The fall of the production index in basic industries in Ukraine in July slowed to 8.7% in annual terms compared to 17.6% in June, mainly due to the high rate of the harvesting campaign and the base effect, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
“The dynamics of the production index in the basic industries improved as a whole since the beginning of the year: in January-July 2015 the figure decreased by 13.8% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, while the decline in January-June amounted to 19%,” the NBU said.
The regulator noted that agriculture in July showed an increase of 1.9% year-on-year, while the decline in June reached 17.2%, which is due to the late start of the harvesting campaign: if as of July 1 the gross grain harvest was 68.6% below last year’s figure for the same date, then as of August 1 it exceeded the corresponding figure by 1.3%.
At the same time, as a whole over the year the grain yield will be slightly lower than in the previous year: 60 million tonnes against 63.9 million tonnes, the NBU said, referring to data issued by the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food. The expected decline in the gross harvest is due to reduced acreage by 2% compared to 2014 (including at the expense of land in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the occupied territories), as well as changes in areas sown with wheat by reducing the share of maize.
“The slowdown in annual terms was also observed in industry: up to 13.4% from 18.1% in June, which despite some recovery in some sectors in July was due, above all, to the growing influence of the low base of comparison,” the NBU said.
