Agriculture Ministry upgrades 2008 grain harvest forecast to 48.7 mln mt

Yuri Melnik, head of Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry announced on Saturday that the ministry upgraded its forecast for the 2008 grain harvest from 43 mln mt to 48.7 mln mt. According to Melnik, 22.6 mln mt of grain is planned to be exported from the harvest. He also said that 8.8 mln ha is slated to be planted with winter crops, including 6.5 mln ha of winter wheat, 0.5 mln ha of rye and 0.7 mln ha of barley.