Bulgaria to harvest over 6 mln t of wheat in 2023 – minister

Bulgaria expects to harvest over 6 million tonnes of wheat this year, and will seek new markets for export, agriculture minister Kiril Vatev said on Wednesday.

The quantities of grain currently available in silos are higher than last year due to imports of Ukrainian produce, the minister said in a press release. He added that as Ukrainian grain imports are likely to increasingly affect European markets, Bulgaria has proposed to the EU agriculture council to explore joint efforts to export Ukrainian agricultural produce to non-EU countries. Last year, Bulgaria exported a little over 4 million t of wheat, according to the press release.

In 2022, Bulgaria harvested some 6.43 t of wheat, which represented an annual decline of 11.4% due to lower average yield.

Earlier this month, the ministry said that Bulgaria has put 1.194 million hectares to wheat and wheat reserves stand at a little over 1.315 million t, with grain silos full at 30% of their capacity.

Tags: wheat, imports, markets, Ukraine, Bulgaria, harvest, export, grain, EU