October 17, 2008

Ukraine's feed grain prices fall after drop in export demand

Several large grain traders in Ukraine have suspended purchases of feed grain, causing domestic prices to fall by US$5-10/tonne, according to a top analyst.

Ukraine's leading consultancy UkrAgroConsult said that export demand for feed grains has fallen and some big companies have stopped purchasing after accumulating sufficient amounts of feed grains to fulfill existing contracts.

According to the consultancy's price monitoring, Ukrainian-origin feed wheat was being traded between US$150 and US$175 per tonne FOB Black Sea. Corn was traded at about US$190.

Ukraine's 2008 grain crop is likely to jump to 49 million tonnes from 29.3 million in 2007, 70 percent of which is feed grain.