Ukraine exports 18.3 million tonnes of grain since July 1

Ukraine exported 18.318 million tonnes of grain between the beginning of the current marketing year July 1, 2009 and March 31 this year, compared with 18.639 million tonnes in the previous marketing year.

Grain exports in March totalled 1.567 million tonnes, up on February, mostly because of increasing export volumes of wheat and barley, agricultural markets analyst UkrAgroConsult said.

Grain exports totalled 1.7 million tonnes in January and 1.182 million tonnes in February.

Ukraine's grain harvest in 2009 fell by 13.7% on-year to 46 million tonnes in clean weight, and the agriculture ministry expects grain exports in the 2009-2010 marketing year of 20 million tonnes, down from the 25.2 million tonnes exported in the previous marketing year.