Astarta increases spring crop harvest by 22% in 2009

Astarta (AST PW), in a press release yesterday, said that it increased spring crop gathering by 21.8% yoy to 152.1 ths mt in 2009. The company said that it harvested 36.7 ths ha, or 62% of its total sown area this year. The company culled 111.3 mt of wheat at an average yield of 46 mt/ha. Andriy Gostik: The yoy increase in Astarta’s spring crop harvest is mainly due to the fact that this season Astarta increased its area sown with spring crops by more than a third. At the same time, its average yields came 11% lower than a year ago primarily as a result of less favorable weather conditions.