Ukrainian farmers have harvested 16.57 million tons of the 2023 grain harvest, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said the harvest so far included 3,755,000 tons of barley, 12,513,000 tons of wheat and 306,400 tons of peas.

The largest quantity of grain has been harvested in the southern region of Odesa, it said, while the neighbouring Mykolaiv region led the pace with 82% of the area threshed.

Ukraine is a major global grain producer and exporter but its agricultural exports have been hit hard by Russia's invasion and a blockade of its Black Sea ports.

Farmers in nine regions have finished harvesting peas, the ministry added. (Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka and Kyiv newsroom; editing by Jason Neely)