February 3, 2011

Ukraine's January grain exports plunge 80%

Ukrainian grain exports in January 2011 fell to 339,700 tonnes from 1.66 million in December 2010 due to problems in obtaining export licenses after last year's drought, analyst UkrAgroConsult said Wednesday (Feb 2).

The consultancy said last month Ukraine exported 289,200 tonnes of corn, 13,300 of barley, 24,800 of wheat and 12,400 tonnes of other cereals.

"There are a few reasons for the fall in exports. Traders have faced difficulties in obtaining export licences and buyers have declined to buy Ukrainian grain because they were are not sure that the deals will be implemented," said UkrAgroConsult analyst Sveltana Balandina.

Ukraine, the world's top barley exporter and a major wheat supplier, introduced export quotas after a drought last summer to prevent a rise in domestic bread prices after neighbouring Russia banned grain exports for the whole 2010/11 season.

In October, the government introduced a 2.7 million tonnes grain export quota while in December it extended the quotas until March 31 and increased the total volume to 4.2 million tonnes.

A farm ministry official said last week that Ukraine had exported 6.9 million tonnes of grain as of January 25, leaving room for exports of additional six million tonnes by the end of the season.