site.btaWheat Crop Expected to Exceed 5 Million Tonnes

Wheat Crop Expected to Exceed 5 Million Tonnes

Sofia, June 14 (BTA) - Bulgaria's wheat crop this year is expected to exceed 5 million tonnes, Deputy Agriculture Minister Atanas Dobrev said on Wednesday, as quoted by his ministry. Dobrev was speaking at the opening of the wheat harvesting campaign in Karnobat, Southeastern Bulgaria.

The country has more than 1,100,000 hectares of wheat fields and 130,000 hectares of barley fields. Dobrev said: "We expect to have good crops again this year and to sustain the country's grain balance."

The barley crop is expected to be around last year's amount. The Deputy Minister added that there are also 6,200 ha of land sown with rye, 15,300 ha with triticale, and 165,000 ha with oil-bearing rapeseed. These estimates are based on the condition of the respective plants in May and the way they have developed over the last month.

Bulgaria has 343,000 tonnes of wheat left over from last year. By June 30, the amount will have decreased to 270,000 t, which is a good level at the start of the new harvest, Dobrev said. As at June 9, there was 39,200 t of barley, 32,600 t of rapeseed, 930,000 t of maize, and a little over 1 million tonne of sunflower from last year.