* Dry weather hurts wheat, barley yields
* Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria most affected
* Recent rains help sowings in Ukraine, Poland
(Adds quotes, details)
By Tsvetelia Ilieva
SOFIA, May 20 (Reuters) - A dry spring in eastern and central Europe has worsened prospects of matching last year's abundant grain crop in the region, although recent rain may help sowings recover in some countries.
Dry conditions in March and April have affected wheat and barley sowings and forced analysts to cut harvest estimates for Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
French analyst Strategie Grains last week reduced its forecast for the European Union's 2009 total grains crops by 4.5 million tonnes to 289.7 million after the dryness reduced yield potentials in eastern Europe.
In Hungary, which has not seen major rainfall since late March, the state-run agricultural think-tank saw the wheat crop down to 4 million tonnes this year from 5.6 million a year ago. [ID:nLF165481].
Czech grain sowings suffered from a dry spell earlier this year and industry officials expect the harvest to fall to average or below average levels from 8.43 million tonnes harvested in 2008.
"Plants have been dry for a long time in decisive regions. Average (harvest) is probably 7 million tonnes, probably it will be less," said Jan Zahorka of the Agrarian Chamber.
Some farmers fear the lack of rain in the north of Slovakia may slash the grain crop by as much as 40 percent, a spokesman for the Slovak Chamber of Agriculture and Food said.
In Bulgaria and Serbia, farmers no longer expect record high crops.
"We are worried that wheat yields may fall below the average for the country -- about 3.2 tonnes per hectare," said Radoslav Hristov with Bulgaria's National Grain Producers Union.
Bulgaria's 2009 wheat crop is likely to fall below 4 million tonnes from 4.5 million last year, industry officials say.
SHOWERS IN MAY
Low April rainfall in Poland, central Europe's largest grain producer, has raised concerns among farmers, although showers earlier this month might help the sowings recover.
Polish farmers see the crop down by at least 5 percent to about 26.3-26.6 million tonnes due to drought.
"It (rain in recent days) helps the situation, but it is too early to say something has improved for sure," said Zbigniew Kaszuba of the National Federation of Grain Producers in Poland.
"The effects of the drought on the yields of summer grains are considerable in some regions," he said.
Ukraine, the largest Black Sea grain producer, has also benefited from showers in early May, but the farm ministry said it would still cut its initial 2009 grain crop forecast of 48 million tonnes due to early spring dryness.
"Frosts in April, drought in March and April have affected crops and the future harvest. But recent rains have improved the crops," First Deputy Agriculture Minister Yuri Luzan said.
Ukraine's UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy last week cut its 2009 grain crop forecast to 38.726 million tonnes from a previous 39.975 million, due to poor weather.
Romanian grain experts expect a good barley and wheat harvest as the density of plantings was high.
But Agriculture Minister Ilie Sarbu told state news agency Agerpres on Wednesday that drought in recent weeks has likely affected over one third of overall autumn sowings of about 3 million hectares.
He said a new crop estimate will be made in early June. In February, Romania expected a wheat crop of 7.6 million tonnes this year, compared with 7.75 million in 2008. (Additional reporting by Martin Santa in Bratislava, Barbara Sladkowska in Warsaw, Jason Hover in Prague, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Radu Marinas in Bucharest and Gordana Filipovic in Belgrade, editing by Peter Blackburn)