Sunny skies favored spring grain planting in the north and
winter wheat development in the south.
Early spring grain
planting was able to proceed without delay due to dry,
warm weather (1-4°C above normal) in central Russia and
neighboring portions of northern Kazakhstan.
Farther
south, irrigated winter wheat progressed through the
reproductive stages of development in eastern Uzbekistan in
good to excellent condition, with above-normal year-to-date
precipitation providing abundant supplemental moisture for
crop development.
In addition, the dry weather during the
past week promoted cotton planting in Uzbekistan and
southern Kazakhstan.
