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Weather has prolonged the harvesting season

July 10, 2017 at 4:39 PM , Starry Night Ltd.
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Recent rains and hailstorms have intervened in the harvesting schedules of farmers. More rains are expected in the end of the week in the North regions.

Weather might influence the quality of the crop

SOFIA. Never has harvest been so much belated and extended into the month for the last few years as harvest 2017-18 has. Sporadic but strong showers interrupted harvesting. Too much rain, while in some regions devastating hailstorms, will definitely affect the quality of the crop! So far, farmers claim quality of this year’s crop is higher than that of last year.

Anyhow, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of June 2017, farmers collected wheat from only 3% of total available plots for harvest, which represents an iota in the sea of wheat land - 1,100,485 ha. When compared to last year’s progress of harvested land, current harvest’s lags behind by 70.4%. More heavy rains are expected in the end of the week in the North regions, as hailstorms are possible to hit again.

Strong exports forecasted

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, this year’s output is expected to be around 5,200,000 mt although by the end of harvest, the weather could further cut the forecast. Anyhow, the stronger the harvest, the higher the exports, as has been the case during the previous season when the estimated output stood at 5,662,721 mt while exports reached 4,168,623 mt by the end of June 2017. The country mainly exports to EU member countries with Spain being the leading importing country. Since droughts hit Spain, the country will inevitably continue to be the largest buyer of local crop this year.

Although prices currently remain subdued, by the end of harvest -- which end could not be estimated with certainty because of the fickle weather, -- prices could appreciate quickly after realized output put to the test its current forecast.

Wheat, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

milling wheat

0.146

feed wheat

0.141

EXW Bulgaria

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