008 - Ag Ministry

The Ministry of Agricultural Policy of the Ukraine forecasts the recently begun 2008 sunflower harvest will reach 5.6-5.7 mln tonnes as opposed to nearly 4.2 mln tonnes last year.

In 2007, the sun seed crop totaled almost 4.2 mln tonnes, down 21.6% compared to 2006, according to the State Statistics Committee.

As of September 1, Ukraine had harvested sunflower throughout 69.700 ha, the crop totaled 89,300 tonnes with an average yield of 12.8 c/ha.