About 90 percent of Ukraine's winter-grain crop was growing healthily, an agriculture official said here Monday.

"Generally, weather conditions are favorable for sowing," agriculture ministry spokesperson Leonid Sukhomlin said in a briefing.

Ukraine planned to plant 9.1 million hectares of winter grains and legumes this year, down from 9.4 million hectares in 2011, Sukhomlin said, adding the share of wheat and barley would be expanded.

The grain harvest was hit by an autumn drought in 2011 and was seriously damaged in February this year during a week-long cold snap, when soil temperatures dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius. After the cold snap, local farmers replanted about 20 percent of the crop.

Ukraine hopes to reap 46 million tons of cereal this year, 10 million less than in 2011.