December 27, 2010

Ukraine ships nearly six million tonnes grain

Ukraine has exported 5.9 million tonnes of grain since the beginning of the current marketing year and as of December 22, 2010, said Ukrainian agricultural director Oleksandr Demydov.

In particular, the director of the department for plant growing markets of the Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has said that the country had exported 2.4 million tonnes of wheat, 2.3 million tonnes of barley and 1.067 million tonnes of corn.

He said that the country had exported around 900,000 tonnes of grain only in the first 20 days of December.

Demydov also said that the government was likely to consider the extension or the cancellation of quotas on grain exports in January 2011 when grain reserves on the domestic market would be specified.

Ukraine imposed quotas from October 19 until December 31, 2010 on the export of 2.7 million tonnes of grain, including 500,000 tonnes of wheat, 200,000 tonnes of barley, two million tonnes of corn, 1,000 tonnes of rye and 1,000 tonnes of buckwheat.

In early December, Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk said that the quotas had been extended for the first quarter of 2011 and that for this period the quota had been expanded to 1.5 million tonnes, but a respective government document has not yet been made public.