As the world's two leading grain exporters-- the United States and Russia-- both faced droughts which already drove wheat and corn prices to a record high since 2008, rising grain costs have become an escalating global concern.

In Ukraine, a key grain exporter in the Black Sea region, a heatwave has forced experts to slash this year's grain harvest estimates, which, in turn, may affect global grain price.

CLIMATE CHANGE BLAMED

A severe drought with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius has hit grain-growing areas in Ukraine, in particular in its southeastern and eastern regions, and the Ukrainian government is expected to slash the target of the country's crop turnout for this year.

Ukraine's weather forecasters said that the drought and the heatwave spreading across the country are very likely the consequences of global warming.

"Certainly, global warming has left a significant impact on the drought in Ukraine. The hot air that came from the South East, the South West and the Mediterranean was heated in the territory of Ukraine, because there were no clouds," said Natalia Golenya, deputy chief of the Ukrainian state weather forecasting center's meteorological department.

The persistence of warm anticyclones was one more reason for Ukraine's 2012 summer drought, Golenya said in an interview with Xinhua.

"We have registered high pressure in the atmosphere this summer. Thus, air masses were being lifted up instead of falling to the ground, resulting in dry weather," Golenya said.

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