March 7, 2011

Ukraine targets 80 million tonnes of annual grain output

Ukraine plans to significantly boost its agricultural output over the next four years, including doubling its grain production, the country's agriculture minister said.

In a statement earlier last Friday (Mar 4), Nikholay Prysiazhnyuk said the ministry intends to boost grain production to 80 million tonnes a year by 2015, including 15 million tonnes of oilseeds.

Meat production, which increased 8% in 2010 to 710,400 tonnes live weight in 2010 according to the Statistics Committee, is forecast to increase to four million tonnes a year.

The statement comes as Kiev is debating proposals to create a virtual state monopoly over the country's lucrative grain trade. "I will never accept that grain traders should stand in July with a sack near the combine and in August receive huge profits," Prysiazhnyuk said on the ministry's website.

According to a statement on the Ukrainian Grain Association's website, the agriculture committee this week said the law would boost state income and improve foreign trade balances.

But international organisations say the law could destroy the country's vast agricultural potential. "This draft law is now sending further negative signals to investors willing to invest long term into the grain value chain and crucial grain infrastructure," a letter from the Interntational Monetary Fund, World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said.