May 16, 2012

Ukraine looks into grain exports to China

With plans to increase its corn exports, Ukraine is working to get a quarantine agreement with China in order to enter its huge market, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said on Tuesday (May 15).

"We are in talks on a quarantine agreement. We are waiting for the delegation from the Chinese agriculture ministry (to arrive) within a month,' Prysyazhnyuk told Reuters.

Ukrainehas made no grain exports to China, the world's largest consumer of corn, for the last 10 years.

"I hope that the deal can be signed within one month. This is a large agreement which also includes grains," Ivan Bisyuk, head of Ukrainian state phytosanitary and veterinarian service, told Reuters.

"I see no obstacles to the deal," he said.

The former Soviet republic harvested a record 22.7 million tonnes of corn in 2011 and could export 12 to 14 million tonnes of corn in the 2011/12 season.

Analysts have said Ukraine could increase the corn production to 22-25 million tonnes this year after farms raised the sown area for corn to at least 4.2 million hectares from 3.5 million in 2011.

According to data provided by consultancy UkrAgroConsult, Ukraine exported 9.0 million tonnes of corn in the first nine months of this season.