Maize harvest going well for Landkom

The fortunes of Ukrainian farmer Landkom seem to change as often as the weather, but Thursday was a sunny day for the stock as the company announced its winter planting has been completed.

The group has planted a total winter crop of 29,841 hectares (ha) across Landkom's three regions, a 3.4% increase on the 28,856 ha planted in 2010.

Regional break-down

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23,478 ha were planted in the group's western region (2010: 19,930), 4,293 ha in the southern region (2010: 3,350 ha) and 2,070 ha in the central region (2010: 5,576 ha).

Crop break-down

14,964 ha (2010: 12,862) of rapeseed was planted along with 10,089 ha of winter wheat (2010: 13,149 ha), 3,784 ha of winter barley (2010: 1,912 ha), 613 ha of rye (2010: 292 ha) and 391 ha of forage and other crops (2010: 641 ha).

Landkom said that its maize harvest is well underway and is expected to be completed by the end of November. Though the final numbers are not in, the group's chief executive officer, Vitaliy Skotsyk, said the group was pleased with its harvest to date.

The news will come as a relief to shareholders after a poor rapeseed harvest over the summer which prompted the company to reveal that it was reviewing its strategic options.

Further updates on the harvest results for maize, soybean and sunflower will be made when all data is confirmed and verified.

"This is a very sound start to our 2011/12 planting plan and all of the crops were planted in the optimum planting window," Skotsyk confirmed.

The share rose a quarter of a penny on the announcement to 3.625p.

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