Ukraine's grain exports take a downturn

Ukraine's grain exports plunged 87% to 70,800 tonnes in May 1-11 from 530,000 tonnes in the same period in April, according to analyst UkrAgroConsult.

UkrAgroConsult gave no reason for the fall. However, Ukrainian traders' union UZA attributed the fall mainly to a record high backlog in reimbursing exporters for value-added tax.

UZA head Volodymyr Klymenko said earlier on Thursday (May 13) the VAT debt to agricultural exporters exceeded US$1 billion.

UkrAgroConsult said the export volume included 67,500 tonnes of barley, 9,100 of wheat bran, 2,700 of corn and just 500 tonnes of wheat.

Ukraine's grain exports fell 25% to 1.169 million tonnes in April from 1.567 million in March due to a fall in wheat shipments. Traders said the shipments could fall to about 800,000 tonnes in May. Ukraine has exported about 19.7 million tonnes of grain so far in the 2009/10 season which runs from July to June. In 2008/09 the exports totalled 25 million tonnes.