February 1, 2012

Ukraine records 1.16 million tonnes grain exports in January

Analyst ProAgro said Tuesday (Jan 31) that Ukraine, from January 1-30, exported 1.16 million tonnes of grain, mostly corn, against 390,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Ukrainian grain exports fell to 2.18 million tonnes in December 2011 from 2.29 million in November.

The consultancy said the January volume included 872,000 tonnes of corn and 272,000 tonnes of wheat. The figures are above the year-earlier period when Ukraine had export quotas in place after a severe 2010 drought.

Ukraine exported corn mostly to Egypt (158,090 tonnes), Spain (130,000 tonnes) and Iran (129,300 tonnes), while it sold wheat to Spain (106,000 tonnes), Egypt (60,000 tonnes) and South Korea (53,500 tonnes).

ProAgro said an additional 515,000 tonnes of corn and 96,000 of wheat would be exported in the near future.

Grain traders said this week severe frosts across most Ukrainian regions had dramatically slowed the pace of grain exports from the country's Black Sea ports.

They said frosts at about minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) made it impossible to load grain onto railway cars inside the country while strong winds and snow prevented grain loading in ports.

Ukraine harvested a record 56.4 million tonnes of grain in 2011 and the Agriculture Ministry forecasts exports at about 23 million tonnes in the 2011/12 season.