April 17, 2008

Ukraine accumulating excessive grain stocks

Ukraine will have 7 million tonnes of grain left over by the beginning of the next marketing year July 1, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation said Wednesday.

This compares with the usual amount of around 3 million tonnes.

The statement added that if the Agriculture Ministry's forecast for 2008 grain harvest of 40 million tonnes proved correct, then grain storage facilities in the country, which can only hold 30 million tonnes, would not be able to accommodate all the grain and a considerable part of it could be damaged.

The confederation said it would appeal to the government to lift the current limitations on the export of grain from Ukraine. If the government did not respond positively, the confederation would be forced to resort to protest actions.