Bulgaria’s wheat harvest is up 52% year-on-year in 2021, as the Balkan country has harvested 7.16 million tonnes of wheat this year from a total of 1,204,334 ha put to wheat, according to the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture (MinAg). The average yield stood at 5.94 tonnes per ha.
The samples taken show that the yield is of a quality which meets the requirements of the milling industry for the production of high-quality flour
In 2020, Bulgaria’s wheat harvest totaled 4.63 million tonnes, a 21% decline from marketing year 2019-20, due to continued dry weather during critical development stages.
Meanwhile, barley production increased by 27.2% year-on-year to 698,761 tonnes in 2021, total rapeseed output stood at 376,364 tonnes, up 36% compared to a year earlier, sunflower seed production reached 934,853 tonnes and corn seed output is 552,226 tonnes so far this year. Bulgaria has already collected produce from 47% of the oilseed sunflower-sown area, and 17% of the harvest from the corn-sown area, MinAg said.
When it comes to grapes, this year’s grape harvest is expected to be 20% bigger than last year’s according to Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Prof. Dr. Hristo Bozukov.
“Overall, 145,000 tonnes of wine grape and 100 million litres of wine are expected to be produced this year”, the Minister said while attending the start of harvesting in a vineyard near the southwestern village of Harsovo, Sandanski Municipality on Sept. 20.
“The grapes are expected to have high sugar content and good quality indicators” he added. He also pointed out that Bulgarian wine is highly competitive and ways should be found to broaden its market abroad.
A few weeks earlier, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Georgi Sabev during the Seventh International Conference “Peace Bread in cities and the rural areas – for a better understanding in Europe “held virtually said the role of agriculture as an important economic, social and political factor in the field of food security is huge and it continues to grow.
The event was part of the Peace Bread project, in which a total of 12 European Union member states participated. Bulgaria joined the initiative in 2013 through the National Association of Grain Producers.
Last month, the European Commission cut its forecast of usable production of common wheat in European Union’s 27 member countries in 2021/22 to 127.2 million tonnes from 127.7 million estimated in July.
That compared with a 2020/21 crop of 117.2 million tonnes, the Commission’s monthly supply and demand data showed.
The EU’s executive arm kept unchanged its outlook for EU common wheat exports in 2021/22 at 30 million tonnes. That compared with an expected estimate of 27.3 million tonnes in the 2020/21 season that ended on June 30.
Projected usable barley production in the EU in 2021/22 was raised to 52.9 million tonnes, compared to 52.6 million tonnes in July, while maize output was cut to 71 million tonnes from 72.8 million.
