However, First Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy told Reuters on Tuesday that the possible reduction of winter wheat may total only 0.1%.
An expected reduction in the overall winter grain sowing area would come at the expense of other grains, he said, forecasting a drop of 5.4% in barley sowing this winter.
Ukraine sowed about 4.1 million hectares of winter wheat for the 2023 harvest, while the area under winter barley stood at around 615,000 hectares.
Ukraine is a traditional grower of winter wheat, which accounts for at least 95% of the country's overall wheat output.
Ukraine already reduced its sowing area for corn in favour of sunflowers in 2023.
Persons:
Alexander Ermochenko, Taras Vysotskiy, Pavel Polityuk, Tom Balmforth, Conor Humphries
Organizations:
REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Farmers, Traders, European Union, Thomson
Locations:
Russia, Ukraine, Nikolske, Donetsk Region, Russian