December 7, 2010

Ukraine pushes for grain export quotas extension

According to a draft resolution published Monday (Dec 6), Ukraine's Economy Ministry proposed that the government extend grain export quotas, set to expire on December 31, up to March 31, 2011.

The draft resolution proposed issuing additional quotas for exports of 500,000 tonnes of wheat exports and one million of corn.

The initial grain export quotas allow exports of 500,000 tonnes of wheat, two million of corn and 200,000 tonnes of barley until the year-end.

Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk last month said the government was likely to extend grain quotas for the second half of the 2010/11 season in a bid to avoid grain shortages after a drought reduced harvests.

Prysyazhnyuk said that grain exports in January-June 2011 would not exceed five million tonnes. Ukraine, among the world's leading exporters of barley, wheat and corn, is likely to harvest about 39 million tonnes of grain in clean weight in 2010, compared with 46 million in 2009 due to a severe drought.

Ukraine exported 21.5 million tonnes of grain in the 2009/10 season.