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Wheat: Showers will determine the state of the upcoming harvest

May 3, 2018 at 2:26 PM , Starry Night Ltd.
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SOFIA. Right now, favorable weather conditions are crucial for success. Exports have never been so strong.

BULGARIA. Approximately, two months before the start of harvest 2018-19, available for harvest acreages stand at 1,138,485 ha, which on a year-to-year basis is by 3.8% higher. The majority of the wheat is exported on an annual basis, and the market expected close to last year’s, if not more, planted land. However, before combines enter fields to collect the grain, farmers have to face a force they have no power over - the weather.

Wheat: Weather – the key to success

Temperatures during the previous month were above the threshold for the season while rainfalls were below the normal levels. Currently, the green fields need water. According to farmers, the period right now is critical for the crops to have access to necessary moisture reserves. Rains are what will make the difference between a strong harvest and a weak one. Although the recent weather has not granted farmers any showers, the forecast is for intermittent rains in the following few days. Currently, rains are falling in the fields around Sofia.

        Harvest 2017-18

(01.07.2017 - 27.04.2018)

            units in MT

Beginning availability

179,000

Aggregate output

5,900,000

Imports

60,145

Domestic consumption

1,437,000

   food

821,000

   feed

418,000

   Seeds

200,000

   industrial usage

28,800

Exports to the world

4,144,445

   to EU markets

3,507,014

   to rest of the world

637,431

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

Unquenched foreign markets

Never before have exports been so persistently strong so late in a marketing year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the 27th of April 2018, shipped volumes abroad reached 4,144,445 mt while for the whole season of 2016-17, total exports amounted to 4,168,623 mt or by just 24,178 mt higher. By the end of the current marketing season, the country will have surpassed last year’s exports – the highest for a period of at least ten years.

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