April 5, 2011

Ukraine may remove grain export limits

The Ukrainian government will lift all curbs on grain export if the parliament approves the draft law, which states that traders can export grain on the condition that they pre-pay farmers for future harvest, Agriculture Minister Mykolai Prisyazhnyuk said Monday (April 4).

Prisyazhnyuk said the draft law is likely to be approved by the Parliament before this year's grain harvest commences. The new law stipulates that traders pay 50% of their grain's value before planting, 30% while crops are growing, and the remaining 20% after the grain is harvested.

He said that this regulation had been in place in Ukraine before 1917 and is now practiced by many countries, including Brazil.

The government imposed a quota of 2.7 million tonnes on the export of grain on October 19 until December 31, including 500,000 tonnes of wheat, 200,000 tonnes of barley, two million tonnes of corn and 1,000 tonnes each rye and buckwheat.

The grain export quota was later extended to the end of June this year and increased by 3.5 million tonnes, including 500,000 tonnes of wheat and three million tonnes of corn.

Ukraine's grain harvest in 2010 fell by 14.8% on the year to 39.23 million tonnes in clean weight because of drought.