It said Ukraine had exported about 22.8 million tonnes of grain in the crop year that began last July, down from 25.2 million tonnes a year ago.

Exports included 11.7 million tonnes of wheat, 3.8 million tonnes of barley and 6.7 million tonnes of maize, according to government data. At this point last year, 12.3 million tonnes of wheat, 4.4 million tonnes of barley and 8 million tonnes of maize had been exported.

Last month, Ukraine’s acting agriculture minister cut Ukraine’s 2017-18 grain export forecast to 41 million tonnes from the previous forecast of 42 million tonnes.

Ukraine’s State Statistics Service recently estimated the country’s grain production total for 2017 at 62.3 million tonnes, down from nearly 66 million tonnes in 2016.

A recent survey of winter cereal crops for 2018 found planted area at 6.8 million hectares, with 83% of that total (5.6 million hectares) in good or satisfactory condition.