Ukraine expects increased wheat harvest this year

Ukraine anticipates a 25-percent increase in wheat output this year, Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said Friday. "We expect to harvest about 21 million tons of wheat," Prysyazhnyuk said in a speech in the Parliament. Prysyazhnyuk said Ukraine this year planted 27.6 million hectares of grain. He said farmers already have gathered 7.5 million tons of grain, including 4.8 million tons of wheat The East European country last year harvested 46.2 tons of grain, including 15.6 million tons of wheat, prompting the government to force traders to limit wheat exports. A 5.5-million-ton cap on wheat exports for the 2012-2013 marketing year had been imposed, which ended on July 1. Later the government raised the ceiling to 6.6 million tons. Ukraine expects to harvest 53 to 54 million tons of crops in 2013.