February 18, 2009

Ukraine's grain exports in February are likely to total 1.7 million tonnes, compared with 1.6 million tonnes in January, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation said Tuesday (February 17).

In the first 16 days of February, Ukraine exported about 1 million tonnes of grain, consisting of more than 400,000 tonnes of feed wheat, 200,000 tonnes of barley and 300,000 tonnes of corn.

Ukraine exported 1.6 million tonnes of grain in January, which is about 25 percent lower than the monthly average between July and December, the first six months of the current marketing year.

The exported grain in January included 700,000 tonnes of wheat, mostly feed wheat, 600,000 tonnes of corn and 300,000 tonnes of barley.

Ukraine is planning to export 24 million to 25 million tonnes of grain in the current marketing year, with nearly 15 million tonnes already exported.

Ukraine harvested 53.3 million tonnes of grain in 2008, 82 percent more than in 2007.