site.btaBulgaria Reports Largest Wheat Harvest since 1980

Bulgaria Reports Largest Wheat Harvest since 1980

Sofia, July 21 (BTA) - At 5.6 million tonnes, Bulgaria is reporting its largest wheat harvest since 1980, Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva told journalists here on Wednesday.

The average wheat yield for the country is 4,940 kg/ha. The highest average yield has been reported in Silistra Region (5,680 kg/ha), followed by Dobrich Region (5,630 kg/ha), Razgrad Region (5,560 kg/ha) and Rousse Region (5,510 kg/ha), Taneva said. In her words, wheat quality is better than last year's. As many as 43 per cent of the wheat gathered in this year is of a quality that fully meets the requirements for bread-making flour.

Together with the remainder of last year's crop, Bulgaria now has a balance of 6.6 million tonnes of wheat, the Agriculture Minister said. Domestic consumption and animal feed will take some 2 million tonnes of this quantity. Nearly 69 per cent of the total produced is destined for export. A little over 1 million tonnes have already been exported, and more than 3 million tonnes remain for trading until the next harvest. "These are excellent indicators," Taneva commented. In her words, the only worse indicator compared to the previous levels is the average price of wheat, which in July was by 15 per cent lower than in July 2015. Wheat prices are bullish on international commodity markets. "We expect this trend to steady in March 2017 and that growers will get a better price," the Minister commented.

She said that 160,000 ha under barley have been harvested, with a total of 717,975 tonnes gathered in. The average yield is 4,420 kg/ha. The areas under barley declined by 8 per cent from 2014/2015, while production and yields increased by 3 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.