November 18, 2011
Ukraine exports one-million-tonne corn in November
Ukraine exported about one million tonnes of corn in the first half of November, which is almost the same volume as in October, Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) said Thursday (Nov 17).
The country plans to reap a record 20-22 million tonnes of corn this year.
UAC said a jump in exports combined with a fall in domestic corn prices. "The prices are continuing to fall. In central Ukraine maize prices have reduced by US$18-$19 per tonne to US$170-$175 per tonne ex-farm as of November 16," the grain lobby added.
Ukraine harvested 18.5 million tonnes of corn bunker weight as of November 14 and UAC noted that farms could harvest additional 2.7 million tonnes of the commodity from the remaining planted area of about 450,000 hectares.
A record high corn crop has forced producers to find new markets and Ukraine has already sold around one million tonnes of its corn to Japan and could launch new shipments to other Asian countries.
Japan, the world's biggest corn importer, usually imports about 12 million tonnes a year for animal feed, most of which is from the US, the world's biggest corn exporter.
Ukraine plans to harvest a record 55 million tonnes of grain in 2011 against 39.2 million in 2010 and the Farm Ministry has said a high harvest allows the country to boost exports to 27 million tonnes in the 2011/12 season.
It could export 10 million tonnes of grain between July and December this year, including two million tonnes in November, officials said.
The exports totalled 12.7 million tonnes in 2010/11.
