With the winter grain harvest still underway Ukraine’s farmers have already brought in more grain this season than in all of last year and are on course to smash the previous record.

Ukrainian farmers have threshed a record 70.8mn tonnes as of the middle of November, reports UBN, more than the 70.1mn tonnes threshed during all of last year — also a record year.

By the end of this year Ukraine’s grain harvest is expected to be up by 5.5%, to 74mn tonnes, predicted Timofei Milovanov, Minister of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture.

The bumper harvest has been helped by the extremely mild autumn weather in Eastern Europe, were temperatures are the highest on record.

Last year’s record breaking crop allowed Ukraine to export 50.4mn tonnes of grain, just beating out Russia to claim the title of the world’s biggest exporter of grain and earn over $20bn from the trade as a result.

This year’s exports of grain will almost certainly be higher at circa 25mn tonnes, which easily allow it to hold on to its biggest exporter title.

Kyiv-based brokerage ICU predicts this year’s grain harvest will be 75mn tonnes – 7% above last year’s bumper harvest of 70mn tonnes. In the mix, corn remains king, dropping only 1% from last year’s record harvest, hitting 35.3mn tonnes. The dynamic crops are Barley — up 23% to 9mn tonnes, and wheat — up 14% to 28.2mn tonnes.

This week also saw the Rada begin debating new laws that would allow for the buying and selling of land. Analyst predict that if the legislation goes through and a land market is established then the investment that agriculture could attract will result in grain production as much as doubling.