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KIEV, March 13 (Reuters) - Farmers of seven southern Ukrainian regions have started spring grain sowing, seeding 31,000 hectares, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.

Farmers have sown 18,000 hectares of spring barley, 11,000 hectares of peas and 2,000 hectares of oats, the ministry said in a statement.

Farmers plan to sow a total of 7.2 million hectares of spring grains this year, including 2.4 million hectares of early spring grains - barley, spring wheat, oats and peas.

Ukraine, the world's third-largest grain exporter, said the area under spring and winter grains would total 14.4 million hectares this year.

About 7 million hectares of spring grains were sown last year, starting on Feb. 24 due to favourable weather. The country's 2016 grains harvest totalled a record 66 million tonnes, including 28 million tonnes of maize and 26 million tonnes of wheat.

Traders have said that this year's wheat harvest could be lower because of a rise in winter losses and smaller yields. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, editing by Louise Heavens)

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Ukraine sows 31000 hectares of spring grains so far - Times of India