June 27, 2011

Ukraine to liberate grain shipments in 2011

Ukraine would not implement an export restriction on grain in the next 12 months, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister, Borys Kolesnikov, on Thursday (Jun 23).

"This year, Ukraine will impose no quota on grain sales. The market will be open," Kolesnikov said.

Agriculture Ministry forecasts show Ukraine will harvest around 45 million tonnes of grain, including 20 million tonnes of wheat and 8 million tonnes of barley. It will be 2.2% more than 2010.

Ukraine could export around 20-25 million tonnes of grain in the 2011-12 marketing year to North Africa, the Middle East and Baltic countries as well as the Commonwealth of Independence States.

Ukraine has supplied around 10.5 million tonnes of cereals to foreign markets in the first 11 months of the current marketing year.

Last October, the Ukrainian government imposed grain export quotas, which were later extended to July 1, 2011, with the aim of stabilising cereals prices in the domestic market.