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Wheat: The weather already blessed some regions; for others, hopes are still strong

June 14, 2018 at 1:56 PM , Starry Night Ltd.
In the end of June/beginning of July 2018, farmers enter fields.
In the end of June/beginning of July 2018, farmers enter fields.
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SOFIA. Reaching the end of a successful season, market players hope for auspicious weather conditions.

BULGARIA. Traditionally, throughout the country, farmers allocate the highest area of land for the cultivation of wheat. Yearly, the majority of the grain is exported, mainly to countries of the EU while smaller quantities are consumed domestically.

Wheat: Towards the end of quite a successful season

Harvest 2017-18 was a success, not only for local farmers, who got their quantities bought out pretty quickly after having collected the grains from fields, but also for intermediary market players who export. Total aggregate production reached 6.1 mmt – the highest for a period of at least twenty years.

       Harvest 2017-18

(01.07.2017 - 08.06.2018)

           units in MT

Beginning availability

179,000

Aggregate output

6,134,496

Imports

63,626

Domestic consumption

1,669,300

   food

921,000

   feed

478,000

   seeds

260,000

   industrial usage

50,300

Exports to the world

4,389,256

   to EU markets

3,677,014

   to rest of the world

712,242

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

The higher characteristics of the grains, together with competitive prices within the Black sea region, propelled exports from early in the marketing season, as by the 8th of June 2018, shipped volumes abroad reached 4,389,256 mt, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. For season 2016-17, total exports amounted to 4,168,623 mt. Remaining stocks stand at 278,566 mt. Currently, it is the weather that will determine the success or failure in different fields within regions.

The weather factor

Less than a month left before combines will enter fields to harvest wheat, and so far in the year, adverse weather conditions have seemingly spared the grain’s fields within the country. Hailstorms hit and ravaged throughout plots, but they did so locally, and thus, their impact has been limited, yet. The weather conditions during the first two weeks of the month have been inconsistent. Throughout the majority of fields within the general West region, showers have been of agricultural significance; in the Northeast, precipitation was so high in places that they got flooded; in other regions, rains have been intermittent, at best; while in the rest, farmers will start the harvest earlier since no showers have blessed them so far, and due to higher temperatures, the development of the grains speeds-up. Yet, the latter group hope for the best.

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