July 5, 2012

Ukraine to double its share on the world grain market

Ukraine's agro-industrial complex can double its share on the world grain market in the next 10 years, according to Ukraine Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in a meeting with the members of the agricultural workers associations, a correspondent reports.

According to the Prime Minister, the share of domestic suppliers can reach 10-12%. "These results can be achieved through implementation of new technologies, usage of new varieties and hybrids of agricultural crops. The annual potential of the grain component of the Ukrainian agricultural sector makes up to 100 million tonnes, but such realisation is prevented by limited rainfall and seasonal temperature risks in the country. In addition, Ukraine annually loses up to 20% of the crop due to imperfect methods of the grain collection and storage," the head of the government said.

In addition, he added that while the large agricultural producers have already settled down to the course of technological upgrading and are reaching now a high yield (80 tonnes/hectare), the small and medium producers fail to progress due to lack of resources.

The Prime Minister also stressed that another important task is the development of the field infrastructure and logistics, particularly setting up sufficient capacity to store grain harvests, as the availability of elevators today is less than 60%.

However, in 2011-12 marketing year, Ukraine has already exported about 21.8 million tonnes of grain, including 5.2 million tonnes of wheat, 2.1 million tonnes of barley and 13.9 million tonnes of corn, Azarov mentioned.