Bulgaria’s corn harvest at 94%, wheat planting area up 12%

Bulgaria’s corn crop is in its final stages as the harvest is now complete on 93.8% of the 4.1 million hectares planted, while wheat's autumn sowing acreage is 12% higher versus this stage of 2016 according to government data, published early Thursday.

Yields remain stable at 582 kg/ha, putting production at 2.28 million mt up to November 9, with the country on track to produce 2.4 million mt in total.

Bad weather and rain has slowed progress in recent weeks, with the completion rate gathering just 1.5 percentage points versus the previous week.

The sunflower harvest is all but complete at 99.7% finished, with production currently running at 1.8 million mt.

For the autumn campaign, the area sown with wheat has increased 12% versus the same point in 2016 to just nudge over 10 million ha.

Bulgaria’s 2016 wheat harvest, completed in August, resulted in production of just under 6 million mt of wheat at a yield of 525 kg/ha across 10.9 million ha of land, with yields increased by 10.5%. according to the government data.

Allowing for a similar rise in yields, the increased acreage could set the country on course for wheat production in the region of 7 million mt.

Wheat exports from July 3 through to November 12 also continue to surge, reaching 1.3 million mt, a rise of 42.8% on the same period of 2016.